City Council to consider funding a dog park in Morgan Hill
By Tony Burchyns Staff Writer
Morgan Hill – A grassroots effort to build a dog park could get a big push from the City Council Wednesday with the appropriation of $20,000 for the project.
The funding recommendation appears on the council’s consent calendar and is a welcome surprise to members of the Morgan Hill Dog Owners Group (D.O.G.), who’ve worked for three years to raise funds for an off-leash park with little or no hope of financial support from the city.
“The city told us right away they had no money” for the project, said D.O.G. chairwoman Gloria Zufall. “But if we wanted to, we could try to raise it.”
For its part, the city showed support for the idea of a dog run by reserving an acre-and-a-half of land at the south end of Community Park on Edmundson Avenue. But city leaders left it up to D.O.G. to raise about $50,000 to launch the park, which includes building a chain-link fence, installing a bulletin board and providing dispensers for plastic “poop” bags.
Undeterred by the challenge, Zufall and other dog lovers have managed to raise about $27,000 since May 2005, holding five successful fundraisers including a downtown rummage sale in June and a 5-K walk/run for dogs and their owners, called “Walk-A-Pooch, on Aug. 12. But despite the group’s efforts, they still don’t have enough money to open the park in October as they had planned.
Hoping to gather sympathy for her group’s predicament, Zufall penned a letter to city council members in June requesting $20,000 to more or less match the funds D.O.G. had raised in the community.
By a stroke of luck, the letter showed up in time to be added the public record of an open hearing on the city’s proposed operating budget for 2006-07. As council members discussed the proposed budget June 7, City Councilman Steve Tate suggested that the funding request for the dog park should be considered a capital expense. City Manager Ed Tewes agreed and said there was enough time for the Parks and Recreation Commission to review the funding request in the context of the total funds needed for city parks.
The funding request then went to the parks commission in July where it was unanimously approved.
“There wasn’t even a discussion,” said Zufall, who couldn’t have been happier after attending the meeting.
Local architect – and dog lover – Charles Weston said he’s happy the city is taking the group’s request for funds more seriously.
“We’ve gotten a lot of good feedback from city council people who went to last fundraiser,” Weston said. “For anyone who owns a dog, it’s pretty much an essential service. Having a place for dogs to run around off the leash is important to the quality of life in the town.”
Tony Burchyns covers Morgan Hill for The Times. Reach him at
(408) 779-4106 ext. 201 or
tb*******@mo*************.com
.
