Swampscott dog park plan gets fresh airing

SWAMPSCOTT – The town will hold an open meeting for neighbors and proponents to determine the final, exact location of a dog park at Phillips Park, but Selectmen Chair Matthew Strauss stressed that the proposed fenced space for dogs to play off-leash will be built.”We approved the dog park two years ago ? the dog park will exist,” Strauss said at the selectmen’s meeting Tuesday night, provoking applause from dog park supporters. “We’re not voting on whether to have a dog park at Phillips, we are discussing the place” where it will be located.A group of residents founded Swampscott Park for Off-leash Time (SPOT) three years ago to find a place where local dogs could play off-leash prompted by the town’s closing the beaches to dogs during the summer, organizers said in a previous story in the Item.Selectmen approved the concept of a dog park in September 2008 but requested the organization return to the board when ready to begin construction. SPOT members returned to the board’s Aug. 16 meeting and reported that, with agreement from the town, they had changed the proposed location of the park from the site of the former Kids Cove playground to a 100 by 100-foot area at the rear of the back parking lot at Phillips Park.The new proposed location, however, is closer to homes on Smith Lane, Sutton Place and Puritan Road. Some neighborhood residents told selectmen that they had concerns that the park would attract additional traffic and noise to an area which already faced problems with visitors to Eisman’s Beach. Neighbors said they also objected to not being notified of the changed location.”When people voted it, it was my understanding that it would be at Kids Cove,” said Dorothy Foley, a Smith Lane resident, who said she supported that original location. “But I don’t want dogs in my back yard.”Town Administrator Andrew Maylor said that he understood the residents’ objections to the new location, but said that, to date, they had “not identified an exact location” for the park. He suggested a meeting among proponents and neighbors to tour the potential site and address questions about how best to promote a “balanced” use of Phillips Park.”We’re not out to pull the wool over anybody’s eyes,” said SPOT Board Chairman Marc Eichler. “It would alleviate dogs’ impact on the park if there is a supporting area where they can run off-leash.”