SWAMPSCOTT — Following a selectmen’s meeting in which neighbors pushed for the dog park to be moved from its proposed location, Department of Public Works Director Gino Cresta said there is more than one option.
In the meeting on June 19, the board agreed to bring Cresta, who was not present at the meeting, to their next meeting on July 1 so he could explain the best place in the Phillips Park parking lot for the dog park.
Cresta said on Wednesday that there were three possible options.
“I’m not making the decision, that’s (Town Administrator) Tom Younger’s and the selectmen’s decision,” said Cresta.
Cresta said he met with Chairman Jill Sullivan and Selectman Matt Strauss last Friday at the park with neighbors Neal Perlstein, Irma Zarinsky and Warren Lackstrom, all of Sutton Place, who want the field to be placed behind the Bertram House.
In Cresta’s diagram, the current proposed park closer to Sutton Place is 10,000 square feet, but there are two other locations drawn, one at 8,500 square feet and another at 7,500 square feet. All three would keep the 100 parking spaces necessary to allow the town to stay in the running for a grant for the fields.
“It’s a matter of which location is going to alienate the most people,” said Cresta.
Cresta will be presenting his diagram and options at the selectmen meeting Monday at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, where he said the board will want to make a final decision in order to stick to their projected opening date of Sept. 1.
“They have three months to essentially put up a fence,” said Cresta. “That’s all they have to do.”
Cresta said he had not heard from dog park advocates Swampscott Park for Off-Leash Time (SPOT), but he knew the group was hoping to get the park up and running “right away” after five years of advocating for a town dog park.
Kait Taylor can be reached at [email protected].
