Should Cold Spring build a dog park? City leaders are asking residents for feedback.
Residents Racheal Neal, Erin Hildebrandt and Dan Wood have approached the city and presented some possible plans for what a dog park could look like in Cold Spring, including most recently at the July 27 city council meeting.
“Our big thing here is we want to listen to the people who live in our city and who pay taxes in our city,” said Cold Spring City Councilmember Cindy Moore.
The city has posted a survey on its social media asking residents whether they are interested in the dog park. Take the survey here.
Neal said her experience with dogs comes from her volunteer work with the Stray Animal Adoption Program, also known as SAAP.
She said the group has been out at community events with a petition to gather support. They also sought signatures through an online campaign. Neal said the petition (as of July 27) has garnered 246 signatures, 178 of which are from Cold Spring residents. Petitioner’s comments about the park can also be read on the page. That petition can be found here.
Cold Spring Mayor Angelo Penque said during the meeting that 178 people of the 6,500 Cold Spring residents were “not a lot of numbers.”
“On a personal basis and this is just for me, I am not excited about a dog park in Cold Spring,” Penque said.
He also said that the city did not have the space for a dog park.
Wood’s background is in landscape architecture, specifically in public park design and he has a master’s degree in community planning.
Wood said that while he agrees they want to focus on residents’ opinions, a dog park is an amenity that could attract new residents to the city.
Some site plan and amenity ideas that the group suggested were:
- Land between 0.5-2 acres
- Two separate areas for large and small dogs
- Secure chain link fence with a double-gated entry area
- Ground cover options: safe, easily maintainable surface such as grass, pea gravel, decomposed granite, or wood chips
- Waste bag stations with covered trash cans
- Shade structures, benches and seating
- Pet-friendly water fountains
- ADA accessible
- Parking
- Access to public restrooms
Some of the suggested locations included:
- Sunshine Park (located in the Granite Springs and Founders Court subdivision)
- Friendship Park/Weaver Lane (5589 E. Alexandria Pike)
- Cold Spring Municipal Park (5694 E. Alexandria Pike)
- Ripple Creek ball field
- Others: End of Granite Spring Drive, 5665 E Alexandria Pike, 4306 Alexandria Road, along Industrial Road and Apple Orchard Park
Hildebrandt is a biologist with the Kentucky State Police. She said that being a biologist helps with animal behavior and the park’s environmental aspects. She said during the presentation that the areas of focus are Sunshine Park, Friendship Park and the Municipal Park.
Hildebrandt shared two possible layouts for Municipal Park behind the pickleball courts—one including the surrounding wooded area and one excluding it.
Hildebrandt said they would focus on phases of building the park. She said the Municipal Park would be the only location requiring site preparation, including moving the walking trail. For that park, site preparation is estimated to cost $17,592.
She said phase zero would be site preparation; phase one would include fencing; phase two would be for a dog park walking path (to take strain off the grass and save on maintenance); and phase three would be the water phase that both the dog park and pickleball areas could use.
The cost breakdown for the suggested parks is as follows:
“I’m concerned about this being right up to the pickleball,” said Cold Spring City Councilmember Lisa Cavanaugh. “I went to the one in Newport, and I’m sorry, but it stunk. Are people going to want to smell dog while they’re playing pickleball?”
Wood said they designed the park to butt up against the pickleball area to use part of the existing fence as a cost-saving measure. He said they could move it away from the courts.
Granite Spring (where Sunshine Park is located) HOA member Dan Merkt spoke at the meeting and said he had a petition of his own with over 100 signatures from Granite Spring residents who do not want a dog park.
“In our particular area, it is not something that we want,” Merkt said.
