Recent correspondence shared with the Times suggests that a proposed dog park for Chesterville is facing a frustrating snag – Township staff are refusing to commit to providing the lawn maintenance for the park after its completion, despite the fact that it would be considered owned by the Township.
Dog park committee member, Maya Séguin-Abels sent an email to Council members, expressing her frustration that the dog park would not be afforded the same provisions as other Township owned parks.
“Our next steps would be for our committee members to become volunteers of North Dundas and to approach local companies to seek their interests to donate to our project,” said Maya. “However, we can’t continue our initiative without knowing that the lawn maintenance would be taken care of by the Township. I think many members of the community would be disappointed if this project fell through because the lawn maintenance was not covered like other municipal parks in the Township of North Dundas.”
In her email, Maya also notes that her experience with other dog parks in the area suggests that lawn maintenance and other services such as garbage collection are typically provided by the municipalities that own the parks.
Councillor John Lennox responded in the email thread, stating: “I am disappointed… that these decisions have been made outside of Council’s consideration.” The Councillor was cautious not to appear to be advancing Township business as a lone entity through email, but endeavored to encourage Township staff to gather more information on the issue.
