Tails will be wagging. Long-wanted dog park on Lexington’s south side ready in 2021.
It’s been one of the most frequent requests of south side Lexington residents.
When will the city build a dog park for four-legged residents and their owners south of New Circle Road?
Thanks largely to a $125,000 donation from Phil and Mary Greer, an approximately 4-acre dog park in Veterans Park off of Tates Creek Road will likely be open by spring 2021. It will be the city’s seventh dog park.
“I announced this at a recent neighborhood meeting and people applauded,” said Lexington-Fayette Urban County Councilwoman Kathy Plomin, whose 12th council district includes much of Veterans Park. “You would have thought it was Christmas.”
Plomin has spearheaded efforts to get the dog park built.
Michelle Kosieniak, superintendent of planning and design for Lexington Parks and Recreation, agreed. Kosieniak said the parks department receives at least one request a month from residents on the city’s south side for a dog park.
“And that’s been going on for years,” Kosieniak said. “We predict that this park will be wildly popular.”
In the past 15 years, that area of Lexington has exploded in population and dog owners, she said. The closest dog park for many in that area is Wellington Park off of Reynolds Road.
Construction on the park and approximately 12 parking spaces could start within the next two months, Kosieniak said. The park will have two paddocks, water fountains for humans and dogs, benches and other features commonly found in the city’s other larger dog parks. It will also be handicap accessible. The dog park will be located toward the back of the park in a large grassy area surrounded by a paved walking and biking trail. Kosieniak said crews will start this fall and the hope is the park will open sometime in April or May.
Kosieniak said building the dog park has long been on the department’s to-do list. But that to-do list is long and money is often tight in parks. Thanks to the Greer family, funding is no longer an issue. To pay for the parking spaces, Plomin and Councilman Chuck Ellinger II contributed $19,000 from a fund for small capital projects in council districts.
In addition to the Greers, the Friends of the Dog Park, a nonprofit that spearheaded fundraising efforts to start Lexington’s dog parks in 2000, will also chip in $5,000, Plomin said.
Plomin credited the generosity of the Greer family for making the long-delayed dog park a reality.
“This a public-private partnership that’s a win-win for everyone,” Plomin said. “I think everyone could use some good news right now.”
This isn’t the first time private donors with deep pockets have stepped up to create areas for Lexington canines. Dennis Anderson of Anderson Communities helped pay for a small dog run or pad, which are much smaller than traditional dog parks, in Phoenix Park in 2017. The Phoenix Park dog run was the last dog park to open in Fayette County.
