Council Mulls Dog Park, Allowing Dogs in Existing Borough Parks

Borough officials unveiled rough plans Thursday for a dog park, something Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich , and some dog owners requested that the Mayor and Council also consider amending borough ordinance to allow dogs in at least some of Fort Lee’s public parks.

Borough engineer Edward Mignone said he’s been looking at “the feasibility” of building a dog park for about a year, and that an area at the end of Stillwell Avenue, adjacent to the Stillwell pump station and the Fort Lee Recreation Center, seems like the best place to build one.

“We have some open area there,” Mignone said. “We also have some pre-existing fencing, which will help to define the area and keep the costs down.”

He said officials began by looking at the dog park at Overpeck Park as a potential model, estimating its size at about 7,200 square feet.

“If we were to create the Overpeck Park [model], we estimated that to be about $25,000 to $30,000,” Mignone said, adding that there is a smaller, roughly 4,800-square-foot option, which would cost more like $18,000 to $20,000, and which members of the governing body seemed to prefer at their executive session.

“If we go with [the smaller] model and we use some of the fencing, we get about a third of the fence that’s pre-existing so we don’t have to pay for that,” Mignone said.

Included in the estimated cost would be the necessary additional fencing, stanchions with bags for dog owners to dispose of waste, water spigots and a sprinkler system for cleaning up and a granite dust or “granite sand” surface recommended by the American Kennel Club, which also recommends top and bottom rails on fences with padding on top, and about four benches, according to Mignone.

The area would also be divided into two sections, one for larger dogs, and one for smaller dogs and have a double-gated entry.

The park, Mignone said, would not be lit however, raising the question of how late it could stay open. Councilman Joseph Cervieri shot down the idea of making the hours “dawn to dusk.”

“You’re going to get a lot of light from the tennis courts and also from the field,” Cervieri said. “So you don’t need lights directly on here because that area will still be bright enough.”

He pointed out that if the hours were in fact dawn to dusk, the dog park would have to close in winter by 5 p.m. when many people are just getting home from work. Cervieri suggested keeping the park open until 8 p.m. instead.

“I like the location,” he said. “I think it makes the most sense, and it affects the least number of residents.”

Other members of the governing body pointed out that there’s also plenty of parking in the area, access to restrooms and someone manning the Recreation Center who can also keep an eye on the dog park.

But not everybody in attendance at the meeting saw building a dog park as going far enough to accommodate the borough’s many dog owners.

Fort Lee resident Karen Silberman, who’s been outspoken on the issue of allowing dogs in existing borough parks in the past, said that while she thought a dog park was a “wonderful” idea, she does have reservations.

“When you go to the vet, and you need the shots for your dog, the first thing the vet will say is, ‘Do you take your dog to the dog park?’ because they often get kennel cough,” Silberman said. “There are people who don’t vaccinate their dogs. Many little dogs get hurt. There are always positives and negatives.”

She said she’s been “harassed” by “self-appointed vigilantes” and chased out of the park near her home many times, and that she would prefer to see “a change of the ordinance to permit pets” in public parks.

Silberman’s neighbor and fellow dog owner, Joyce Schelling, said she’s had similar experiences.

“What I’d like to do is to go into and sit on a bench and watch the sports events,” Schelling said. “And I sit on the bench and the dog stretches out beside me. That’s what I enjoy doing.”

Sokolich said he’s “supportive of the initiative,” but that it raises additional questions.

“It’s a question of which park, how many parks, all parks, one park?” Sokolich said. “I think Fort Lee should have a park where you can walk your dog. But I can tell you right now, that fine will be as high as conceivably possible for those people that abuse the privilege, that let their dogs run wild, that don’t clean up after them.”

Cervieri suggested allowing pets in parks but limiting them to certain areas.

“Even if the dog is leashed, the owner who’s not careful is just going to walk away from it,” he said. “If we limited them to the walkway areas, that would probably make a lot of sense.”