LEVERETT — A resident is floating the possibility for town officials to invest in construction of a dog park, partly as a way to reduce conflicts between hikers and those walking dogs on town conservation trails.
Marty Klein told the Select Board Tuesday that a vacant Montague Road parcel between the Leverett Library and Leverett Elementary School, which other residents have eyed for pickleball courts, could be an ideal place for a dog park.
Having such a place could provide socialization for both dog owners and dogs, but Klein said it would also serve to protect those without dogs who walk on public lands. Klein estimates that 10% or fewer of dog walkers have their pets on leashes, and 5% or fewer having their dogs under voice command, causing problems at these sites.
Select Board members appreciated Klein’s proposal, but noted there are obstacles to building a dog park, including the cost of construction.
Tom Hankinson said he has two Labrador retrievers and would be unlikely to bring them to a park. Still, he wondered if a better place for a dog park might be behind the Public Safety Complex, just north of the school, where it could go in over the leachfield.
Jed Proujansky said the vast majority of dog owners like to walk their dogs on the trails, and unless a dog park is big enough, it could quickly deteriorate from overuse.
Proujansky added that open space should be preserved for students at the school. “That area, I think, is important to maintain for kids,” Proujansky said.
Potential maintenance costs were cited as a concern for Chairwoman Patricia Duffy, with questions about who would take care of the site.
Klein said if a dog park isn’t possible, he would like to see more signs posted at the entrance to trails about the towns dog bylaws or changing the bylaws to reduce confrontations. He said there have been several incidents in which walkers have been attacked by dogs.
Meanwhile, the board also listened to advocacy from Sister Clare Carter of the New England Peace Pagoda, who is requesting that other area communities join the Mayors for Peace initiative that aims to have a world free of nuclear weapons.
“We thought let’s breathe new life into it and try to expand it,” Carter said.
The Select Board is expected to soon send letters to other cities and towns in Hampshire and Franklin counties requesting they join.
The Mayors for Peace initiative promotes humanity and life, Carter said, and having more towns part of it would be good, especially before August’s ceremonies commemorating the lives lost from the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. Carter reflected on her visits to Japan over the years to speak to survivors.
In a gesture of thanks, Carter provided strings of cranes, made by an Amherst resident, to Select Board members and Town Hall officials to show gratitude for their advocacy for nuclear nonproliferation.
In other business, the Select Board:
- named Abby Lamborn the town’s conservation agent, with a salary of $25 per hour for up to 10 hours per week. Lamborn’s hiring comes as a previous applicant appointed to the position withdrew from consideration;
- suggested that a community forum on the future of the Field Building, the town’s former library, would likely be held in mid-September. There will be both discussions to ensure the envelope of the 1916 building is protected and to gather ideas for how the building can be used.
