LAKELAND ― After eight years of debate, Lakeland’s dogs will lastly have a spot to lie within the solar downtown.
City commissioners unanimously authorized a $282,897 contract with Lakeland-based Rodda Construction to build a canine park at 145 N. Lake Ave. It’s throughout the road from Lakeland Fire Station 1, south of Citrus Connection’s park-and-ride lot.
The 1.8-acre parcel was quit-claim deeded from the Florida Department of Transportation to Lakeland in 2021. It’s presently a grassy space that serves as a retention pond.
“We’re excited, this has been occurring a very long time,” Pam Page, town’s deputy director of parks, recreation and cultural arts mentioned. “There’s such a bevy of condominium complexes inside a two-block radius, it will likely be closely utilized.”
Proposed plans for the canine park have drastically modified since its conception. The earliest pictures of the park included AstroTurf, which in January 2020 was changed with a less expensive artificial materials much like what’s used within the warning observe of Tigertown’s baseball subject.
When development bids got here again at $660,000, greater than double the venture’s anticipated cost, a number of modifications had been made.
The venture was moved barely south and was refined, eliminating synthetic grass. Plans name for set up of a 6-foot ornamental fence with six entry gates, canine sculptures, boulder retaining partitions and concrete sidewalks. The park will provide pet homeowners facilities together with a canine water fountain, a waste station and a canine wash station.
There is not going to be separate areas for big dogs versus smaller breeds, Page mentioned.
Commissioner Mike Musick requested how the present retention pond will perform as a canine park, given the realm tends to soak up runoff stormwater.
Page mentioned it would serve a twin objective, as the realm solely tends to fill with water just a few occasions per 12 months throughout main rain occasions. City employees could have the choice to shut the park whether it is considerably flooded, Page mentioned, much like the way it briefly stops use of its soccer or athletic fields after heavy rain.
City Manager Shawn Sherrouse mentioned there’s an upland space alongside the perimeter of the property that will permit a portion to remain open even when different components are flooded.
Page didn’t share the proposed title of the downtown canine park with commissioners at Friday’s agenda research.
“We have a really inventive title that communications helps us with the brand that we’ll then copyright,” she mentioned. “Our most inventive concepts today we now have to copyright.”
The metropolis beforehand threw across the title “Central Bark” however later discovered there have been copyright points.
Page provided a tidbit of native historical past that may maintain a clue to the park’s future title.
“The little canine who was thought-about ‘The Mayor of Lakeland,’ his title was Sparky,” she mentioned. “His homeowners began elevating money to fund the canine park.”
The venture can be funded with $126,155 from Lakeland Community Redevelopment Agency’s Downtown CRA Funds for Lake Mirror promenade upkeep, $100,000 from the Public Improvement Fund on account of sale of land to The Joinery, $50,000 from the Public Improvement Fund’s park and recreation charges, and $6,742 in group donations.
Rodda Construction has 90 days to begin development on the park with an estimated completion in 9 months, or roughly September 2024.
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While the park is beneath development, Lakeland has three dog parks that pet homeowners can go to with their furry, four-legged buddies:
- Cook Park Dog Park, 955 Wedgewood Estates Blvd., open from daybreak to nightfall.
- Dog Leg Woods Dog Park, 3326 Cleveland Heights Blvd., open from daybreak to nightfall.
- Lake Crago Dog Park, 525 Lake Crago Drive, open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. besides Wednesday, when it opens at 9 a.m.
Sara-Megan Walsh may be reached at [email protected] or 863-802-7545. Follow on X @SaraWalshFl.
