Pelham Bay Park is getting an enlarged dog run that promises to be a slice of doggie paradise.
The dog run, located at the end of the access road from the park’s Stadium Avenue parking lot, is currently about 5,660 square feet, according to a Parks Department source. Community Board 10’s Parks Committee approved a new 9,000-square-foot enlargement of the existing dog run at its February meeting. The plan was subsequently approved by a majority vote by the full board, said Parks Committee chairwoman Virginia Gallagher.
The funding for the enlargement, $100,000, was budgeted by Senator Jeff Klein, who is encouraged that the Parks Department is moving forward with the project.
“I am pleased that our plans for [an enlarged] dog run in Pelham Bay Park are finally coming to fruition,” Klein said. “I was able to allocate $100,000 toward this effort, which will include a new enclosure, improved grounds, and a water fountain for our four-legged friends.”
The original dog run in the park dates to about 20 years ago, and may have been the second dog run every built in a city park, Gallagher said. She believes that several new amenities to the dog run, like running water, should make it more appealing to dog owners and their pets.
“We are going to have running water from another project that is being built near the dog run in the park near Eastchester Bay,” Gallagher said. “This will let people sponge down their dogs on hot days, to cool off their pets.”
One of the amenities of the existing dog run, which was an earlier enhancement, is separate space for both larger and smaller dogs, Gallagher said. This will be maintained when parks almost doubles the size with the new construction, Gallagher stated.
“There will also be seating that will allow dog owners to sit down and watch their dog play with the other animals,” Gallagher said. “It had started out as a dream and has gotten bigger and prettier, and it gives the dog owners even more to do with their animals.”
According to the Parks Department, the new dog run will be surfaced with stone screenings, have a double gate system for those entering the dog run, and be divided into two separate areas: a 7,500 foot run for larger dogs, and a 1,500 foot run for smaller dogs.
In addition to benches, there will be logs and rocks for the dogs to play on, and the dog run will be surrounded by a four foot chain link fence on a concrete curb, a parks spokesman stated. There will be a small storage container near the entrance, and a ground hydrant at the dog run will provide the water supply, the spokesman stated.
