PORT ANGELES — Steven Isaacson said he felt it was his duty to stack the gnarly, recently pulled Scotch broom at Lincoln Park’s slowly evolving dog park.
While standing under a pre-Memorial-Day-weekend sun Friday, Isaacson, 22, who said he is unemployed, was exerting himself for free.
“This is something I have to do,” he said.
“I consider this my hometown,” the California transplant said.
“I’m just pulling weeds. I did it growing up.”
Isaacson is one of many dedicated citizen volunteers and entrepreneurs who are making this 12-year-old idea a reality for the city’s scads of dog owners — and for people who don’t own their own dogs but just like being around them, said Richard Bonine, city recreation services manager.
Volunteer organizers will gather Tuesday to discuss an upcoming volunteer work schedule for the project, which should be completed in June or July, he said.
Bonine walked the 1.85-acre, gently sloping site at the West Lauridsen Boulevard entrance to Lincoln Park on Friday.
He pointed out the fruits of the latest volunteer effort, a May 19 work party: about 60 fence poles that were planted by about 20 volunteers, including contractors and a half-dozen members of AmeriCorps.
“It’s not just zip, zip, zip you’re done,” he said of the digging, importantly aided by contractor Timm Kelly’s mechanized auger.
After about three more as-yet unscheduled work parties, the fence will be up and the dog park opened, Bonine said.
He urged people to phone him at 360-417-4551 if they want to join in, either during a work party or any week day, for that matter.
“The first goal is to get the fence up and people using it,” he said.
“Initially it will be a grassy area with trees and benches for dog owners. Then we will add further amenities,” Bonine said.
“Right now, we’re in the noxious-weed-removal and fence-building stage.”
Volunteers — including members of the Port Angeles Rotary Club and Nor’wester Rotary Club — are building the park, which will be overseen by the city of Port Angeles.
The city contributed $10,000 toward the effort, while donations account for about $8,000.
The dog park, which is incorporated into the future Lincoln Park Master Plan, is where the old campgrounds used to be, a gently-sloping, grassy area that should drain easily, Bonine said.
It will be divided into two parts: Small dogs will skitter around on about a third of the park, while larger dogs can bound about to their hearts’ content all the way to far-off boundary of the BMX track, Bonine said.
The park will border an 18-hole disc-golf course, and picnic tables will be added, including one on a small, park-related concrete pad, which is surrounded by bushes and which also will remain.
“Initially, it will be a grassy area with trees and benches for dog owners,” Bonine said.
“Then we’ll kind of feel out the user groups and the people who come and use it, and it will be up to the citizens as far as what other amenities they want to have.”
There will be trash cans and water access as well as receptacles, including plastic bags, for what dogs leave behind.
“We want to make sure you pack in and pack out,” Bonine quipped.
The notion of a dog park for Port Angeles — there’s already one in Sequim — has been gestating for more than a decade.
Twelve years ago, the proposal was brought before the city Parks and Recreation Beautification Commission, Bonine said.
Several different organizations advanced the idea, but the economy nose-dived, people moved on, and it was tough finding a spot in a non-residential area, he said.
The proposal gathered force again around 2009, then it took about two years to find a suitable location, Bonine said.
“So, it’s just been a long haul,” he said.
“It’s pretty obvious the city needs one,” he said, adding that he visited the Sequim Dog Park at Carrie Blake Park on numerous occasions when his dog was in better health.
“I was always surprised at how many people drove from Port Angeles to Sequim just so their dogs could fraternize with the other pups,” Bonine said.
Bonine added he’ll never have too many volunteers to help make it so that Port Angeles dog owners don’t have to drive to Sequim to let their dogs run free with other canines in an enclosed, safe area.
There’s always Scotch broom to pull, stack and remove.
“It’ll take over the park if you let it,” Bonine said.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
