HOWELL — Township Councilwoman Pauline Smith has nothing against animals. She grew up on a farm, the oldest of 10 children. Each child had not just one, but a couple of pets.
“My parents were very lenient about pets,” she said on May 2.
But Smith still thinks a proposed municipal dog park — where canines would be permitted to run off-leash — is a bad idea, for a number of reasons.
“I am not necessarily against a dog park, but if you are going to do it, do it right,” she said.
Smith spoke out against the proposed facility — which has been the subject of discussion in Howell for several years — during theApril 26 Township Council meeting, after she read a letter from a resident who was concerned about maintenance and liability issues at the proposed dog park.
“I don’t think we have any business, especially at this time, opening a dog park,” Smith said.
The Township Council recently voted 4- 1 to allow the Howell Recreation Advisory Committee to solicit funds for the dog park, which would be on the Bonim tract that fronts on Easy Street and Lakewood-Farmingdale Road (Route 547).
Smith cast the lone no vote at the March 16 meeting and said she still had some unanswered questions. The resident’s letter was “eye-opening,” Smith said at the April 26 meeting.
“I think this [dog park] should be put on hold until these questions are answered,” she said. “We will have no control, but we will be responsible.”
The Bonim tract was purchased with state Green Acres funds, the councilwoman said.
“It [a dog park] is not a good use for this piece of land,” she said.
“Anything else, Mrs. Smith?” Mayor Robert F. Walsh said.
Councilwoman Susan Schroeder Clark suggested that Smith attend a meeting of the Recreation Advisory Committee to discuss the matter.
Walsh then asked Deputy Mayor Angela Dalton if she had any input on the park.
“Oh, no, Mr. Mayor,” Dalton said. “After that, nothing.”
Howell received a $169,000 matching grant from the Monmouth County Open Space program, but council members recently balked at having the township lay out any money for a dog park and agreed to let the Recreation Advisory Committee find donors and sponsors to cover Howell’s portion of the matching grant.
The original plans for the municipal dog park called for water fountains for humans and pets, pet waste stations, dog agility obstacles, a shade structure, benches, separate entrance and exit vestibules, landscaping, natural grass berms, a thick stone-dust surface along the fence perimeter, a natural grass surface on the central areas, and parking spaces.
But the dog park’s design has been scaled down to a cost of $50,000, with the township’s portion expected to be $25,000.
The resident who wrote the letter to the council takes her dog to an Ocean County park, Smith said on May 2.
“Your dog has to behave,” she said. “Somebody has to be there to pick up the mess. She is basically saying that if we can’t do something like that, we would be in trouble.”
Smith said she also still wants to see a letter from the state Department of Environmental Protection that notes sensitive environmental areas on the proposed dog park site.
The dog park isn’t necessary, especially in tough financial times when Howell may have to lay off police officers, she said.
“If you don’t have the space for a big dog to run, you have a small dog,” she said.