North Castle Looks to Move Forward With Dog Park; Will Set Hearing
News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
The Town of North Castle may soon be the next community to introduce a dog park.
Last week, the Town Board announced its intention to hold a public hearing at an upcoming meeting on the proposal to use a piece of IBM Community Park in Armonk to be the site of a dog run so town residents may have their pet exercise and socialize.
The effort was spearheaded by town resident Mollie Meyer and her daughter Juliet, who pitched the idea to the Parks & Recreation Advisory Board and Town Board earlier this year.
Matt Trainor, the town’s superintendent of Parks & Recreation, said discussion about having a municipal dog park has periodically surfaced in his time with the town. But one of the challenges has typically been finding a suitable location for the facility.
“I think for a long time we were maybe looking for the perfect place,” Trainor said. “We didn’t necessarily have the perfect place that everybody agreed upon, but this one over by IBM Community Park was kind of identified as the best spot we have.”
It is proposed for the area between the platform tennis courts and the bathroom and could measure roughly 90 by 105 feet, Trainor said.
During its Sept. 25 work session, the board discussed potential rules and regulations for the park that would be safe for the canines and their owners and protects the town from liability.
“We want to make sure that when we put this into effect, we want to make sure that not only the rules are clear to residents, but if you decide to go against those rules there are some real repercussions to it,” Trainor mentioned.
Councilwoman Barbara DiGiacinto asked the board to consider several of her suggestions to help regulate the park. She said she spoke to Assemblyman Chris Burdick, the former supervisor of Bedford, who served that town when it established a dog park about 10 years ago.
Suggestions included having a town-issued permit, for every dog to have proof that their obtained a license and up to date on all vaccinations. Therefore, owners have confidence that they can bring their pets to the park safely and the facility would be successful.
However, Councilman Matt Milim said that he didn’t want dog owners to have to go through two separate processes to be able to gain admittance to the park. He said every dog owner in town is currently required to have a license, which required a rabies vaccination every three years.
“If we want to make the dog license have some other bells and whistles, I’d be okay with that,” Milim said. “I don’t want to make people jump through hoops.”
The dog license costs owners $15 a year if a dog is neutered or spayed and $22 if it’s not, said Town Clerk Alison Simon.
While common-sense rules are warranted, Supervisor Joe Rende said he believes that the town doesn’t need to have overbearing regulations governing the park because it would likely be self-policing. When people renew their license every year, they can also fill out an indemnification agreement and register with the clerk’s office, he said.
“I would think, for the most part, that most dog owners that would want to take the benefit and utilize the dog park, they’re really very careful in terms of their pets,” Rende said. “I would think most would go over and above in terms of seeing that they’re healthy and they’re vaccinated and are in good care.”
Mollie Meyer largely agreed, also adding that most dog owners know whether their pet would be suitable for a dog park.
“We have a lot of people in this town with dogs, and they know the importance of taking care of their dogs from a vaccination perspective, but also aware of their dogs that should and shouldn’t be in a dog park,” Meyer said.
The Town Board is expected to schedule and hold a public hearing at one of its next few meetings. Many of the rules and regulations and details of cost are likely to be ironed out at that point.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/