Saugus tongues are wagging over dog park

SAUGUS — Residents discussed the impact that a proposed dog park would have on Stocker Park during a public forum meeting.

Town Manager Scott Crabtree was present alongside the Dog Park Committee and Sameer Bhoite of Warner Larson Landscape Architects to present the plan to the public and hear feedback from residents.

“There’s not a thing we do in Saugus that doesn’t have an opinion, one way or the other,” Crabtree said.

The dog park would be a first for the town, and Crabtree said it would represent an improvement for the area of Stocker Park.

During the presentation put together by Warner Larson Landscape Architects, Bhoite walked residents through the plan for the park, noting that the existing playground and baseball fields would remain untouched. The dog park would be built where there are currently tennis and basketball courts.

The dog park would be fenced in and have separate areas for dogs of different sizes. Additionally, the dog park would have shade, seating, and access to water for both dogs and their owners.

Drawings shown during the presentation do not represent the dog park’s final design, Bhoite said.

“We haven’t done the construction drawings,” Bhoite said. “We produced these drawings working with some input from the dog park group, Scott (Crabtree) himself, The Town of Saugus, and working with the Stanton Foundation.”

The Stanton Foundation has provided a grant to cover some of the dog park’s costs.

Bhoite said that the materials used for the park would be permeable in order to not absorb water if a storm hits the area. Warner Larson has recommended rice stone, which he said is easy on dogs’ paws.

“The park itself has been an unofficial dog park,” Crabtree said. “We get the calls here all the time, people bring their dogs there and use that area that’s sort of become almost abandoned. The idea is to try and bring life back into the park, so that people go there for different uses, and utilize the beautiful area there, whether it’s with baseball or some sort of youth sport, frisbee, as well as being able to utilize a dog park.”

Resident Julie Mills said that while she fully supports having a dog park in Saugus, Stocker Park is not the right location for it.

Mills cited the Wetlands Protection Act, arguing that the park’s proximity to the Saugus River would pose a significant hazard.

She shared additional concerns about the potential for dog-waste runoff, saying that roundworm, which is found in dog waste, lives for several years in the soil surrounding dog parks. She said it can cause blindness, which not be apparent for up to 10 years.

“Who is going to be responsible for the liability?” she asked.

Crabtree said that the town would make sure any dog park built does not violate any statues.

Another resident, Scott Vandiver, owns two rescue dogs. He said that they would love a dog park, but what is most important about the project is the “beautification” and “revitalization” of Stocker Park.

“I go down there and that field, that space is used for two things — smoking weed and having sex,” he said.

“And walking dogs,” Crabtree said, drawing laughter from the audience.

“For people to think about this, who maybe don’t have dogs at all, you really need to think about the revitalization, what it means to the Town of Saugus to be able to bring that park up to a level where everybody can enjoy it, and if this is one of the catalysts that we can use to get to that, I think that’s a good step forward for our community,” Vandiver said.

Resident Kim Calla said that while the project has been in the works for several years, no abutters on Riverside Court or Stocker Street had been contacted, which she found “unsettling.”

“I support a dog park in our town, however, not located at Stocker Playground,” she said.

Calla said that the park’s playground is not dilapidated and that it has been neglected by the town for years. She added that the basketball and tennis courts there are used frequently and the area needs some “TLC.”

“I speak on behalf of all the residents of Stocker Street, and those who are here, and couldn’t be here, who oppose Stocker Playground for becoming a dog park. We ask not to do an injustice to the wildlife, the abutters, and more importantly, the children, for which this land was gifted from the Stocker family, and restore its sole purpose as a forever playground, as stated in the deed,” Calla said.

Wildlife was of concern for resident Lisa Lavargna, who said that there are more than 39 different species of wildlife in that area.

Lavargna cited a study that argued dogs have an overwhelmingly negative impact on wildlife.

“The presence of dogs causes wildlife to move away temporarily or permanently,” she said. “It reduces the amount of habitat in which they feed, breed, and rest.”

Resident Sharon Floramo, adding to Vandivers’ statement, said that illegal activities have been occurring not just at Stocker, but also at other parks in town as well.

“I think the commonality is the parks that are in disrepair, like Ballard and Stocker, tend to attract more unwanted activity,” Dog Park Committee member and Board of Selectmen Vice Chair Jeff Cicolini said. “The parks that we’ve already invested in, thus far, seem to have less action through the Police Department.”

He added that the Dog Park Committee considered the project a way to make Stocker Park an attractive park for the town’s families by investing time, energy, and effort into it.

Floramo, like Calla, was concerned with the lack of notice to abutters, and called the possibility of a dog park at Stocker Park a “breach of trust” and “an environmental disaster to the surrounding wetlands.”

“There were no abutters’ (notices) because we didn’t know what we were going to come out with,” Cicolini said. “We’ve reviewed 12 different areas, then we compared the 12 different areas to the requirements of the Stanton Foundation grant and quickly realized that number was a lot smaller than 12… Then we spoke to the town manager, asked for help to make sure we were reading it correctly and get renderings, but no decision’s been final or made.”

Board of Selectmen member Anthony Cogliano said that the town absolutely needs a dog park, but referenced the residents in the area of Stocker Park who opposed it at the forum.

“All I’m asking is that we consider the other parks — Waybright, Lynnhurst, Oaklandvale — before we finalize the decision to put it here,” he said. “Maybe this is the right place, maybe it’s not — I just want them to be heard.”

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