Off-Leash Dog Area Considered at Mills Field, Rosemary Lake

November 14, 2024
• The town sought the Select Board’s feedback on the creation of an off-leash dog park or trail at the board’s meeting Tuesday.

Needham’s off-leash dog area sits at the end of a long gravel drive, beside the Needham Community Farm and gardening beds. But some local dog owners opt to take their pet elsewhere, including Mills Field and Hillside Elementary School, where leashes are required but sometimes not utilized.

Town officials identified the two locations as possible sites for a new off-leash dog area, since “they’re sort of being used that way, whether they should be or not,” Department of Public Works Director Carys Lustig said. The town will also consider creating an off-leash dog trail around Rosemary Lake.

Select Board members signaled their support for a pilot off-leash trail at Rosemary and the inclusion of a Mills Field dog park in the capital plan.

The Active Recreation Assets Working Group began to research sites for a new dog area about six months ago, Lustig said. Potential sites needed to have safe parking space, cleared space for dogs to run, accessibility and the right environment to install fencing to enclose the area, she said.

Both Mills Field and Hillside could accommodate either a traditional dog park — a fenced-in area for play known as a bark park — or a walking trail.

At Mills Field, there are about two acres of open green space at the corner of Beech and Gould Streets. Town Engineer Tom Ryder explained the space could accommodate a gated park — complete with trash receptacles, water fountains and other amenities — or a larger trail that encompasses much more of the area.

Currently, the space is used solely for passive recreation, Lustig said. Park Ranger Wu Ping Liao has previously stated the area is a “hot spot” for off-leash dogs.

Hillside contains two playgrounds: one at the back of the building, which is not in use, and an active one in front. There’s also a baseball diamond, soccer fields and an existing trail. Conceptual plans for the two-acre space depict a potential bark park overtaking the playground at the front of the former school, while a dog trail would wind around the back and side of the school.

Given the state of the playground behind the former school, a dog area would not interfere with any permitted activity groups, Park and Recreation Director Stacey Mulroy said to the board.

However, the future use of Hillside Elementary is still unclear, and Select Board member Marianne Cooley said a dog area there “presents a sunk cost.” Town Manager Kate Fitzpatrick agreed.

“As you said, at Hillside, once you put it there, it’s very difficult to take something out,” Fitzpatrick said. She added that a park at Mills Field, while a suitable location, may take until 2030 to start construction on.

That focused all eyes on a trail at Rosemary, which could cost the town under $10,000 for signage and pet waste bags and receptacles. Cost estimates for the other proposed amenities range from $200,000 to $900,000, with a large portion going toward fencing, Lustig said. At Hillside, Lustig said they would also need to excavate soils.

On the trails, dog waste pick-up can be an issue. Mulroy previously stated residents can be inconsistent about clean-up, and because trash trucks cannot get inside the area, people will need to carry waste with them to properly dispose of it.

“That waste can get quite heavy,” Lustig said to the board, “so taking a large tote out from a park is certainly more difficult than people just simply walking outside and using one that’s maybe right at the gated entrance.”

Before making a decision on the path, there would need to be a meeting with abutters, Mulroy said.

“Similarly to Hillside and Mills, it’s already being used this way on a daily basis,” Mulroy said of the Rosemary trail. “We so far have had no complaints about dogs from any of the neighbors. Dirt bikes, yes, dogs, no.”

Chair Kevin Keane, who owns two dogs, said he supports the Rosemary proposal.

“Rosemary is such a sprain-ankle type of place if you have a dog on a leash. They will bring you down,” Keane said. “My dogs are terrible at… going up hills, but they could never go up the slope to see the abutters because it’s so steep. But I think it’s a much safer thing to have your dog off leash than trying to have them on a leash around Rosemary.”

Vice Chair Heidi Frail, who doesn’t own a dog, favored the bark park at Mills Field. With all the sports and activities located at Mills, Frail said the space would be best suited by a smaller, contained area just for dogs.

“As a non-dog owner and a non-dog-wanter-on-me, when I go in town and have activities, I want to be able to coexist with people who are doing their thing without being jumped on and so on,” Frail said.

Frail said the Rosemary trail could also work, since that could be implemented more quickly, but Cooley expressed caution with the location — if popular, the trail “can get pretty wild pretty fast.”

“My sense is we have a lot of pandemic dogs in town, and they’re not always the best behaved or friendly with other dogs, even though many people believe that they have their dogs under voice control,” she said. “That’s not always the case, is my experience.”

With the board’s input, the town will create more detailed designs, likely for both the trail and the Mills dog park.