Our four-footed friends may get more public places to play.
A new dog park on Main Street was mentioned at the January 12th Public Meeting of the Blairstown Township Committee. At the meeting, Jeanette Iurato, who owns several pieces of property in the downtown area, agreed with this idea.
“That would be really nice as someone who lives in the village… Many of our people down there are living in apartments. And those buildings don’t have yards and don’t have access (to) walk their dogs. I’ve just actually seen them go in the road or go in front of the eateries.”
Committeeman Walter Orcutt motioned to move this project along, with unanimous approval.
The proposal was made while discussing how to address Sycamore Park’s existing canine area.
The popular dog park is now run by only one person, operating as an LLC, who’s looking to retire the responsibility. The Blairstown Township Committee offered to absorb the dog park and maintain it under the Recreation Department.
In the past, dog park visitors paid a membership fee that went towards the LLC’s insurance policy. Mayor Rob Moorhead suggested, “The insurance that it would require would fall under our insurance and wouldn’t cost us any more. So, if we were so inclined, we could stop charging residents for the dog park.”
Under the town’s control, new entrance regulations would be implemented, particularly regarding the fence lock. Blairstown residents could download an app on their smartphones and use it to unlock the new electronic dog park gate.
Residents without smartphones and out of towners need only visit town hall with proof of license and vaccination to receive a code to manually open the lock with an ID card. This system will also provide resident owners with an incentive to renew licenses in order to renew their code each year.
Both canine parks would have these electronic locks.
Alex Tironi, Contributing Writer
A recent graduate of George Mason University in Virginia, Alex pursued a degree in journalism with a double minor in American Sign Language and nonprofit studies. She worked as assistant news editor to the Fourth Estate, the university newspaper where she reported on many things but mostly focused on campus crime and PD activity. While working for a nonprofit called the Borgen Project, she wrote about global health and poverty in third-world nations. Alex recently finished an internship writing and editing for a business consulting company in NY. Growing up in the area, she has always been active in her community and brings the same intention as a contributing writer for the Ridge View Echo.
