Plans For New Dog Park In Glenville Put On Pause

GREENWICH, CT — Plans for a new dog park near the Western Greenwich Civic Center have been put on hold, as the town hopes to provide residents with a holistic update on long-standing projects that have been proposed in Glenville.

The Board of Selectmen was scheduled to discuss the dog park again during its meeting on Tuesday, but First Selectman said the agenda item had been pulled.

Camillo explained that the Glenville Street Corridor Traffic Improvement Project came up in conversations with residents about the dog park.

Several years ago, the town applied for and received a grant from the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program (CMAQ), which is administered by the CT Department of Transportation.

The fund would be used to provide traffic signal optimization and intersection improvements along a 1,500-foot stretch on the Glenville Street/Glenville Road corridor.

The project was put on hold as the town worked through issues related to trees, and then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and construction and materials costs skyrocketed, Camillo said.

The town is currently working with CT-DOT to obtain additional funding through state and federal grants, and the hope is to go out to bid in late summer or early fall.

Camillo said scheduling a public forum would be appropriate to update residents on the grant, as well as the proposed dog park, plans for a Glenville village green/beatification, and perhaps a public/private partnership to upgrade the American Legion building in Glenville.

Now that the Stop & Shop in Glenville is officially closed, Camillo said he also wants to inform residents on what the future holds at the Glenville Shopping Plaza.

"This is actually pretty good that [the proposed dog park] is bringing up some things that have been questions and concerns for a while. We hadn't updated really everybody on what was happening with the grant," Camillo said during Monday's meeting. "I think this is a good time to set something up later in the summer to update everybody on that."

Dates are still being figured out for a public forum, Camillo said Thursday, but the hope is it can be scheduled for later this summer.

In a public/private partnership, Pet Pantry, a beloved local business, has pledged $30,000 to spruce up a small area off Hawthorne Street North behind the Western Greenwich Civic Center and turn it into a community dog park.

Several nearby residents opposed the dog park, saying it would increase traffic and congestion in the area, which would cause public safety issues and potentially lower property values.

In the updates portion of Monday's Board of Selectmen meeting, Selectwoman Lauren Rabin said she met with about 25 adjacent neighbors last weekend to discuss the proposal.

"There are concerns the neighbors have just with things in general," Rabin said.

For example, Rabin said that Hawthorne Street North is very narrow, and cars cannot simultaneously pass each other if there are parked cars. There's also no sidewalk, and since there is no school busing in the area, students often walk to school.

"There are just a lot of things I think as a town — bringing parking services, Department of Public Works, Parks & Recreation — to address before we can even consider doing anything different to that area. There are also some long-standing projects," Rabin said, pointing to the corridor improvements.

Rabin said she committed to the neighbors to keep them updated and informed.

The agenda packet for Monday's meeting included more details on the size, scope and cost of the proposed dog park.