Cheshire Dog Park Moving Closer to Becoming a Reality

For the last several years, dog lovers in Cheshire have worked to find funding in an effort to build a comprehensive, recreational dog park for area pets.

Their dream may soon become a reality.

The group of volunteer residents, led by fundraising campaign chairwoman Cindy Forlenzo, has now raised more than $17,000 to help pay for fencing and other needs to build the Cheshire Dog Park on the two-acre parcel located next to Artspace on Route 10 and with several fundraisers still to come, members are hopeful that they could have what they need to build and potentially open the park as early as this fall.

But there is still a lot of work to be done.

The goal is to raise $30,000 in all, according to the group's website CheshireDogPark.com, and the group still needs permission from the Cheshire Town Council to formally use the parcel, which is owned by the town.

Forlenzo told the Cheshire Citizen this week that the hope was to have the park ready to go in the spring, but that efforts are picking up and there’s still an opportunity to have it completed by Fall 2013.

“Everyone seems to be very interested in getting this done,” Forlenzo said. “We would have liked to have it done by this spring, but I don’t think it’s going to happen, so we’re looking at fall.”

The project first started in 2008 with a goal of ultimately setting aside as much a four acres for dogs to roam and socialize freely.

The town currently has no park for dogs and although residents sometimes use the Southington Dog Park, rules at the park technically restrict use there to Southington residents only.

Are you looking forward to a dog park coming to town? Would you be frequenting the park? Share your thoughts right here on Patch.

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