At the last Town Council meeting, the final approval was completed. We have permission to move forward...we have the funds to pay for the plans...we are so ready!
Beausoleil Bros. had the most advantageous bid and they are prepared to start within the next month!
A new fence will be installed off the back of the dog park. It will encircle about 2 acres of land that is currently woodland. There will be 3 gates into the area. One will be large enough to open for construction and maintenance vehicles. The other 2 will make the area accessible for people and dogs. Once the fence is installed, an approximately half-mile path will be prepared...you can see evidence of some of it now. It will wind around to give both humans and dogs a fun romp in the woods, protected by fencing. There will also be water run-off pipes installed over which the trail will run. The parking lot is also due for work. The curb that has caught many cars at the entrance, will be replaced with curved edging. We will attempt to delineate the 10 parking spaces that currently exist to encourage people to park carefully so we can fit 10 cars. Additional parking spaces will be added along the other side of Smith Street. A cross walk will be added. When it is complete, there will be NO parking on the hilly or grassy side of the road next to the park. Those spots will be blocked off so cars will not be able to back into the road per the Police Department.
There will be times when certain areas of the park might need to be closed off to allow for equipment to enter and exit. We will do our best to stay in communication with the construction company so we can warn you in advance of things that need to be done. Please help us get this project completed by allowing for any disruptions, which will be very temporary. For updated information, please check back to the website, our official Facebook page, or the NEW Community Bulletin Board at the park next to the trash bin.
Big thanks to all our friends and contributors for your continued support! You are what makes the Portsmouth Dog Park so special.
As you may be aware, in the wake of the COVID crisis many construction projects ran into all sorts challenges--- supply chain issues, labor shortages, and sky-rocketing costs of labor and materials. The PDP Expansion Project is no exception. Only two bids were submitted last fall and both were more than twice as much as our original estimates. The PDP Committee, in consultation with the team at Narragansett Engineering and Town of Portsmouth, decided to suspend the project for 18 months, in hopes buying more time for the construction market cool down and giving the planning team a chance explore more affordable options. Thank you for your patience while we go through this process.
To fully realize our dream for expanding the park, we will need all hands on deck! To learn more about how you can help, click here:
Thanks to you, the Portsmouth Dog Park is a huge success! It’s so popular that we are launching an Expansion Project to double the size of the park footprint, increase parking, and add lighting to provide access from sundown to 9:00pm in the winter months. The Feasibility Study, conducted by Narragansett Engineering Inc., was generously funded by the van Beuren Charitable Foundation and Narragansett Engineering.
A senior from the Mathematics Department of Salve Regina University contributed his time and training to creating a park attendance data analysis. See his final report here:
Students from the University of Rhode Island’s Landscape Architecture department, as part of their fall class project under the direction of Department Chair, Professor Richard Sheridan, created landscaping plans for the trail expansion. See their designs here:
Thank you to the van Beuren Charitable Foundation, Narragansett Engineering, Salve Regina University, the University of Rhode Island and the Town of Portsmouth for generously supporting this community project.
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For more information
Contact Jane Regan, Chair, Portsmouth Dog Park Committee
info@portsmouthdogparkri.com 401-741-1417
The Portsmouth Dog Park