Lexington to Start Work on Dog Park This Summer

Work on Lexington's first dog park will start this summer, town leaders say. 

They hope to open the park, which will be located on Hendrix Street, in the fall, said Jennifer Dowden, events and media coordinator for the town. The town will continue to add amenitites after the park opens.

An advisory committee spent the past five months setting rules, regulations and fees for the park based on researching similar parks, Dowden said. The policy the committee created will go before town council for two readings - once in April and once in May.

Crews will clear brush from the Hendrix Street property in May and June, Dowden said. Full work on the park will begin at the start of the new fiscal year in July. Town leaders will have a new budget by then that includes additional funds for the creation of the park. 

The town set aside $25,000 is the 2012-2013 budget for the creation of the park, Mayor Randy Halfacre said, but the total cost of the project will be about $50,000. 

The 8.9-acre park will provide fenced-in areas for dogs to run around unleashed. 

"We want to have a state of the art dog park," Halfacre said. "When it's complete, we're going to have a tremendous asset for this community."