About one in every three families has a registered dog in Wayland. With those sorts of numbers, there is definitely a need for a dog park, according to Nicolette Mascari and Jessica Greher Traue. Traue explained how the idea took off from an initial zoom meeting where they originally had interest from five or six community members who were pretty affirmative. Now they have town wide interest and 11 residents on the Dog Park Committee.
Mascari takes her dog, Luna, a 3 year old boxer who has infinite energy to Eddie’s Dog Park in Natick which is about a 20 minute drive but she says, “it would be great to have a place in town where I could have a cup of coffee and meet a friend while she plays.”
“Older residents and community members who have physical limitations that prevent them from using conservation areas but still want to exercise their dogs would really benefit,” said Traue. “Eddie’s is 20 minutes each way and that’s 40 minutes just on the road so suddenly that’s an hour of your day.”
“The primary purpose of a conservation area is not to run dogs,” said Mascari, “and a number of the people who come there are not dog people, but come for other pastimes like bird watching or snowshoeing.” She added that there are many other variables like coyotes and deer, especially in the early morning or evening. Besides for dogs with less than excellent recall, conservation areas can be challenging.
The number one priority is finding the right location. Traue said, “ in total, I don’t think we envision this being any larger than an acre – we’re not talking about a huge parcel of land at all.” Mascari added that it must be centrally located and “we want it to be convenient for people walking there with dogs on leashes.” Ideally, according to Traue, it would be close to getting something to eat or a cup of coffee – that way it would also help local business.
Mascari pointed out that “we have many unique, small, town owned lots – it’s really low hanging fruit to be honest so now we have to see what we like and identify one location that we feel is the optimal spot – hopefully include a large and small breed area.” Then Town approval is needed to begin work. “Old South Landfill has over 10 acres, that’s a really big fence, whereas Town Center has just over an acre so the location options vary wildly in scope.”
Traue talked about the opportunity to make it more budget friendly. “There are efficiencies that can be built in and there are private grants that have sponsored these kinds of initiatives in the past.” Mascari said they are looking at groups that funded other local dog parks so “we need to understand our scope and location in order to go and ask for the money – the price of entry here is not much and would benefit so many people and families in town.”
The group has spoken to local Animal Control officers and they report that the response was overwhelmingly positive. According to AC officers, dog parks reduce behavioral issues. To be realistic, dog parks would not work for all dogs just like not all dogs do well on conservation land and trails.
Mascari outlined a plan for next steps. “We want to start location pilot tests in the next two weeks now that the weather is getting better – Sunday morning or afternoon where five or so dog owners have an informal pup pop-up and provide feedback.”
Traue reiterated that there are services in town that fit a much narrower audience but “we understand that being part of a community, you’re not going to benefit from 100% of the amenities in the community.” For instance, she said, there’s an equestrian ring in town and we don’t have nearly as many horse owners in town as dog owners yet we have amenities – a disproportionate emphasis on something that serves much fewer people. “So I would love to see a dog park fast tracked but want it to be intentional.”
