Ontario City Council considers dog park proposal

At Thursday night’s Ontario City Council meeting, the Friends of the Maize Memorial Dog Park’s Chair Demrie Alonzo spoke on behalf of their committee about bringing a dog park to Ontario. Alonzo had given the council members, president and Mayor Hutchinson a copy of their initial proposal several days prior to the meeting.

 

“Dog parks are growing throughout the United States by 34 percent every five years,” explained Alonzo. “People need places to run their dogs where they are safe and there aren’t many places to do that.”

 

Council member Eddie Gallo, who chairs the parks committee for the city, told the twenty-plus people who came to support the dog park, that he had read the proposal and already spoke with the Mayor about some ideas. He asked Alonzo to invite him to their next meeting.

 

“The next step is to meet with our parks committee,” said Gallo, “and see how we can make this work.”

 

Friends of Maize Memorial Dog Park are not asking the city to finance the dog park. The group is simply seeking the land and intend to raise the funds to see the park to fruition.

 

Alonzo said they are hoping for a similar set-up like the Lexington soccer and baseball clubs have with the village. The group proposes to use the land provided by the village. The village would hypothetically maintain the property, but everything else is handled by the organizations using it.

 

“It’s a win-win situation,” said Alonzo.

 

The Friends of Maize Memorial Dog Park currently meet on the third Saturday of the month at Granter’s Grinder at 10 a.m. and invite anyone interested in helping out with the park. The group seeks need volunteers in all areas of making the park happen.

 

They already have a full board and are working to grow the committee of volunteers. Anyone interested in helping out with the dog park should contact Alonzo at 567-274-8500.