By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Construction has started on what will be the ultimate doggie destination in Sea Isle City.
After years of planning, work crews are breaking ground on a nearly $1 million dog park that will give Sea Isle’s four-legged residents and visitors their own exclusive playground.
The contractor, Fred M. Schiavone Construction Inc., of Malaga, N.J., is scheduled Tuesday to begin driving massive, 40-foot-long wood pilings into the ground that will be part of the foundation for three shade pavilions at the site.
Construction will continue during the fall and winter months as the contractor shoots to have the project completed by next spring or summer, in time for the start of the peak tourism season.
The landscaped dog park is being built in the north end of town on Landis Avenue near Seventh Street. Its location is next to the marshlands in a secluded area away from residential neighborhoods, so homeowners will not be disturbed by barking or other noise.
Parking was another consideration why the city decided to build the dog park on Landis Avenue near Seventh Street. Two new parking lots were built in the same area in 2019 as part of a restriping plan to make the Landis Avenue corridor safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. Pet owners using the dog park will be able to use the same parking lots.
Amenities will include doggy obstacles, water fountains and double-gated entryways to provide a safe, fenced-in environment for all of the canines. There will also be two shade pavilions to keep the dogs nice and cool.
The park will be configured to have a section for small dogs and a separate area for larger dogs.
Although the focus will be on the dogs, a third shade pavilion will be placed next door to the park to give the human visitors refuge from the sun and heat. It will also be a place for picnics.
Schiavone Construction workers Carlo DeFeo and Daniel Dunn complimented the dog park and pavilions while looking over the blueprints on Monday.
“It’s the landscaping and concrete work that will make the place look pretty,” said DeFeo, Schiavone’s carpenter foreman.
“It will make the place pop,” added Dunn, the company’s pile foreman.
When Schiavone begins the pile-driving work on Tuesday, it will use a construction technique that will make no noise to avoid disruptions, DeFeo said. Water pressure will quietly drive the pilings into the ground instead of the traditional noisy method of pounding them into place using heavy construction equipment.
The dog park’s construction will mean the relocation of racks of paint chips that were part of an outdoor research site that had been used for decades in Sea Isle to test the effects of salt air and harsh weather on paints and coatings. The privately run research site has been commonly known as the “paint chip test site.”
The racks of paint chips will be moved to another part of the parcel, south of the dog park, city spokeswoman Katherine Custer said.
Schiavone Construction submitted a low bid of $967,931 among four companies that competed for the dog park contract, Funding for the project has been approved by the Cape May County Open Spaces Board.
Mayor Leonard Desiderio said the city has redesigned the project a number of times to accommodate the needs expressed by the public and to address the concerns of the Cape May County Open Spaces Board.
“This is an extensive project that includes three separate pavilions and a dog park with facilities for both large and small dogs; and we’re sure that the facility will serve not only the dog lovers of the community, but all those who want to take advantage of the open space and recreational areas offered at the park,” Desiderio said in a statement.
During the quiet offseason months, the city lifts its ban of dogs on the beaches, giving canines and their owners a chance to get out and frolic on the wide-open shoreline.
But come summer, the vacationers take over the beaches and dogs lose their sandy playground. Without a place to call their own, dogs and their owners usually are out walking along the streets and sidewalks in the summer for exercise.
However, the new dog park will give canines their own playground year-round.
“The construction of a dog park has been an item repeatedly requested over the years in Sea Isle. During the city’s last master plan re-examination process, we conducted an extensive communitywide survey, and there was an overwhelming response from community members asking that we get this done,” Desiderio said.
