By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
There are public parks that are “dog friendly.” This will be a dog park that is “people friendly.”
Sea Isle City is taking the next step in plans for a dog park that will feature something for both the town’s four-legged and two-legged residents.
City Council voted Tuesday to apply to the Cape May County Open Space Board for a grant to fund the project. Early estimates for the cost of the dog park were around $200,000, but now the city plans to apply for a grant in the range of $1 million, Mayor Leonard Desiderio said.
The cost will include the dog park and a scenic observation tower that is also planned in the same area for the humans, Desiderio said.
After considering a number of possible locations, Sea Isle officials have settled on city-owned property in the north end of town on Landis Avenue near Seventh Street for the dog park.
A timetable has not yet been announced for building the project. Desiderio estimated that the dog park will likely be ready sometime in 2023, a bit later than the tentative fall 2022 completion date the city had been shooting for earlier.
“This project has been a long time in the making,” Desiderio said in a statement. “As we know, Sea Isle City is very dog-friendly community with many of our residents and visitors owning dogs.”
A dog lover himself, the mayor and his family have a shih tzu named Bruno. He and his daughter, Carmela, visited dog parks in Ocean City, Wildwood, Upper Township and Egg Harbor Township for some ideas on amenities that would make Sea Isle’s canines and their owners happy.
Desiderio believes the dog park will be “extremely popular.” He noted that a communitywide survey conducted in 2015 included responses from local residents urging the city to create more recreation attractions, including a dog park. About 40 percent of the approximately 3,000 respondents to the survey supported a dog park.
The dog park will be configured to have a section for small dogs and a separate area for larger dogs. There will also be doggy obstacles, water fountains, benches and plenty of room for canines to run around in a fenced-in safe environment, city spokeswoman Katherine Custer said.
Knowing that many families choose their vacation destination based on its pet-friendly reputation, Sea Isle has been looking to build its first dog park for years.
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.
The dog park will give canines their exclusive domain for stretching their legs. While the focus will be on the dogs, the park will also have something for the human visitors.
Sea Isle plans to build a handicap-accessible observation tower next to the dog park that will be high enough to peer over the surrounding dunes and marshlands, providing panoramic views of the ocean to the east and the back bays to the west.
“The scenic observation tower will afford people a great opportunity to witness the outstanding natural beauty of our island, with a great vantage point for viewing environmentally protected areas of the marsh and wetlands, along with fantastic views of the beach and ocean,” Desiderio said.
The dog park will be built 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.
