by Logan Gruber
operations@thenewsleaders.com
A St. Joseph Park Board meeting held Sept. 28 in regards to a dog park seemed to have everyone leaving in a positive mood, park board member Andy Deuhs said.
About 30 people attended. No decisions were made, but a lively discussion was held. Nearly all of those who attended were reportedly interested in having a dog park in St. Joseph, but the sticking point for some is the possible location.
“We haven’t ruled any parks out for the dog park but many of them wouldn’t work out,” Deuhs said in a Newsleader interview.
He continued, saying the parks were all rated by the park board in regards to how well they could support a dog park, and the easement in question near the Wobegon Trail was rated the highest with Millstream Park rated second highest.
“Privacy won’t be much of a concern at the easement location,” Deuhs said. “It would probably be out of sight for homeowners there.”
Matt Killam, the city council liaison to the park board, said nothing is set in stone, and even if the park board were to recommend a location, the city council would still need to approve it.
“A lot of people came away with really good information,” Killam said of the meeting. “There wasn’t any fighting, it wasn’t heated at all.”
Killam said Terry Thene, the public-works director for the city, thought the dog park would probably take up about one acre of the proposed five-acre site at the easement.
“The end of the meeting was really positive,” Deuhs added. “A lot of people realized . . . it won’t affect me as much as I thought.”
The dog-park issue will be discussed at another meeting with the park board which is set for 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 26 at city hall.
