Work continues on Lynchburg dog park proposal

Efforts to bring a dog park to Lynchburg are moving ahead at a slow but steady pace.

“This has been a long process,” said Niro Rasanayagam, a member of the citizen advocacy group spearheading the project. “It’s been a little torturous at times really. But I think this is the hardest part.”

The dog park proposal has the support of both City Council and Parks & Recreation. The city has reserved about an acre of vacant land in the Blackwater Creek Athletic Area, off Monticello Avenue, for the project.

Since receiving City Council’s blessing in October 2008, dog park supporters have been working to create a formal organization that can oversee fundraising and management.

Members of the citizens group have been doing the requisite paperwork themselves, Rasanayagam said, because they cannot afford an attorney. One of the major selling points of the dog park proposal was that supporters promised to raise money on their own, rather than rely on city support.

Rasanayagam said the advocacy group successfully incorporated itself with the state earlier this year under the name Friends of the Lynchburg Dog Park Inc. Members are now working to achieve nonprofit status, which will allow them to begin taking in donations.

The group has set a preliminary goal of December 2010 to complete the first leg of fundraising. Phase one of the dog park proposal carries an estimated price tag of around $30,000. That money would be used to purchase the basic infrastructure of the park, such as a fence and pet waste disposal stations. Future phases would see more amenities and facilities added.

Rasanayagam said the current organizing phase of the project has been a somewhat tedious endeavor involving a “lot of volunteer hours and a lot of homework.” She remains confident, though, that the pace will pick up once the fundraising campaign begins.

“I’m optimistic,” she said. “I think once we start, dog lovers are going to step forward and we’re going to be able to meet our goals. In the last year or so, we’ve already been getting some really good feedback from people in the community about the park.”

Lynchburg currently has no dog parks or other sanctioned off-leash areas for dogs. Officials are considering this a pilot project that may lead to the creation of more public dog parks if it succeeds.