AMHERST DOG PARK OPENING ANTICIPATED FOR FALL 2020
Berkshire Design's early rendering of the Amherst Dog Park.
Amherst is building a dog park! After nearly four years of planning and fundraising, the town anticipates opening the Amherst Dog Park to the public in fall 2020. Read below to learn how park plans developed and what to expect when the facility opens.
What is the Amherst Dog Park?
When constructed, the Amherst Dog Park will be a simple yet high-quality enclosed space to promote off-leash play in a well-maintained and safe environment. There will be two separate fenced-in areas, one for small dogs and one for large dogs. Both spaces will feature paved pedestrian walkways, benches, and shade structures. Varying ground cover, such as natural turf, sand, pea stone, and boulders, will provide ample opportunities for dogs to explore. Two dog water stations, and cleaning supplies, including covered garbage cans and waste bags, will be available. The Dog Park will not have artificial lighting nor public restroom facilities.
The Dog Park will be open year round, from dawn to dusk, and will be free to all visitors. As a public recreational area, the park will be ADA compliant.
Where is the Dog Park?
The Amherst Dog Park will be located on 1.5 acres of town-owned property along the southwest side of Old Belchertown Road, off Route 9. The property is on an old landfill in a non-residential area with proximity to a public water supply. Twenty off-street parking spaces, including two handicap spaces, will be constructed.
Why Does Amherst Need a Dog Park?
There are 1,610 dogs licensed in the town of Amherst. Despite this number, there remains a lack of dog parks in the surrounding geographic area. The nearest public dog parks are in Agawam, Granby, and Greenfield, all a 30-minute drive from downtown Amherst. Although plans are currently underway for a new, private dog park sited on 27 acres in Northampton, its annual membership fee will exclude many families from joining.
Research supports the public health and safety benefits of community dog parks. Off-leash play areas allow dogs to exercise and socialize safely, while also encouraging people to be outside and moving. Dog parks promote responsible dog ownership and make it easier for a town to enforce its leash laws and licensing requirements. Dog parks are ideal locations for “dog people” to meet others with common interests. The love people share for their dogs reaches beyond economic and social barriers and helps foster a sense of community.
How Much Will the Amherst Dog Park Cost?
Although cost estimates are not fixed, it is projected the Amherst Dog Park will cost $347,000, the majority of which has already been secured (see below). In addition to the hard construction costs of fencing, grading, paving and landscaping, other expenses include $65,000 for a Department of Environmental Protection Reuse Study, required for any project built on a capped landfill; $5,000 for town surveys; $25,000 for design; and $20,000 for a 10% match of construction costs provided by the Stanton Foundation.
Who is Paying for the Amherst Dog Park?
Funding for the Amherst Dog Park is coming from multiple sources.
In February 2018, Amherst Town Meeting authorized $90,000 in Community Preservation Act funds toward park preparation, including surveys, detailed landscape plans, and a Department of Environmental Protection Reuse Study.
Also in 2018, the Stanton Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports the development of enclosed dog parks in Massachusetts, awarded the town a $25,000 design grant to plan the park. The Stanton Foundation gave another grant for $225,000 to fund 90% of the dog park’s hard construction costs, including labor and materials. The Stanton Foundation has supported 30 dog parks across the state, including those in Agawam, Greenfield, and Ludlow.
While the Stanton Foundation grant will cover construction of the Amherst Dog Park, additional funds are greatly needed for amenities such as benches, water stations, and shade structures. There are still several naming opportunities available for supporters to receive permanent recognition at the site. Look here for more information.
Will There be a Fee to Use the Dog Park?
The Amherst Dog Park will be free and open to the public year-round, from dawn to dusk. The Dog Park will serve the entire population of Amherst and its visitors. It may be enjoyed by any dog with a valid license.
Who Will Maintain the Amherst Dog Park?
Before opening, a Friends of the Amherst Dog Park group will be established to help care for the site, similar to the friends groups that help maintain Puffers Pond, Mount Pollux, and the Town Common. The Friends group may host “Dog Park Do’s and Don’ts” workshops when it opens and organize park clean up days at the beginning of each season. It will also be the responsibility of the Friends group to continually supply the park with waste bags and other necessities. The group will enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Town of Amherst detailing expectations and responsibilities with the aim of minimizing the impact on town resources.
The Amherst Dog Park Task Force has worked diligently with the landscape designer to ensure the property retains as many large-growth trees as possible and that the land drains properly to prevent standing water. Since securing CPA funding, the land will be preserved for “open space” purposes in perpetuity.
Who is Designing the Amherst Dog Park?
The town hired Peter Wells of Berkshire Design Group to design the Amherst Dog Park. Berkshire Design Group is an award-winning firm of landscape architects, civil engineers, and land surveyors headquartered in Northampton, MA, with experience designing dog parks.
How Can I Help the Amherst Dog Park?
The Friends of the Amherst Dog Park will need many volunteers to make decisions about the park and ensure it smooth operation. Anyone interested in helping or being notified of upcoming Dog Park events should send an email to friends@amherstdogpark.org
More information can be found on the website www.amherstdogpark.org
And please like our Facebook page, Friends of Amherst Dog Park https://www.facebook.com/AmherstMADogPark/
What is the Amherst Dog Park Task Force and Who Serves on It?
The Town of Amherst established the Amherst Dog Park Task Force in spring 2017 to shepherd the process of establishing a public dog park to benefit the town’s canine citizens, their humans, and the Amherst community at large. Its members are: Nina Allen, Mike Chesworth, Ana Devlin Gauthier, Ted Diamond, Gina Fusco, Jack Jemsek, Ellen Keiter, and Jim Pistrang (Chair). Two non-voting members also serve on the Task Force: Dave Ziomek, Director of Conservation and Development and Carol Hepburn, Amherst Animal Welfare Officer.
I like dogs. And I like people. And I even like dog-people who keep their dogs on a leash and clean up after their canines. So if this dog park will reduce the mess and the mayhem – and often the menace – unfortunately experienced by many Amherst residents who are not dog-people, then … hallelujah!!!
Yet if my arithmetic is correct (hey, even math professors make mistakes ;-), the present and planned investment in this dog park will include over $460,000 in cash, plus at least 1.5 acres of Town land, plus the construction (funded by what sources?) of 25 parking spaces nearby, for a total exceeding about $800,000. With about 1600 licensed dogs in Amherst, that’s over $500 per dog!
If we amortize this over the lifespan of a typical dog, roughly 10 people-years (or 70 dog-years), that’s $50 per dog per people-year (or just over $7 per dog per dog-year). This amortization cost should equitably be borne by the dog-people themselves through a modest increase in the annual dog license fee (which is, really a dog-people license fee, of course).
And here’s a salubrious side-effect: once they begin paying this extra fee, the dog-people will feel a greater sense of “ownership” — not to be confused with a “sense of entitlement” — in their new and exclusive dog-people homeland! Might this allow the rest of us to enjoy a hike or a bike ride without being pawed by a dog or lassoed with a leash? Or prevent those all-too-frequent poo-shoe-souvenirs, or the fortunately-less-frequent but much-more-memorable poo-mouthings by a dog-person?
Regrettably, some may object that the dogs have had no say (though I’ve heard dogs bark in the night, when most meetings are held) in this additional fee, which would amount to taxation without representation. Of course, once the dogs remind their dog-people that it’s really a dog-people license that they’re paying, I expect they’ll pay it gladly!
And please don’t forget: dogs can’t put tongue in cheek, but people — even dog-people — can! 😉