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FRAMINGHAM – The City of Framingham has broken ground on its first-ever dog park.
Framingham Parks & Recreation is constructing about a 24,000 square foot dog park at Farm Pond Park adjacent to the City’s first-ever skate park. The park will have a space for both small and large dogs, near Loring Arena and Barbieri Elementary School, off Dudley Road.
The dog park is the brainchild of the community organization FramBark.
“I am excited to see that we have broken ground for the future dog park. The anticipated grand opening is hopefully going to happen sometime around early summer. My little one, Jack, is very excited to have a dog park close to home to make lots of new friends and play off that puppy energy,” said FramBark founder Shannon Stevens.
“This is going to be a fantastic space for the dogs of Framingham. This has truly been a team effort and I am looking forward to it being a smashing success for years to come,” said Stevens, who is one of 5 Parks & Recreation Commissioners.
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There is a fence around the property, and crews were digging dirt on Friday, February 11.
“The fence has been up for a couple of weeks, waiting for the right opportunity for Green Acres to begin mobilizing equipment, get on-site and begin construction. They started digging this week, even after the significant snowfall recently,” said Framingham Parks & Recreation Director James Snyder.
A majority of the park project is funded through a grant by the Stanton Foundation.
The City received a design grant of about $25,000 and another construction grant of about $225,000.. The two grants cover about 90% of the cost of the new park. The total cost of the project is about $262,000.
The City began advertising for bids for construction of the dog park in fall 2021.
The goal is to have the project completed in 2022.
But Snyder said the “project construction is weather-dependent right now, and some materials may take time to deliver due to the pandemic’s supply chain impacts. I am optimistic that the construction will be completed in the spring. However, many things could cause delays, so I cannot confirm a completion date at this time.”
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In 2015, the organization FramBark proposed the idea of a dog park, in the then-Town of Framingham.
As the Town, and now the City, was slowed to get on board with the proposal, the organization submitted a petition in 2020 to the City Council, to force the city to take action.
Frambark identified the Stanton Foundation grant, which would pay for 90% of the project costs.
The City procured the services of Radner Design Associates to help with site identification, public outreach, design development, and grant support for this project.
In December 2020, the Farm Pond area was chosen as the location for the dog park, among five sites, and after several public meetings. Designs for the dog park were unveiled at that time too.
“FramBARK is working on a partnership with Keep Framingham Beautiful to coordinate regular cleanups of both the dog park and Farm Pond. We want to not just use the park but be great stewards of it. Watch for more coming soon on that partnership!,” said Stevens to SOURCE.
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