Auburn's Dog Park Project

UPDATE APRIL 2021

We are THRILLED to announce the opening of the Town of Auburn Dog Park, at Lemansky Park! While we strive to have an amenity that's enjoyable for all, we would also like to remind our dog park patrons of the Rules and Regulations for use of the park. These rules were created with everyone's safety in mind (humans AND dogs!) and they are posted at the entrance of the park. We ask that everyone please be respectful and courteous to your fellow patrons and pooches!

UPDATE - AUGUST 2020:

AWESOME NEWS!!!

This morning members of the Fur-Friends of Auburn Inc. attended the opening of the bids for the dog park. There were 19 and the project was awarded to the lowest bid which was JAM Corporation in Worcester. This contractor is currently finishing up a dog park in South Hadley, MA. The total project came in at $247,743.25. Keep in mind, this project is being funded by a grant from the Stanton Foundation and money fundraised ($25,000.00+) by the Fur-Friends of Auburn, Inc. and not taxpayers money.

The project should be completed by June 30, 2021! Thank you Portia Shenette, Lynn Ann Vincent, Tristan LaLiberte and Bobbi-Jo Lewis for attending the meeting this morning.

We are going to soon have ourselves a DOG PARK!

UPDATE - JULY 2020:

The town has spent the last couple of months in discussions with National Grid regarding the easement they have that runs through the site at Lemansky. We are pleased to report that the town negotiated an Assent Agreement with National Grid that outlines how the easement will work with the park. Town Counsel reviewed it and the Town Manager signed it earlier in July. We are now just waiting for National Grid to sign it and then we are good to go on that aspect!

The town anticipates the project going out to bid by the end of this month and awarding the project in August, with construction starting in late summer/early Fall.

UPDATE - MARCH 2020:

The Stanton Foundation has issued a hard stop on issuing construction grants between April 1 and mid—July due to the project manager’s maternity leave, so they will not release construction grants during this period. This pushes our project out from what we hoped to be a late Spring/early summer start to a late summer/potential fall start as the project will be bid in July. The good news is that the project is still on track to be substantially completed by the end of 2020 or earlier if the July bids come in at a good price.

The timeline Stanton gave us today is below:

March 2020: Stanton will continue to work to seek bid document approval from the Foundation's advisory panel with the aim of receiving approval to no later than March 31.

April-June 2020: Auburn will internally prepare to bid the project (e.g. get materials ready to go into Central Register, receive any necessary procurement approvals, etc.) in mid-July 2020.

July 2020: Auburn will bid the dog park project.,

September 2020: Given that July tends to be an expensive month to bid construction projects, Stanton’s "Plan B" will be to re-bid the project in late September.

UPDATE - NOV 2019: Members of the Fur-Friends again met with town leadership and a representative from Morin-Cameron Group, INC. The group discussed and approved the final plan which after a few slight changes will go to bid prior to the end of January 2020. The Fur-Friends also voted to increase our 10% donation from $20,000 to $25,000 which will also allow the town to increase the construction grant amount request from $200,000 ($180,000 from Stanton) to $250,000 ($225,000 from Stanton).

UPDATE - SEPT 2019: Members of the Fur-Friends met with town leadership and a representative from Morin-Cameron Group, INC (Firm selected in May meeting). The lot at Lemansky has been professionally surveyed and drafts were provided to the group during this meeting. After discussion and providing feedback agreed upon between members of the town leadership as well as the Fur-Friends, the architect will be making some changes/adjustments and providing a new plan in the coming months.

UPDATE -May 2019: Members of the Fur-Friends have met with town leadership and worked together to select an architect. Formal plans will now be drawn up before the job can go to bid!

UPDATE - January 2019: We have officially reached our 10% goal of $20,000!! As a result, the town has applied for and received a design grant from the Stanton Foundation! Now, the town will work with a professional designer as well as our group to create a final design before applying for the Stanton construction grant.

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Auburn's dog park will be located at Lemansky Park (vote passed on June 26, 2017 by the Board of Selectmen), with the current skate park being relocated to another area within the park (vote passed by town meeting members on October 24, 2017).

Our goal is to have a beautiful, well-maintained, ADA compliant & friendly, fully fenced area(s) for dogs to interact and exercise safely off-leash. This group shall work closely alongside Town of Auburn Administration to design the park as well as create rules & regulations for park users. Once built, we will help maintain the park with weekly clean ups and host fundraisers and events to educate the public on animal safety, health, obedience, etc.

Our vision of a dog park includes a fully fenced area with a double gated entry for safety, divided into two separate areas. These two areas would consist of one smaller area and one larger, typically used to separate larger breed dogs from smaller breeds, though it can also be used for dogs who need a "time out" or for dogs who are still learning how to socialize with other pups.

Amenities of the park will include water fountains, clean-up stations, benches, shaded areas, as well as agility equipment and obstacles!

Below you will see a photo of where the dog park will be located at Lemansky Park (highlighted in red) as well as some photos of current dog parks that we hope to model ours after.

If you have any questions about this project, please do not hesitate to contact us.