Proposed dog park waiting to be unleashed

by Frank Lee

operations@thenewsleaders.com

The St. Joseph City Council discussed an on-going proposal to build a dog park at its recent meeting that included a financial breakdown of expected costs.

Council member Matt Killam led the discussion at the Nov. 14 city council meeting to site the dog park in Millstream Park. He is also a member of the St. Joseph Park Board.

“We have been working (for) the last three years trying to get a dog park in St. Joseph,” Killam said later of his efforts with Mary Munden, a St. Joseph Police Department employee.

Munden has built a large group of volunteers and a Facebook page – “Fetch a dog park to Saint Joseph” – for the project that was initially proposed at a location near the Lake Wobegon Trail.

“That’s initially where we wanted to do it, but it did get turned down by the city council last year,” Killam said. “The park board did an analysis where a dog park would go well, and we went through all our parks and graded them . . . and Millstream scored the second-highest.”

Killam said an area was plotted out by the soccer fields at Millstream Park because of the openness of the area and ample parking in the gravel lot.

“The biggest expense with building a dog park is the fencing,” Killam said. “And you can add things you want over time as time progresses, so the biggest kind of hurdle is the fencing.”

The St. Joseph Park Board decided to donate $10,000 to build a fence for the proposed dog park, which is about an acre in size, Killam said.

“It would have a door to get in, similar to other dog parks, a door inside of a door where you can kind of have your dog in between the area where you are hooking the leash on them,” he said. “So we were looking at different prices and Mary was able to get some prices for us.”

The St. Joseph Park Board has a budget that could include planting trees at a proposed dog park. Killam said the board hasn’t used any of its tree budget for the year.

“You can get galvanized steel, about a 5-footer, to go around the whole thing for about $16,000, but you can also wrap that all with black vinyl for about $18,000, and it would stand up longer, so we decided Phase 1 would be to get the fence completed,” he said.

The Facebook page for the proposed dog park includes a plea for donations with a GoFundMe page at www.gofundme.com/st-joseph-dog-park-2w6eh7uc or you can stop by St. Joseph City Hall and make your donation via cash, check or money order.

“We (the park board) agreed upon that we would offer the $10,000 if there was kind of a matching deal with Mary and the group to come (up with) the other $10,000 for the park, and that would be going toward the fencing,” Killam said of the St. Joseph Dog Park Committee.

“Ultimately, it got voted on by the council that she has until Dec. 1, 2018, to raise the money without it actually getting sent back to whoever donated,” he said. “I foresee this being raised in a matter of months. The St. Joseph Lions Club has already donated $1,000 for this to happen.”

Killam said if enough money is raised for the fencing, it could be installed in April or May, with an opening of the dog park to soon follow.

“We would be moving our donation box from the campground over to there,” Killam said. “We would probably set it up with a suggested donation of a dollar if you live in town or a suggested donation of $2 if you lived out of town.”

Killam, who is a dog owner, said the city council and the park board will not invest any more into a proposed dog park, but he believes given the months allotted for Munden to raise the remaining funds, the proposed dog park may soon be a reality.

“We had meetings on this particular item with the park board,” he said. “And we never had that many people come to one meeting in support of something. We had like 40 people come, which is extremely rare for a small town. It showed me right there that there was a need for it and a want for it in town.”