Supporters of a dog park at Michael J. Tully Park in New Hyde Park appear to be barking up the wrong tree.
A consultant who reviewed a proposal for the dog park recently recommended that the Town of North Hempstead bury the idea.
“What’s lacking there is the amount of space one needs,” said Marilyn Glasser, a dog park consultant who runs her own company, Parks and Pastimes. “You need to have a minimum of one acre. If you don’t have an acre, there are a lot of different things that can occur.”
The town board proposed the idea of a dog park at Tully in March 2012 around the same time the Shelter Connection, a nonprofit, had donated $5,258 for two dog runs, one at Tully Park and another in Port Washington at the town’s animal shelter.
But based on a report Glasser is expected to submit in the near future the town is unlikely to move ahead with the proposal.
“A dog park at Tully is unlikely at this point,” said town spokesman Ryan Mulholland.
But Mulholland said the creation of a dog park in the town is not dead.
He said North Hempstead Beach Park in Port Washington is another possible location for a dog park and said the town would ask Glasser to review several other town parks as possible locations for a dog park. Glasser said residents probably envisioned a dog run rather than a park at Tully. She said dog runs occupy a relatively small space in what she called “pocket parks.”
“What people have in mind are things that they’ve seen that are really not dog parks,” she said.
Glasser, who said she was retained by the town last year, said she is prepared to review alternative sites the town is considering for a dog park.
Mulholland said the town is awaiting Glasser’s formal report, which he said the town expects to receive now that is has signed a contract with her.
“In the past, we received general guidance from her as far as what might work for a dog park,” Mulholland said. “Once her contract is finalized, she will go out to other town parks.”
Of the 4,867 dogs licensed throughout the town, North Hempstead Town Clerk Leslie Gross said 642 of those dogs are located in New Hyde Park, 504 are located in Great Neck and 865 are in Port Washington. But she said those numbers don’t reflect the actual number of dogs living in the town.
“We do think that there are more dogs than those that are licensed,” Gross said.
Gross said state law requires dogs to be licensed. Town fees for dog licenses are currently $7 per year, or $2 a year for senior residents who own dogs.
