From Upper Moreland, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania

This story has a lot of information about the number
of dogparks being planned in this county that is just
north of Philadelphia in the extreme southeast corner
of Pennsylvania and about 45 minutes away from us in
Camden County, NJ.

When counties leave it up to individual towns to
devise their own solutions you can end up with one
end of the county having multiple parks and the other
end having nothing. And if you want to make that
argument to your own county officials, Montgomery
County PA is probably the best example of that.

The email at the bottom of this message is probably
the most coherent message I have composed as to why
a 5' fence is usually better than a 6' fence.

Some dogpark issues are not intuitive and as long as
parks officials make informed decisions, I don't care
which size fence they decide to use.

Bill Zardus
Group Moderator

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UMDogPark/files/NewsStories/
The full text of this story is also in the folder
above.

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/articleCommentPost.cfm?id=1539138
Dog park closer to reality
By Hilary Bentman = hbentman@ phillyBurbs.com
The Intelligencer 05/25/2008

Banned from Upper Moreland's parks, man's best friend
could soon have a place to call his own.

The township is moving forward with plans to set up a
dog park, which could cost more than $60,000.

The parks and recreation committee has recommended
setting aside a less than 1 acre area in Mill Creek
Park on Mill Road near the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

If the project is granted approval by the commissioners
on June 2, dogs big and small could be roaming around
the fenced-in area leash free by next year.

For the last several years, a group of dedicated residents
called the Paw Prints Dog Owners Group have been pushing
for a pooch playground, arguing that the township needs
a place for pets to mingle.

"It is good socialization for dogs," said Jackie Moore,
a member of the group.

"It makes for a better neighborhood. Dogs are less hostile
and may not bark as much."

Currently, four-legged creatures are not allowed in any
township park, whether on a leash or not, said Pat Stasio,
Upper Moreland's director of parks and recreation.

But setting up a dog park takes money. The township has
agreed to set aside $40,000 for the project but Paw
Prints D.O.G had to raise at least $20,000.

After numerous fundraisers and grants, the group has
collected $21,000, said Stasio.

The $61,000 is needed to put up a 6-foot high fence
around the property, install limestone grit material
for the ground, improve the parking area, and install
benches.

Upper Moreland is also looking to install a small
walkway over the creek and needs approval from the
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

Once the township receives DEP's blessing, it could
take about 45 days to construct the park, said Stasio.

There are several other issues that would still needed
to be ironed out, including whether there would be a
park attendant and if users would need to register
with the township.

"I think its going to be very, very successful," said Stasio.

Dog parks have grown in popularity over the last few
years and there are several area communities that
have opened ones or are trying to do so.

Neighboring Horsham hopes to break ground on their
park off Horsham Road this fall.

Montgomery Township and Upper Dublin have "bark parks."
And an effort is also under way to set up a canine park
in Perkasie.

Asked if the area is becoming saturated with dog parks,
Moore said having a few in the area will keep the parks
from getting overcrowded.

And while some people are willing to drive their dogs
to the park, some just want to walk to the playground,
she said.

Hilary Bentman can be reached at 215-957-8166 or
hbentman@ phillyBurbs.com

May 25, 2008 7:13 AM

--------------- End Of Story ---------------


-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Zardus [mailto:ccdogpark@...]
Sent: Monday, May 26, 2008 2:34 PM
To: Stasio, Patrick
CC: hbentman@ phillyBurbs.com
Subject: UM DogPark comment:

Patrick

A 6' Fence forces you to put the large trash cans on
the inside perimeter of the dogpark instead of the
outside perimeter. Most people can reach over a 5'
fence and toss dog waste into a trash can and that
makes it much easier for parks personnel to empty
heavy trash bags full of dog feces because the trash
cans (and bag dispensers) should be at the midpoint,
NOTT right at the dogpark entrance. I know this
because we made this same mistake in Camden County,
NJ.

But we have criminals in work parties empty our trash
cans so county officials do not care about this.

I would need to hear a compelling reason why this
Upper Moreland park needs a 6' fence to agree with
this. Is this park adjacent to a very busy
highway that would likely result in a car accident
and/or a dog being killed shortly after escaping ?

People are supposed to have some control of a dog
using a dogpark. Dogparks are not for all dogs and
dogs that would scale a 5' fence need more
training to use the park.

I tried to talk our parks department out of a
6' fence before I understood the part about
how it affects the handling of trash. If I
had known that at the time, I would have argued
against our 6' fence with more vigor instead of
allowing a couple of other know-nothing
dogowners to sway our parks department in
the wrong direction.

A 5' fence would be much better and it would
also cost less. Use the extra money to put a
liner across the bottom of the fence to protect
it from fraying into dangerous angles at the
bottom if someone with a weed whacker tears up
the fence. A frayed fence protruding at the
bottom from the wrong angle is dangerous for
dogs that race along the fence perimeter and
it also looks bad. (We also had this problem.)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Dogpark-National-News/message/956

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Dogpark-National-News/message/1222
If you are looking for an inexpensive way to
recycle plastic bags, Ikea has some very
inexpensive plastic bag holders.

I installed 4 each in our large and small dog
areas. Small dogs should have approx 1/4 to
1/5 of the total space.

Best Regards

Bill Zardus
ccdogpark@ yahoo.com

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Dogpark-National-News/


Subject: RE: UM DogPark comment:
Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 07:51:15 -0400
From: "Stasio, Patrick" <PStasio@ uppermoreland.org>
To: "Bill Zardus" <ccdogpark@...>

Thank you for the comments, I will certainly consider
a 5 foot fence.

We did plan on putting a bottom liner around the fence.

Patrick Stasio