I am pleased to have had the opportunity to help move the dog park project forward and look forward to seeing it available for our Easton citizens. Now I need to get myself a dog, or two.
Messrs. David Ferraris and Noah Matten expended a significant amount of time working with the Town of Easton to commit parcels of Town owned property on Brewers Lane for development of a public dog park. With support from a local architect and a surveyor, a conceptual drawing of the potential park was created. Then an agreement was reached with the Town to proceed with three equal funding elements: Town, “Friends for Easton Dog Park”, and Grants. The above actions culminated in December 2021. – By this time the “Friends” had a Facebook page with over 300 followers/supporters, advocating for a dog park in Easton.
At the beginning of 2022 both David and Noah took on new jobs and commutes. Neither had the time or energy to continue the necessary work on the dog park project. None of the 300 Facebook followers stepped up to guide the project any further. Some of the hard work that would be necessary included: writing grant requests (no guarantees), establishing a donation collection process, and either entering an agreement with a 501C3 as collection agent or establishing one’s own 501C3 corporation.
To set the record straight and stick to the facts: in mid-February 2023, some friends asked me to get involved in the project because of my involvement with previous efforts for establishing a park. After reviewing background materials and current status, I conducted interviews with Mayor Willey and senior staff personnel and with each of the other 2 mayoral candidates. The meetings were very beneficial and all 3 parties expressed interest in moving forward with the project, committing to fully fund the expenses, and to manage both the construction process and ongoing operations. In early March, 2023, the Town of Easton verbally committed to use current fiscal year funds for development.
To assist getting the project up and running, I was asked by Mayor Willey to get preliminary estimates for fencing, laying sod or installing artificial turf, operational support equipment, and amenities for dogs and owners. Concurrently, Town staff personnel were to start reviewing infrastructure requirements for water, sewer, electricity, etc.
One of the bigger issues encountered was verification of the Town parcel boundaries relative to the conceptual drawing. Ultimately, it was determined that the drawing illustrated an overall size that was roughly 15 to 20 percent greater than the actual parcels. This resulted in multiple iterations of the estimates because I originally based cost estimates on the drawing rather than the property records and the new “Eye Over Easton” system that visualizes parcel boundaries.
Now the project is underway. The Town’s project manager has arranged for an onsite survey, initiated contact with Easton Utilities, and has begun assessment of sod vs. turf. Within another month or so, one can expect to see preliminary preparation of the site and a goal for completing construction in the Fall (possibly by Waterfowl Festival).
Calvin Yowell
Easton
Richard Marks says
For The Record:
It seems to me this is the cart before the horse or should I say the cars before the dogs.
Very unfortunate that you spent that much time and effort without any study first done on the logistics of that location. I can only hope that study, which should have been one of the first considerations, gets done before anymore energy and time are expended.