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Date: 7/19/2022
AMHERST – Senior Planner Nate Malloy recently presented an update to the Amherst Dog Park to the Planning Board after changes were made during construction primarily to accommodate the clay cap that the park was built on, located along the southwest side of Old Belchertown Road on the northern portion of the old Amherst south landfill. The park is scheduled to open on July 27.
The park stretches across 1.5 acres and is split into sections for dogs under and over 30 pounds. The board was concerned that the changes to the original design should have been brought to them in advance rather than after they had been completed and asked if they were holding themselves to the same standard as a private project.
“It was reviewed and approved almost two years ago, during construction there were some changes made, I’d call them ‘in the field’ adjustments but there was a number of little changes that added up to more than de minimis in the opinion of the building commissioner [Rob Morra] and staff so we want to bring it back to the board for a review.”
Malloy said the main changes were removing five spaces due to a fire hydrant and the clay cap and shortening the depth of some parking spaces from the standard 18 feet by 3 to 6 inches. There was no minimum requirement for the number of parking spaces, so the park will start with 17 spots including two handicapped spots.
Other changes were considered essentially insignificant adjustments required by construction including slight changes to the shape of internal walkways and the locations of shade structures that were moved to accommodate topography and drainage on the site.
“There’s a gravel area and a grassy area in each dog section,” Malloy said. “Most of the funding for this park came from the Stanton Foundation, it’s a private foundation that funds a few different priorities and one is canine health. They recommend pea stone as a surface just because it’s easy to clean, dogs can use it and it doesn’t get eroded like grass. Oftentimes if you have a grass surface it requires more maintenance in terms of maintaining lawn and turf so it doesn’t erode, so these gravel areas were put in there for that purpose as easier maintenance, the dogs tend to use it and it’s recommended as one of the top three surfaces for the dog park.”
Malloy added, “Originally we thought we might have to run power to the site, electrical power and have a meter and the town engineer found an irrigation system that runs off solar and it has a very small footprint, it’s probably an 8 by 10 feet box and the solar panel is only about 5 inches by 5 inches on top and it uses water pressure from the water line and then a really small pump and timer. It runs one head at a time, but it can irrigate the site without electricity and without a typical irrigation pump so it saves on electricity and probably water as well.”
Planning Board member Andrew MacDougall said he wished the plans came to them before being made, and he said it was important to point out that they should be held to the same standard as other applicants.
“Cynically, I was wondering what if we didn’t approve what was brought forward, what happens? Something would happen, right? I understand why it happened, but I think we do need to really work hard on the process if we think that there’s a gap here to make sure that this doesn’t happen,” MacDougall said. “It seems like there’s a pretty clear difference between the two plans from the parking spaces at least that someone would have caught it beforehand.”
Board member Thom Long replied, saying that he had recently attended a site visit with other members where Malloy walked them through the intricate changes and explained why they were necessary.
“I think what I took away from our meeting with Nate is what we’re presented with is an aggregate of small changes and then a bunch of those smaller changes we would’ve never even noticed them, they’re just ‘on the field’ decisions that were made but because there are a lot of smaller on-site changes that were made in the course of construction, I think that’s why it’s coming back,” Long said. “My interpretation was someone stopped and realized all those little things might add up to a significant change.”
Planning Director Chris Brestrup added that the Planning Department had been going through a process change and Malloy wasn’t able to be on-site for the duration of the construction like he was for previous projects at Groff and Kendrick Park. She said the decision was made to have Malloy back off, allowing the Department of Public Works to manage the day-to-day operations and that she thinks there was a subsequent lack of communication between the two departments.
Malloy shared the signs that the dog park task force had designed including a rules and regulation sign, welcome sign, etiquette sign and possibly a freestanding sign along Route 9 or Old Belchertown Road. The park hours are dawn until dusk, children under 8 are not allowed, children under 14 must be accompanied by an adult and there is a limit of three dogs per person.
Dogs also must be leashed when entering or exiting the park and must remain within view and voice control of the owner at all times while inside. No dogs younger than four months are permitted and only dogs and humans are allowed. More information can be found online at amherstdogpark.org.