Bid to Sell Non-Bedford Dog Park Permits

After more than a decade-long wrangling over usage of the town's only dog park, a plan to open it to residents outside of Bedford is afoot.

The Recreation and Parks Advisory Committee is weighing a proposal to sell 55 annual non-resident passes to the Canine Commons, located off Beaver Dam Road.

Currently, it is used by 900-plus Bedford residents with New York State dog licenses.  Its three sections—a small and large dog area as well as an agility zone—take up only three acres of the 17-acre municipal park.

At the heart of the debate is what residency requirements make sense: Bedford-based Fox Lane High School students could take their dogs to the park, while others from the same school couldn't if they lived in Mount Kisco, said Rose Goldfine-Caserta, president of Bedford Dog Owners Group (BDOG), a not-profit organization.

The residency requirements in effect at the dog park are no different from those in other town parks, countered Recreation and Parks Superintendent William Heidepriem.

But BDOG is hoping to change that.

"If residents from neighboring towns are already using the park illegally, then, maybe, we should legalize them by selling them passes," she argued. "Selling 55 passes at $55 each would be an easy way to raise an extra $3,025, which would go towards meeting park expenses." By contrast, a Bedford resident can buy a dog permit for $10.

The permits would be available to anyone wanting to use the park, but will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis.

However, the town is not certain they will be able to put a cap on the entry of visitors, once the passes go on sale. Some of the sticky issues the advisory committee anticipates are overcrowding—both in the parking lots and inside the park itself—dog safety and annoyance to neighbors.

At a recent meeting, the committee recommended holding a public hearing on the matter and decided to forward BDOG's proposal to the Town Board for further consideration.

"We deferred it to the Town Board since the organization had entered into an agreement with them at the inception of the project," Heidepriem added.

The idea for the dog park germinated 11 years ago, when Goldfine-Caserta, then just a dog owner, realized she could no longer take her puppy for a walk in a local nature preserve.

"One day, it just became illegal to take your dog into the sanctuary. I freaked out when that happened." 

As an alternative, she and two other individuals started the dog park—or at least, the idea of it.

"We wanted a place where we could walk our dogs leash-free," she said.

But the fledging project hit a roadblock when a small group of neighbors raised a firestorm of protest against it.  Their resistance stemmed from their concerns that the increased traffic—human, canine and vehicular—would disturb the surrounding neighborhoods.

The opposition lasted more than nine years. The Canine Commons finally opened in the fall of 2007.

Though it is a taxpayer-funded park today, it was built with private donations.
 
"People from all over the area made generous contributions, both in cash and kind. Some donated fences, some driveways, some stone walls. Yet, when it opened, they weren't permitted to use it," she said.

Goldfine-Caserta believes it is unfair that the park was made off-limits to the very same people who raised the initial funds for its construction.

"Our park has been built with money from both residents and non-residents. We would like our school district residents from Fox Lane and Katonah- Lewisboro to have the opportunity to purchase permits to use this park," she said.

In an e-mail to BDOG, Kate McGrath, a Pound Ridge resident wrote: "I supported BDOG in its developmental stages and contributed financially as well. I was obviously, very disappointed to learn that as a Pound Ridge resident I was not allowed to enjoy the park [when it opened]."

Jessica Carducci, of Bedford Hills, thinks the park is an important part of the lives of many area residents. While it is a social forum to some, to others, it is a quiet refuge.

"I actually got a puppy-sitting job from socializing in the park," Carducci says. 
She also recalls meeting a woman from Chappaqua on a Sunday night there, who was taking advantage of the lean hours to "avoid getting caught."