Adam Prudhomme
Editor
A movement to establish an off leash dog park in Greater Napanee is gaining momentum.
Napanee resident Jessica Dusharme came up with the idea and is now in the process of gathering public support before presenting the idea to council.
“I’ve been taking my dog to Belleville to their off leash dog park,” said Dusharme. “Having to go out of town, you have to travel, it’s basically like a day trip. I just thought it would be easier if there was one closer by and I know pretty much every town surrounding us has one and we’re the only ones that don’t.”
She proposed the idea to fellow members of the What’s Going On Napanee Facebook page, where it was well received. Since then she’s had several fellow pet owners offer their input to help move the idea forward. An online petition has already garnered nearly 600 signatures, and a Facebook page titled Napanee Ontario Off Leash Dog Park has been established to help drum up support and keep people in the loop.
A specific location hasn’t been determined yet for where they’d like to see the park be established, but the Napanee fairgrounds has emerged as an early favourite.
“Most of the replies I got were for the Fairgrounds,” she said. “I’ve seen dogs off leash there. I know having worked in by-law previously, it’s not legal to do that. I just thought it would be nicer if there was an actual area that was safer for the pets as well as people within the parks to take their dogs and let them run and have a little fun with other dogs.”
Dusharme says the group is still open to suggestions as to where the park could be located.
A fenced in area would allow dog owners to let their dogs off leash for a run as well as to socialize them with other dogs.
“A lot of people are out with their animals now and I just thought it would be a good solution for our town to build more community involvement,” Dusharme added.
Before making a formal deputation to council she’s hoping to gather more information such as the potential cost of a park and how much land they’d like to have dedicated. In the meantime she’s hoping to gather as much public support as possible to help bolster the presentation.
“I want it to be more of a community project as opposed to just me taking the ball and running with it,” she added.