Let there be lights, doggone it. The Planning and Zoning Commission on Dec. 1 approved lights for the town’s dog park, known as the Bark Park, on Prospect Street.
The vote followed a public hearing. The Parks and Recreation Department’s plan is for about 15 LED lights in the parking lot and the dog walking fields at the one-acre park. The parking lot is also a commuter lot for the shuttle bus to the Katonah, N.Y., train station.
The lights will all point downward and will shut off by 8:45 p.m., so no neighbors will be disturbed, said Paul Roche, director of Parks and Recreation, who spoke at the hearing.
First, the money must be raised.
“Now we’ve got to raise the money,” said Selectman Barbara Manners, whose idea it was to put lights at the dog park. “A lot of people have expressed support for the dog park but between support and sending donations, there’s a difference. It takes some persuasion.”
Manners said donations may be made by check to the dog parking lighting payable to Ridgefield Community Programs/Bark Park, Town Hall, 400 Main Street, Ridgefield, 06877.
There will also be a website put up in about a week, to accept online donations, she said.
“Depending on how much money we get, we’ll start with the bigger part first, the all-dog area,” said Roche, referring to one of the two dog parking areas. It is intended for dogs 40 pounds or more but many people feel comfortable walking their smaller dogs here as well, Manners said.
There is also a walking area for dogs 40 pounds or lighter.
At the public hearing, conducted in the Town Hall Annex, a senior citizen from the neighboring Ridgefield Housing Authority senior housing complex spoke on behalf of her neighbors and asked that the lights not disturb the seniors.
That won’t happen, Roche said, because there will be a sign in the park that it closes at 9 p.m.
In the morning, the lot will be lighted from 5 a.m. to sunrise, to accommodate the commuters and early morning dog walkers. In the evening, the lights will benefit the dog walkers arriving home late from work.
“I have permission to leave the lights on from dusk to quarter of nine,” Roche said.
Manners said she never used a dog park until she got a puppy. “I realized as the months passed, there were all these people who come at 8 o’clock at night, even 9,” she said.
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