The Lindsay City Council approves construction of a dog park, with the help of the Lindsay Kiwanis Club and city staff
LINDSAY – After years of the city inquiring about a dog park, the Lindsay Kiwanis Club and city staff finally created a plan to install one this year.
At their Feb. 28 meeting, the Lindsay City Council approved their first dog park, which will be named the Lindsay Paw Park, and is set to be completed later this year. Police chief Rick Carrillo presented the idea on behalf of the Lindsay Kiwanis Club, alongside city staff. The park will sit on the corner of Elmwood and Tulare Road, and will feature a fenced in area for dog owners to let their dogs roam and run. After years of waiting for a dog park, the city came together with various organizations to finally make it a reality.
“I can’t wait until we have several dog events as well,” council member Roseana Sanchez said. “I’m very happy to see that the city, Kiwanis club and all other nonprofit organizations are coming to a consensus so all of us can work together.”
Carrillo presented the idea alongside his colleagues who each contributed to creating the park idea, including finance director Juana Espinoza, parks and recreation director Stephanie Orosco, city services director Neyba Amezcua and human resource manager Mari Carrillo. Chief Carrillo said that the dog park has been an idea circulating throughout the city for over 10 years, but it hasn’t taken off since recently.
Amezcua said that the park will be divided into two sections: one side for big dogs and the other for smaller dogs. The entire dog park will be fenced in so that no dogs can run off. There will be three benches installed, trash bins for dog waste and also a watering area. The watering area for the dogs will be made from old fire hydrants that the city will restore. There will also be accessible pathways throughout the park that lead to each bench. The Kiwanis club will be in charge of installing all necessary materials for the water features to be functional and drinkable. Then, the city will be in charge of providing those water services.
“[The projects] shows the efforts that staff has gone through to make sure that this [park] is something that will continue to be a beautiful place for people and their pets together, rather than an eyesore that we are not able to maintain,” Espinoza said.
Espinoza ran the numbers, and said the project will cost roughly under $12,000 to construct and $11,000 annually to maintain it. The annual costs will be to maintain the property and pay city workers to open the gates, empty trash bins and other maintenance. However, much of the labor costs will be donated by Kiwanis club members, according to Espinoza. The largest cost of the park will be installing the fencing.
The park will also not affect any part of the city in a negative way. The location of the park sits at the end of the sports complex, and will not intrude on any designated sports fields. Mari said that the park poses no risk to their insurance, either, as dog owners are responsible for their own dogs.
“We contacted risk management of our city’s insurance and asked about dog parks. They mentioned to us that at that time there were no claims over dog parks,” Mari said.
The idea was brought back up recently when Chief Carrillo was speaking with Orosco outside of Lindsay’s Wellness Center, when they ran into Espinoza who was walking her dog. At that moment they all questioned why Lindsay didn’t have a dog park yet. Within the same hour, Chief Carrillo approached city manager Joe Tanner to see if the idea could be a possibility. With Joe’s approval, he and the other staff members got to work.
“When we were talking about the dog park we were right there in front of the Wellness Center. Some of the things that you see when you’re standing in front of the Wellness Center, or even anywhere around that vicinity, is people walking their dogs,” Orosco said. “It’s something I see on a daily basis.”
