Dog park bid back on table

A proposed dog park facility would likely be near Henley Lake, pictured, through which there are walking tracks.

A designated dog park for Masterton would cost about $27,000 - and dog owners could be asked to pick up the tab for half of that.

The district council's policy and finance committee meets tomorrow to discuss whether the idea of a dog park - first proposed by Tinui woman Fern Love - should be referred to this year's annual plan consultations.

The new facility would likely be near Henley Lake.

Two recommendations from the council's Parks and Open Spaces Task Group will be discussed also, being that half the cost of the park be met by dog owners through dog registrations and that every owner be sent details of the park proposal.

Last year the council agreed to investigate issues and options for a dog park as put forward by Ms Love.

It was noted there are already nine areas for dog off-leash exercise in Masterton and councillors were left to decide whether further facilities were warranted.

The $27,000 estimated cost of building a dog park would include gates, fences, signs, shade trees, water access and bins. There would also be on-going costs, and supervision of the dog park to consider.

At the task group meeting councillor Brent Goodwin said if the dog park was to go ahead it should be rates-neutral and dog owners could be asked to pay the entire cost through a dog registration levy.

Ms Love first publicly floated the idea of a designated dog park in July last year.

She said she had been mulling over the idea for 10 years and was polling dog owners to gauge support for the concept.

She had seen dog parks "in action" elsewhere and, being a dog trainer, had seen first hand how they improved dogs' social skills but also allowed dog owners to mix and mingle.

In August Ms Love said she had considered fundraising - possibly selling T-shirts, to help with the cost of building the park fence.