People park is a good description, said Ray Shannon, of what he and other proponents envision for a half block of south Iola, shorn of housing in the buyout following the 2007 flood.
“The park will be as much about people, as it will be for the dogs,” Shannon said.
Typical parks provide as much as a social venue for pet owners as for the animals.
The park is designed to have two compounds for large and small dogs.
“Dogs need a place to run and exercise to stay healthy,” Shannon observed. “Small ones with short legs can get some exercise from being walked, but larger ones really don’t.”
The park will have rules, including owners being of legal age before being permitted to bring their dogs. Animals will be leashed until inside fenced confines of the park and then turned into one of the two exercise areas.
“The number of animals permitted at any one time will be controlled and owners will be required to remain at the park while their dogs are there,” he said. “If there is an unattended animal, the animal control officer will be called.”
Initial cost for fencing, two freeze-proof hydrants, parking and amenities, for both dogs and owners, has been estimated at $20,000, half of which has been committed by the city.
The other $10,000 is being raised by private donations, with about $8,100 in hand.
“We’d like to have the private money collected by sometime in early October,” Shannon said, a goal he thinks is within reach. In the past week $600 has come in.
Thrive Allen County is the recipient for private funds, which makes donations tax-deductible with Thrive being a 501(C)3 organization.
Once built, Shannon said maintenance mainly would be keeping grass mowed, a chore the city adopted when the space earmarked for the park, the half block between Chestnut and State streets and south of Irwin, became city property through the flood-buyout program.
THE PARK will be a quality of life amenity for Iola, said David Toland, Thrive executive director.
“It will be something that will set Iola apart” from other towns its size in Kansas, Toland said. “Frontenac has a park but other than that there are none we know of outside of metropolitan areas.
“The park will give us an advantage when we’re recruiting people to come to Iola and Allen County,” he said.
Whether an exercise area for dogs is available — a half-block park would fill the bill nicely — is “something we hear repeatedly when we talk to doctors and dentists about coming here,” Toland continued. “One would give us a competitive edge.”
When the Vision Iola assessment was made, a dog park was among things included in proposals.
Shannon recalled conversations about seven young couples who were considering moves to Iola.
“Four of them asked whether we had a dog park,” he said.
