Lower Saucon Township Council members appeared dismayed to learn Wednesday that there has been vandalism at the Polk Valley Dog Park recently, and surprised to learn who’s believed responsible for it.
The fence around the Polk Valley Dog Park was recently damaged by visitors who wanted to access the facility when it was closed.
At council’s Wednesday night meeting, township manager Jack Cahalan offered an account of the damage, which he said was caused by visitors trying to access the park.
Cahalan said that over the Easter weekend, it was “discovered that someone had ripped down the post and rail fence and wire to get in and out of the facility,” which was closed due to conditions.
The result was a gaping hole in the fence, which subsequent visitors to the dog park were using to gain access to it.
“Police officers went up there twice on Saturday and Sunday and found people inside the dog park with their dogs, who were all non-residents, who said they thought the facility was ‘open’ because the fence was down,” Cahalan said.
In addition to the damage done to the fence, Cahalan said the “Open/Closed” sign that was installed along the park’s main driveway last fall was unscrewed and stolen.
These incidents come after several years in which there have been issues when the dog park is closed during the spring so the turf can regenerate, he explained.
“Normally, at the beginning of each spring our staff has to deal with the complaints from dog park users who are angry or frustrated about the facility being closed due to the wet conditions,” he said.
The complaints are unique to the dog park, he said, noting that the township has had the full cooperation of groups that use its athletic fields while they are closed in the spring.
At the dog park, when the gate is locked it’s been reported that visitors and their dogs have actually scaled the fence just to get inside it; inappropriate behavior that “was gradually ripping the gate off,” Cahalan said.
The protocol for announcing the dog’s parks temporary closures has been to post an announcement on the township’s website and to use the sign at the park that was stolen, but in light of the recent issues a Facebook page is now going to be set up to better communicate the open or closed status of the facility.
Cahalan said he has spoken to the members of township’s parks and recreation board, whose members support that idea.
However, the board members “are disturbed that the dog park users, who generally have policed themselves and their dogs when the facility for the past several years, would cause this amount of damage to enter the facility when it closed, when there are several miles of paved and mowed trails in the nearby park that could be used as an alternative,” Cahalan said.
