Abby creates new dog park at Shortner North

The Abbotsford City Council had multiple hot-ticket items on the agenda at their bi-weekly meeting on July 20.

At the July 11 council meeting, two items were tabled in hopes of discussing them with a larger group of council members at the next meeting as four members were missing from the meeting.

Dog park

The first topic involved the proposed dog park which was originally suggested to be at the old elementary school playground located just to the north of the Abbotsford public safety buildings on Butternut Street. That plan was nixed when citizen Alice Schoelzel approached the council with complaints about the smell and destruction the dog park was causing at the playground area. Schoelzel said at the June 15 meeting that she has put in hours and hours of work at the playground to keep it nice and safe for children to play on, despite the fact that it is a city-owned entity.

“There are too many irresponsible owners that now bring their dogs and abuse and disrespect what we have for our children,” Schoelzel said.

Her frustration was heard and the council decided to rescind the motion to declare that area a dog park at that meeting with a 7-1 vote. Now, the council has been tasked with developing a new dog park for citizens and their pets.

City Administrator Josh Soyk gave the council four options for a park. The first was at the new Schilling Park de- velopment. Another was at Shortner Park North near a pond but no fencing would be immediately available. The third option was an open area at Cedar Street and North First Street in a residential area by the train tracks.

The fourth option was not listed but alderwoman Sarah Diedrich said the park that was originally planned for the playground across from the public safety building would be the smartest option. She noted that the park is already fenced in which saves the city a lot of money and was the original reason for choosing that option.

Public Works Director Craig Stuttgen said the first option at Schilling Park might be a bad idea in case pickleball becomes more and more popular and the city would want to add another court in the future. MSA estimated that the creation of a dog park at this site would cost around $12,000 for fencing.

Alderman Dale Rachu asked the council if the city needs a dog park at all. He then asked what the kids that currently play at the old elementary school playground are going to do if there is a dog park instead of a baseball field at the playground. Alderwoman Kayla Nixdorf noted that there were other ball diamonds in the city that kids could utilize.

The council discussed trading a parcel of land with Paul Jakel that could be suitable for a dog park. The land was potentially being discussed as a parking lot for events and activities around the city hall building but the council has not explored that option further.

Nixdorf said the park is meant to help owners and their dogs have a safe place to play.

Rachu asked if that should be the city’s responsibility to which Nixdorf said the city has put in many things to make it more enjoyable that otherwise might not be its responsibility.

“You can talk to me for three weeks and it won’t change my mind,” Rachu said.

Soyk said the simplest option that avoids making the old elementary school playground into a dog park is to put a sign and garbage can out at Shortner North Park and making that the designated dog park location.

“It’d be a start and better than nothing,” Alderman Jeremiah Zeiset said.

“We could always add fencing out there later as the budget allows,” Soyk said.

The council determined that they would create a dog park out at Shortner North Park. Fencing or a budget item for fencing was not included in the original motion.

Concession stand

Bids came in at the July 11 meeting for the proposed new concession stand at the Red Arrow Park baseball field. The bids were over $200,000 more than the city was planning to spend on the structure. The lowest bid was going to cost the city upwards of $500,000 for a new stand and media booth building.

For this reason, alderman Mason Rachu voiced his opinion on the project and made a motion to decline the bid on the project.

“I hope everybody agrees that spending over a half-million dollars on a new concession stand would be irresponsible of us. I’d like to make a motion to disapprove [the concession stand bids] but give Josh [Soyk] and Craig [Stuttgen] the ability to look at other options that would be cheaper,” Rachu said.

Soyk presented the council with a donation brochure that he had prepared to be sent out to the community. The brochure outlined advertising opportunities for donors that would potentially help fund the project. Soyk said he was hesitant to send out the brochures until he knew how much the city would be needing.

“I don’t want to be asking for donations for something that may never happen,” Soyk said.

The council unanimously decided to decline the bids and explore cheaper options for the project.

Other business

_ The city will be working with Clark County to adjust their antenna on top of the city’s water tower. The antenna is used for Clark County emergency services and would potentially be raised by six feet according to Soyk.

Alderwoman Nixdorf asked Soyk if this could be on a future agenda so representatives from Central Fire & EMS District could discuss options for the antenna with the council. Soyk said construction crews would like to get moving on the water tower project while the weather is nice so they need to hurry this discussion along.

Soyk said he and Mayor Jim Weix would meet with John Austin of Central Fire & EMS to talk about the antennas and what it might mean in terms of disruptions to communication for the district.

_ Letters were sent to residents that live on a stretch of Cedar Street where the addition of sidewalks was being considered asking the residents of their opinion on the proposal. Nine of the 10 residents responded voicing their opposition to sidewalks on the stretch of road. Soyk will tell MSA about the feedback and will decline adding sidewalks.

_ The council approved a motion to add that city employees who are required to get a CDL will be given an additional $1/hour unless they are at the max pay scale.

_ The city received its second payment of ARPA funds and now has approximately $232,000. The money needs to be spent by 2024. The council will discuss where and how to use that money as projects call for it.

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Wuertzburg Wuertzburg Rd.

13HWY 13 HWY A bbotsford New dog park New dog park at Shortner Park NorthShortner Park North

NEW PLACE FOR DOGS - The newest dog park will be located at Shortner Park North, a mile northeast of Abbotsford on Wuertzburg Road. The area has two ponds and no fence although money for fencing could be included in future city budgets.

TP staff photo