Survey shows support for proposed Lee County dog park

Lee County dog owners may have an off-leash play area for their pooches. The county’s Parks and Recreation Department is working on a plan to build the county’s first dog park.

Lora Kelley, Parks and Recreation employee, said 348 online surveys had been submitted as of Nov. 7.  She said 100 paper surveys have been mailed in, but she hadn’t yet tabulated those.

Of those surveys, 94.8 percent are in favor of a dog park, 2.3 percent are not in favor and 2.9 percent were undecided.

Kelley said 52.6 percent (or 182) respondents have one or two dogs.

The survey, which is available online and in paper form, has been active since Oct. 12.

The print survey closes on Nov. 12 but Kelley plans to keep the online survey up for a longer period because of the feedback.

“We’re getting some comments and that have made us do some adjustments within this and some opportunities to look at the department as a whole, ” Kelley said.

The idea stemmed from a National Night Out survey two years ago, she said. Residents listed “dog park” in the write-in area and that’s how it got started.

Department members have traveled to other counties and visited dog parks, talked to their peers and have done their research.

“We’re not building it for the dogs,” Kelley said. “We’re building it for the owners: the taxpayers and the citizens.”

“It benefits the dogs. Just like you pay taxes for the tennis courts and the basketball courts … that’s the point we have to get across to residents: We’re doing it for the pet owners.”

John W. Payne, director of Parks and Recreation, said having a designated dog area is an amenity for the county because residents don’t have many other options.

Some residents take them on the ball fields, Payne said.

“It’s against our policies,” he said. “We don’t want dogs peeing and defecating in the grass where kids are going to be playing.”

“And this is a remedy for that – we will have a designated spot for dogs,” Kelley said.

“Especially for folks in apartments that allow pets,” Payne said. “Where else are they going to go?”

The department has identified two possible locations:

• Kiwanis Park, 1800 Wicker St.,
• O.T. Sloan Park, 1420 Bragg St.

The overwhelming support has been for Kiwanis Park, Kelley said.

Sloan Park was Payne’s site recommendation because there’s a makeover in the works.

“There’s an additional 10 acres of land and we’re going to add another entrance and move the disc golf course,” he said.

Sloan Park also offers a city pool and playground. It’s located more centrally, off U.S. 421.

There’s an area with lots of trees, so the shade is there, he said.

The area is similar to what the city of Clayton has with their dog park. He said the trees and traffic noise would buffer any barking.

“The issue that I have with the site is Kiwanis is crowded and if you get a lot of folks bringing dogs out there, not everybody has the same feeling when they see a dog, especially a larger dog. That fear gets up around them,” he said.

This would be our test plot, he said of Kiwanis.

“If we needed to tweak anything, we have space at O.T. Sloan, so folks wouldn’t have to drive across town.”

The draft map is for Kiwanis Park.

It indicates the playground is several hundred yards away from the fenced dog-park area.

There is a separate entry for dog owners, Kelley said.

Dee Ann Chester, a lifelong Sanford resident and two-dog owner, said, she would like to see a dog park.

“I’d use it two to three days a week.”

Chester thinks the draft map is ideal.

“It’s good to have it separate from the playground because there’s so many parents who are scared of dogs, so their kids are scared of dogs,” she said.

Making space for dogs seems to be becoming a trend, Kelley said.

“They’re making allowances in their master plan to include space for dogs,” Payne said.

Heather Quinn, owner of Sitter-Stay pet-sitting business in Sanford, said she supports the dog park.

“I feel it would be an asset to the community,” Quinn said.

“I believe it would be a draw to residents.”

She said higher-income areas offer a dog park. “It would probably have a positive reflection of the town in general.”

Surrounding communities offer dog parks:

• Raleigh has three

• Cary has one

• Burlington has one

• Southern Pines has one and is considering a second

Lee County’s plan
The proposed plan calls for two areas, one each for big and small dogs, of 165-feet by 165-feet. Payne said they might extend the length by 40 feet to give the dogs more room to run.

A 5-foot black vinyl fence would enclose the park.

“It doesn’t shine like a beacon out there or look like a prison enclosure,” he said.

“It just disappears and your vegetation and everything still shows through,” he said. “It won’t corrode from markings.”

“You don’t realize the size of the park because the fence disappears into the landscaping,” Kelley said.

The cost would be about $20,000, Payne said, with the biggest expense being the fencing.

“We’re not looking to put in the obstacle courses, or that sort of thing,” he said.

“It’s going to be a little more straightforward. It’s a place for them to run.”

Kelley and Payne said the park would have benches, water lines and doggy bag stations.

“There will be some maintenance cost in there,” Payne said.

“The guys are going to have to haul some mulch to replenish those areas we mulch. The mulch may be free but we’re going to have some labor costs, some transportation costs and even with us doing the grinding and putting those things out there, there’s still going to be some expense. And trash pickup.”

He said there would be opportunities for volunteers to come out and help with the mulching and maintenance.

The department will look into securing a volunteer agreement.

Kelley said that grants are available from a few resources, including PetSense, a national pet-supply chain with a local store.

“But until we get the green light, we can’t really apply,” she said.

“We intend to pursue those when we get the green light.”

A couple of area veterinarians have said they’ll step up to help us, too, she said.

It may be a couple of doggy stations or a bench, Payne said. He said the benches run $500.

What about safety?
The department has a draft version of rules for the park.

The guiding policy is that park is self-policed by dog owners, much like how other dog parks operate, Kelley said.

“You address it between the temperament of the dog and the temperament of the owner,” she said.

“A lot of the issues come from how the owners react, not how the dogs react.”

Quinn said safety concerns might include dog bites to current rabies vaccines.

The department will work with animal control, Payne said.

Officers will drop in on occasion to make sure pets are wearing their tags and collars, per state law.

If a dog isn’t wearing its tags, animal control officers can issue a citation.

“Owners are responsible for their pets,” Payne said.

“If their pet goes out there and bites another dog, they’re liable for it.”

Next step to leash-free?
The public support has been high: Sanford has 20,000 households and 448 surveys have been received.

“That’s a pretty good return,” Payne said.

The next step is to hold a public input meeting at the department’s advisory board meeting.

Kelley said the department would use the feedback to go back to the drawing board and tweak the plan.

She said they’ve already addressed and answered the majority of questions that came up from the online survey.

Payne said after the plan has been adjusted, the department would get the dog park plan on the County Board of Commissioner’s agenda for early next year.

Kelley said most of the respondents have indicated their willingness to attend meetings and voice their support for the park.