PORT ANGELES — Work will begin today to prepare the ground at Lincoln Park for an off-leash dog area.
Fencing for the 1.8-acre park was unloaded Thursday at the park on Lauridsen Boulevard east of the William R. Fairchild International Airport.
Volunteers with the Port Angeles Rotary Club and the Nor’wester Rotary Club will build the park, which will be overseen by the city of Port Angeles once it is finished.
The dog park — which will be where the old campgrounds were and near parking and restrooms — should be open within two months, said Dan McKeen, president of the Port Angeles Rotary Club and city fire chief, who was named interim city manager last week.
“The first step is to clear the fence line,” said Richard Bonine, city recreation services manager, “and that’s what’s starting [today].”
Bill Roberds, a Port Angeles Rotary member and owner of Excel Utility Construction in Port Angeles and Sequim, will begin preparing the area for the chain-link fence.
“I’m the guy with the tractors,” Roberds said.
That part of the job should be finished by Wednesday, Roberds estimated.
Putting up the fence could start this weekend or next, McKeen said.
There is no set date for completion, said Bonine. He added that work on the project depends on the weather and the availability of volunteers.
“We have a great volunteer group,” Bonine said. “I am encouraged and excited about the progress that has been made and will be made in the future.”
The city contributed $10,000 toward building the park, Bonine said. Another $6,800 came through donations.
It will be the second off-leash park in Clallam County, the first being Sequim’s 2-acre dog park, which opened adjacent to Carrie Blake Park in 2007.
But the Lincoln Park off-leash area will differ from Sequim’s in several ways, Bonine said.
It will be in a more rustic setting, with trees incorporated into the area.
It also will be on the high point of a slope so water will run off quickly and dogs will stand a better chance of returning to owners’ cars without muddy feet, he added.
Dog owners will be required to pick up after their pets, with bags and waste receptacles provided.
The park will provide double gates so dog owners can let their dogs in without letting others’ out.
Free to dog owners, it will be “just like walking your dog in any of the other parks except it will be more convenient and safer,” Bonine said.
The park’s concept is a work in progress, Bonine noted. “We will tweak it.”
For instance, the dog park will have four picnic tables, but their location will be moved as determined by what people prefer and where the best locations prove to be.
Even if the type of seating changes — with benches instead of tables, for instance — seating probably will remain portable.
Dogs, of course, tend to congregate where their owners are.
“We’re thinking we should have everything portable, so we can move it every week or so,” Bonine said.
“That way, we don’t have the constant erosion of the facility in one area.”
The dog park idea was first proposed about 12 years ago when a citizens group convened to promote forming one at Lincoln Park.
Nothing came of it, however, and in 2007, another effort to establish a dog park there failed because of a lack of money.
In 2009, a proposal to create an off-leash area at Charles R. Willson Park was withdrawn because of opposition from neighbors.
More donations always could be used, Bonine added, for ongoing maintenance.
To contribute, contact any member of the Nor’wester Rotary Club or the Port Angeles Rotary Club, Bonine said.
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Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or at leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.
Information from stories by former PDN Reporter Tom Callis is included in this report.
