No. Castle to Hold Dog Park Hearing; Board Bickers Over Advocate’s Residency

The North Castle Town Board scheduled a public hearing for Nov. 20 to permit a dog park to be constructed, but not before there was another spat among board members last week.

Comments will be accepted at the hearing on whether to amend the town code to allow the facility at IBM Community Park. The area, which was estimated to be about 90 by 105 feet, would be located between the platform tennis courts and the restrooms.

However, there was more discord among members when Councilwoman Barbara DiGiacinto questioned why none of her suggestions reviewed at the previous meeting were incorporated into the proposal. She also informed her colleagues that they failed to disclose that the most outspoken proponent for the park is not a North Castle resident.

DiGiacinto said she commended Mollie Meyer and her daughter Juliet for their advocacy for the dog park, an amenity that the town and some residents have sought for years, but the board should have known and divulged that they are not town residents to the public sooner. Meyer has a Chappaqua mailing address, pays Town of Mount Pleasant property taxes, but resides in the Byram Hills School District.

“Since the dog park would be funded by the Town of North Castle’s taxpayer dollars, in the name of transparency and accountability, we need to acknowledge we are acting on the request of a non-resident,” DiGiacinto said.

Among the suggestions that DiGiacinto had posed was requiring a permit for entrance to the park, which would be obtained when owners renew their dog license, and proof that a dog’s vaccinations are up to date.

However, the comment concerning Meyer spearheading the effort brought a rebuke from other board members. Supervisor Joseph Rende said there were multiple town residents who have supported a dog park. In addition, a 2022 parks and recreation survey conducted by the town revealed that a dog park was the second most sought-after recreational amenity.

“Look, if you want to try and make the dog park better and you have constructive ideas on how we set the rules or how it’s designed, I’m all for that,” Rende said. “But if you purely just want to raise an issue because you want to block it or stop it, that’s disgraceful.”

DiGiacinto shot back that Rende’s characterization was unfair and disgraceful.

“All I wanted to do, okay, was respond to what I was being asked, which is in terms of transparency just that we are being approached by someone who is not a (town) taxpayer, using tax dollars, and that was all,” she said.

Councilman Matt Milim, the board’s liaison to the Parks & Recreation Advisory Board, agreed with Rende that many people in town were behind the idea of a dog park, including himself. He said Meyer has connections with the town with her husband having grown up in North Castle, her parents being town residents and her daughter attending school here.

Furthermore, the projected $25,000 to $30,000 expense for the park, and estimate by Superintendent of Parks and Recreation Matt Trainor, is a relatively reasonable cost for something that many people in town want.

“To try to craft an e-mail because you don’t like a project, that tries to make it look like someone was doing something shady, I just think it’s distasteful, honestly. I just think there should be no place for it,” Milim said.

In the past several months DiGiacinto and the rest of the board have had an escalating number of arguments surrounding an assortment of issues. Rende defeated DiGiacinto last November for supervisor by four votes in a hotly contested campaign and post-election court battle.

Martin Wilbur

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/