Riverhead Town will have a dog park come springtime, if a proposal by Councilman James Wooten is approved by the Town Board.
Wooten says he plans to introduce a resolution at the the Jan. 4 Town Board meeting authorizing the dog park on a site near the yet-unopened EPCAL ball fields.
"The original plan called for a dog park here," Wooten said at the EPCAL site this week. The park will be simple and inexpensive to build, Wooten said. It involves fencing, a water source some receptacles and disposal bags.
Its cost can be covered by recreation fees, the councilman said. He said he did not have an estimated total cost yet.
Wooten said the dog park would be about an acre in size and would include two different areas, one for large dogs and one for small dogs.
"It's a perfect location," Wooten said.
Councilwoman Jodi Giglio, the other Town Board member of the animal advisory committee, said she believes there's a demand for a dog park in Riverhead.
"A lot of people in town want to have a place for their dogs to run free and socialize with other dogs," Giglio said.
Dog parks have been popular in nearby towns, including Southold and Brookhaven, Wooten said.
Wooten said the dog park can be completed and opened by Memorial Day, possibly sooner.
The ball fields at Calverton will finally be opened this spring, according to Riverhead recreation superintendent Ray Coyne.
The councilman said he's also looking at the Calverton site as a possible place for relocating the town's outdated animal shelter, now situated on Youngs Avenue, across from the former town dump.
Riverhead resident Denise Lucas has established an organization called "Move the Animal Shelter" and has held several successful fundraisers to raise money for a new shelter.
Supervisor Sean Walter was surprised to hear of the dog park plan. The councilman has not yet brought the idea to the board at a work session, he said.
Walter said he's not convinced there's a need for a dog park in the town.
"I wish he'd stay focused on the animal shelter right now, on getting that privatized," Walter said. "That's got to be the first objective. It's been a problem for too long."
Photo captions:
Top: Councilwoman Jodi Giglio and Councilman James Wooten at the site of the town park in Calverton this week, discussing the location of the dog park Wooten wants the town to build.
Bottom: The Southold Town dog park Wednesday afternoon.
RiverheadLOCAL photos by Peter Blasl.