Dog Park Proposed for Swede Run in Moorestown

A dog park may soon be coming to Moorestown.

Moorestown Council approved a resolution authorizing an application for a grant of up to $250,000 from the Burlington County Municipal Park Development Program for the development of a dog park at Swede Run Fields Monday night.

The proposal calls for the creation of a dog park divided in half by a three-rail wooden fence with a metal wire attached to it. An acre and a half of the park would be set aside for large dogs, while an acre would be reserved for small dogs.

It would include a pavilion building with a shaded picnic area, according to Senior Landscape Architect Steven Lennon, who presented the idea to council on behalf of the Taylor Design Group.

“There would be a double-gated entrance to secure the dogs, like a vestibule,” Lennon said.

The fence would be four-feet high, but some officials expressed concern this would not be big enough for the larger dogs.

“We can adjust the height to four rails,” said Lennon, who said Taylor Design wanted to avoid using a chain link fence to uphold the “agricultural feel” of the fields.

Swede Run Fields is the largest chunk of open space in Moorestown at 130 acres, according to stemonline.org. It includes an old stone shed near a large maple tree along the driveway, as well as brush wetlands and floodplains. It provides diverse opportunities for wildlife habitat and a somewhat natural area to enhance the quality of water in Swede Run.

The path surrounding Swede Run is in bad condition, but the bid was $8 shy of the $250,000 maximum on Monday night. Chief Financial Officer Tom Merchel suggested including proposed improvements to the path in the bid because there’s no telling where the grant money will end up being allocated, and including those improvements may make the bid seem more attractive to the county.

The project also calls for the installation of a formal asphalt parking lot in place of the existing informal gravel parking lot, with concrete in place for the handicapped parking spots. There would also be a pedestrian entrance to the park off Westfield Road, as well as water fountains for both people and dogs, trash cans, a pet waste station and an interpretive sign that explains the history of the park.

The application was due to the county by Friday.

The attached image of the barn at Swede Run is a Patch file photo