14 replies to this topic

[FIDOPres]

About once a year or so I jump on here to update y'all on the goings on with on effort to build a dog park. I know not everyone on this forum cares or thinks we need one, but rest assured that your hard earned tax dollars ARE NOT helping to build this park. There are also those of you who like to point out that they would prefer to have a ___________ (insert type of park here) instead, but you all can also rest assured that the chosen location of our park would not be suitable for any other type of park as the land is 1)odd-shaped, 2)sits directly under high tension power lines and 3) is adjacent to a sewer lift station that frankly doesn't always smell so great, but let's face it, the dogs aren't going to care. So now that I've got that out of the way I'm so excited to tell those of you that are still reading that after 8 YEARS of work we've finally got the city to agree to give us a piece of land to build our park. Folsom's first dog park will be located at Cummings Family park at the corner of Creekside Dr and Oak Ave. We expect to have designs in hand by mid-March 07 and will be able to start construction once we raise enough money. As I mentioned before the city is not allocating any funds to build the park. It will be financed entirely by private donations and fund raisers. The current estimate to build the park is $200,000. Believe me I know that's a lot of money for a park. I bet you're asking yourself "Why so much?", well I'm so glad you asked. The reason the price is what it is is due to the high tension power lines. The park site sits directly below the power lines and because of this we can't use metal fencing. Instead we have to use a wood-based fencing that is going to cost $60,000 (and that's just for materials). There is also the cost for grading, putting in water and irrigation systems, landscaping, etc. etc. We have various fund raisers and events coming up to help raise the funds and we're also looking for local businesses to donate supplies and labor. If your interested in the activities we have going on, or perhaps want to help with the park please visit www.fidoinc.org.
Thanks for letting me fill you in.
Jennifer Lake
President - FIDO

[bordercolliefan]

What will the total size of the fenced area be?

Will there be separate large dog/small dog areas?

[FIDOPres]

What will the total size of the fenced area be?

Will there be separate large dog/small dog areas?

The park size is 1.7 acres and will indeed have a separate small and large dog area.

[Steve Heard]

Hey Jennifer

Congratulations. Your persistence paid off. I know you had looked at numerous sites, and have met stiff opposition from dog haters and dog lovers alike.

I think a bonus of that location is that parents can have something to, and excercise their dogs while the kids skateboard or use the BMX track.

Perhaps you can have a volunteer day or two and ask folks to donate some muscle.

[Deb aka Resume Lady]

Hi, Jennifer, and thank you for the information. I have one question: after the park is built with privately raised funds, who will be physically and financially responsible for maintaining the park?

[john]

I can't wait until it is built... I'm sure our beagle agrees!

[Robert Giacometti]

I suspect for some of you this project seems to have been floundering longer than it should have.

A couple of things to remember, in the original Park Master Plan...there never was a dog park componet identified on any park site and more importantly the Park Master Plan was NEVER fully funded. So when any new componet was going to be added (like a dog park) it meant some other planned componet had to be deleted or deferred.

Please remember your tax dollars ( General Fund money) DON"T build parks. The funds used for park construction come from impact fees developers pay to build new construction, State Bond/Grants, sales of surplus parksites and/or funds raised by groups for certain types of facilities. Historically, I'm NOT aware of General Fund monies spent on park construction, but that doesn't preclude it from ever happening.

Another issue that contributed to the delay in approval of the project was some neighborhoods expressed legitimate concerns about adding a dog park componet to the Park Master Plan in their neighborhood after the fact that they moved in with an understanding of what the Park Master Plan was. This caused some possible sites to eliminated and the process restarted.

When this componet is finished it will add another piece to our quality of life and I would encourage all the dog owners here to try and contribute a small donation towards a worthy project!

[FIDOPres]

Hi, Jennifer, and thank you for the information. I have one question: after the park is built with privately raised funds, who will be physically and financially responsible for maintaining the park?

The city determined that the cost of maintaining the dog park would run about $1300/year. The city volunteered to absorb that cost for the first year and then re-evaluate after that. It may be that FIDO would be responsible after that first year.

[Al Waysrite]

Thanks for your efforts and the update. My dog will love it.

[traceyl]

Wow Jennifer! That's great. As of this Friday, our family will be dog owners so I'm thrilled to have a park we can take her too.

We'd love to volunteer some muscle to help with the park!

Tracey

[dukegirl27]

im super excited its right near our home and we could just walk over there. Currently if we want to go to a dog park its an ordeal we have to get the dog in the car and drive over to fair oaks...so much dog hair has accumlated in my car from this. it will just make folsom that much better. plus isnt folsom a dog friendly city?

[Mrs.D]

About once a year or so I jump on here to update y'all on the goings on with on effort to build a dog park. I know not everyone on this forum cares or thinks we need one, but rest assured that your hard earned tax dollars ARE NOT helping to build this park. There are also those of you who like to point out that they would prefer to have a ___________ (insert type of park here) instead, but you all can also rest assured that the chosen location of our park would not be suitable for any other type of park as the land is 1)odd-shaped, 2)sits directly under high tension power lines and 3) is adjacent to a sewer lift station that frankly doesn't always smell so great, but let's face it, the dogs aren't going to care. So now that I've got that out of the way I'm so excited to tell those of you that are still reading that after 8 YEARS of work we've finally got the city to agree to give us a piece of land to build our park. Folsom's first dog park will be located at Cummings Family park at the corner of Creekside Dr and Oak Ave. We expect to have designs in hand by mid-March 07 and will be able to start construction once we raise enough money. As I mentioned before the city is not allocating any funds to build the park. It will be financed entirely by private donations and fund raisers. The current estimate to build the park is $200,000. Believe me I know that's a lot of money for a park. I bet you're asking yourself "Why so much?", well I'm so glad you asked. The reason the price is what it is is due to the high tension power lines. The park site sits directly below the power lines and because of this we can't use metal fencing. Instead we have to use a wood-based fencing that is going to cost $60,000 (and that's just for materials). There is also the cost for grading, putting in water and irrigation systems, landscaping, etc. etc. We have various fund raisers and events coming up to help raise the funds and we're also looking for local businesses to donate supplies and labor. If your interested in the activities we have going on, or perhaps want to help with the park please visit www.fidoinc.org.
Thanks for letting me fill you in.
Jennifer Lake
President - FIDO

Jennifer this is great! I am so happy that it will finally happen. Our dog, Lola, has had two TPLO surgeries since May and will be ready to go by mid January. Yahoo!!!!!

[Holly]

I've been trying to pull up the page to download the form to "own_a_piece" which I saw last week. That page is not available nor is the home page for fidoinc.org. Can you give me any help? Any phone# contacts? I'm really excited to have this park closer to a reality!

[FIDOPres]

I've been trying to pull up the page to download the form to "own_a_piece" which I saw last week. That page is not available nor is the home page for fidoinc.org. Can you give me any help? Any phone# contacts? I'm really excited to have this park closer to a reality!

Hi Holly,
I'm so sorry about that, our servers were moved over the Holidays. The website is now up and if you go to the park info button all the forms are there. Please feel free to e-mail me if you still have any problems.

[supermom]

Well, you had your FIDO casino night. Were you able to get enough funds to start the park? Just curious.

Hope you did.