By TONY RICCIUTO Niagara Falls Review Updated 8 hours ago
It took a bit longer than some people expected, but the documents have been signed and the City of Niagara Falls is ready to move ahead with a leash-free dog park at Fireman's Park.
At a meeting Wednesday, members of the Stamford Centre Volunteer Firemen's Association, who own the north-end park, finalized the project.
"We already have a contractor lined up to build the leash-free park and weather-permitting we are hoping to get started in the next few weeks," said Jeff Claydon, landscape architect with the City of Niagara Falls.
In January, council approved in principle the idea of creating a dog park and the project was subsequently approved in the 2011 capital budget.
The volunteer firemen's association is not providing funding for the dog park, but has agreed to license a parcel of land to the city. The licence agreement is similar to the existing licence for the playground area.
The city budgeted $95,000 for the project.
Claydon said the park is expected to open in the spring of 2012.
"The good news is that it's proceeding. Sometimes it takes a little time to go through the process, but the Stamford Centre Volunteer Firemen's Association own the park so we had to wait for them to give us the formal approval to go on their land," said Claydon, the project manager who designed the plan and is in charge of construction.
"Fireman's Park is a very popular place with dogs so it's a win-win situation. It has a lot of nice shade trees and it already has a parking lot and washrooms. The association is really supportive of the project and we are getting things lined up to start construction," said Claydon.
Don Udell, who has been pushing for several years to get this project rolling, said he was just about ready to give up because it has taken so long.
A local group, Friends of Niagara Falls Leash Free Dog Park, was interested in raising funds for this project and some of that money could already have been raised if this had not taken so long.
"We've just been waiting here for things to happen," said Udell, who takes his beagle Kyra on regular visits to the park. He noted that the city of St. Catharines was able to build its dog park for about $30,000 and it's bigger than the one for Niagara Falls.
"From the sound of things we are going to be dead in the water until the spring. If we would of had a group in place and the funds would have started coming in it sure would have made the trip a little easier," said Udell.
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