By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Sea Isle City’s nearly $1 million dog park will have some paw-some amenities.
Big dogs and little ones will each have separate play areas surrounded by fences to keep them in a safe, confined environment.
For exercise, there will be obstacle courses featuring hurdles, ramps and play tunnels to test the dogs’ stamina and agility.
Then, when the pooches get pooped out from all that running and jumping, they’ll be able to rest under two shade pavilions and quench their thirst at the doggie water stations.
“I haven’t seen a dog park like this one before. It’s cool. It’s different,” marveled Brad Accardi, a worker with Master Wire, the contractor that will install the fencing for the project.
Under construction since last October, the dog park is quickly taking shape at the north end of Sea Isle on Landis Avenue between Sixth and Eighth streets.
Master Wire is expected to complete the fencing in the next week, Accardi and other workers said Friday.
At this point, the dog park’s cement pathways, benches, flag poles, pavilions and water stations are in place.
“Construction of our future dog park is coming along very well, and before long we will be announcing the date of a ribbon-cutting ceremony for that facility,” Mayor Leonard Desiderio said in a statement updating the public on the project.
Desiderio added that the dog park will offer “plenty of fun for your four-legged friends.”
Although the focus will be on the dogs, a third shade pavilion has been built next door to the park to give the human visitors refuge from the sun and heat. It will also be a place for picnics.
Other amenities included in the project for the humans will be bicycle racks, a bicycle repair station, trash and recycling receptacles and landscaping.
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 at about five years.
Desiderio announced earlier that there will be no fee for dog owners to use the park. However, dogs will need to be licensed and have their vaccinations.
The $968,000 project is being funded with the help of an $850,000 grant from the Cape May County Open Space Board.
The dog park’s 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 between Sixth and Eighth streets. 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.
When completed, the park will give dogs their exclusive playground, saving their owners from the hassles and worries of finding their pets a place for walks and runs year-round.
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.
Desiderio and his daughter, Carmela, visited dog parks in Ocean City, Wildwood, Upper Township and Egg Harbor Township for some ideas on amenities that will make Sea Isle’s canines and their owners happy.
The Desiderio family has a shih tzu named Bruno, who was one of the dogs making new canine friends at the park’s groundbreaking ceremony in November. Bruno is expected to join with other dogs for the park’s ribbon-cutting celebration later this year.
