TO:                  Mayor William F. Martin, Jr.

                                    And

                        Members of the Lowell City Council

FROM:            Bernard F. Lynch, City Manager

DATE:             May 23, 2007

RE:                   Council Motion of 5/8/07 by Mayor Martin

“Request the City Manager provide an update on efforts to build a dog park area.”

________________________________________________________________________

I have been contacted by Matt Coggins, DPD Director, regarding the motion mentioned above.  Matt stated that on April 30, 2007 Lowell residents came together to have the first meeting of the Lowell Unleashed Organization.  Lowell Unleashed is a dog owner association and has a mission of establishing a fenced-in unleashed dog park in Lowell.  The April meeting was to discuss the first steps of this project.

There were roughly 30 people at the meeting, which is well attended for a neighborhood meeting, and many people voiced their interest in having an unleashed dog park.  Ideas and concerns that came about in the discussion were: having availability of water at the park, having separate areas for smaller dogs and larger ones, using a dog waste bag dispenser for “pooper scooping” and liability issues.  Everyone agreed that only licensed dogs would be allowed to use the park.

Pardis Saffari, Neighborhood Planner attended the meeting and informed the group that the City was looking into researching the logistics of an unleashed dog park and investigating other municipalities’ dog park regulations.  She further discussed that a possible location would be either a new fenced in area on City land, or a fenced in site at a current (public) park.  Members were pleased with that idea.  The group also expressed interest in looking at other unleashed dog parks in Somerville, Nashua and other local areas to get an idea of what they liked and disliked about parks.  Pardis encouraged residents to learn more about what they are interested in for amenities of the park, as it will provide the City with design ideas.  Lastly, the group was willing to fundraise for the park, which would be a great benefit to the City.

Next steps for the City are to look for potential locations for a site and to continue to work with the Lowell Unleashed organization on design and amenities ideas.  Pardis Saffari has contacted Tom Bellegarde regarding this project and is brainstorming sites for the park.

If you have any questions, please call me.  Thank you.