Dog park, hot dogs on GCSD agenda

 The Groveland Community Services District Board of Directors on Monday will consider approving the construction of a dog park on district property adjacent to Leon Rose Ball Field.

The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. at 18966 Ferretti Road in Groveland.
 

The district was planning on lumping the dog park’s California Environmental Quality Act study together with the study for the Gathering Place, a senior center that is also proposed on nearby district land.

But at a meeting in late June, the directors approved the dog park’s initial environmental study, which allowed the district to move forward with the park without awaiting the delayed study for the Gathering Place.

Project construction would be a joint effort between the district and volunteers from the Dog Park Committee. All material would be obtained through fundraisers and volunteer contributions. But the district will be in charge of mowing the grass and running a waterline to a planned drinking fountain.

All other work will be done by volunteers, including repairing an existing fence and extending it to enclose the area, and installing bag stations for droppings.

If approved, the park will be divided into an area for large dogs and another for small dogs. The registration costs to use the park are tentatively set at $24 a dog per year.

If 50 dogs were registered, the revenue should cover initial district construction costs and, later, long-term maintenance costs, according to district staff.

The initial environmental study looked at impacts the park could have on the land — from global warming to the rupturing of any earthquake faults. The study concluded that the dog park would not have any significant impact on the environment.

District Director Steve Perreira was the only director to vote against approving the environmental study.

“I’m opposed to a dog park that’s maintained at the expense of the public,” Perreira said at the late June meeting.

In other board business, directors will consider entering into a concessionaire agreement with Ken Lawrence for a hot dog vending stand in Mary Laveroni Park.

The agreement would be for the remainder of the year and 2010.