Dog park eyes Campus Woods access

Groups propose use of county parking lot, access off of Campus Woods trail

A local group is hoping the county will approve allowing them to use the county-owned Campus Trail to access a planned dog park being proposed for an undeveloped area near the Campus Woods.

On Monday, members of the Buildings, Grounds & Parks Committee met with group representatives to review the request. Naomi Hartl attended the meeting as a representative of the Medford Dog Park Corp to present the nonprofit’s idea to build a dog park in Medford. The proposed park would be located between the Campus Trail Park and the railroad tracks that run through town, crossing CTH O near the Nestle Pizza Division. This 8.92 acre property is owned by Nestle, but the group is working to have the land be donated to the Medford Dog Park Corp for this project. Hartl has been working on this project for two and a half years and believes that this is the best location in the city for this park.

Due to the nature of the location, the best way to give the park an entrance with available parking would be to connect it to the Campus Trail. “What the plan would be is to put signage from 13 to Conrad, that corner, and then onto Donald Street where you park to use the campus trail,” said Hartl. “Then we would just have our dogs on-leash and use the Campus Trail just like we do right now, and then we’d ask that we add 20 yards of path that connects the closest and easiest spot from the trail to the meadow where we would have [the area] fenced in.”

Hartl explained how the addition of the dog park would enhance the area. The park would include two fenced-off areas for both smaller and larger dogs. Within these areas, the dogs will be given a space to run around and exercise off-leash. Bags used to clean up after the pets will be available to everyone. With the help of proper signage, Hartl hopes that community members would use the park responsibly within the set hours of operations.

The dog park would also give the Campus Trail more exposure and promote more people to use it. The park would be maintained by the Corp’s board members and volunteers. Hartl said that in a public poll they administrated that 86% of those who responded said they’d want to donate their time.

“I want the feeling of community surrounding this park so that people are inspired to take care of it,” said Hartl.

While the committee is in support of the project, one concern brought up was the matter of parking. Hartl said that they’d expect people to use the parking on Donald Street and by the Education Center where people currently park to access the trail. The parking lot in that area is also used by the USDA, where they are reserved a certain number of spots as stated in a contract they have with the county. The committee agreed that as long as there’s enough spaces for both the USDA and the dog park, parking shouldn’t be an issue.

Hartl proposed either a long-term lease or other legal agreement be drafted to give the Corp permission to use the county’s land. This project is still in development and more information is being gathered before the project is brought back to the committee and then to the board for official approval. The Medford Dog Park Corp is looking to confirm funding for the project by the fall with hopes to start building in the spring next year.

The committee was also presented a project at the fairgrounds by Sara Nuernberger, the president of the Historical Society. She presented a project that would build a roof overhang on the north side of the co-op building to protect some of the old equipment the Historical Society has outside.

“We just want an overhang to protect that equipment when it’s out in the elements,” said Nuernberger. “It would be a basic roofline coming off with posts.”

Many ideas about how this overhang could look were discussed, including building a quonset hut or pavilion. Committee member, James Gebauer, expressed concern for snow load in the winter damaging the structure.

Nuernberger said that they were open to all suggestions and ideas. The committee recommended that the Historical Society do more research into the structure and talk to an engineer about the project before moving forward. Nuernberger also explained the Society’s problem with parking in front of the pioneer village at the fairgrounds. She asked the committee for permission to put up no parking signs in the area.

Building, Grounds & Park Maintenance Director, Joe Svejda was approached by the Zirngible family about working with the Eagle Scouts on a number of small projects at the Perkinstown Winter Sports Area, including rebuilding the shack that sits on top of the hill as well as a lean-to for firewood. Concern was expressed due to the current high prices of building materials, but further collaboration with the Eagle Scouts is expected to happen in the future.

Former Wood Lake campground host Randy Auner recently passed away. The committee approved to have a tree donated to the campground in honor of him. Ryan Strebig was recently hired into the maintenance department and will start on June 1. Svejda said that Strebig is a very qualified candidate with a background in the heating and cooling field. The Sackett Lake snack shack is being rented for the summer by Emmet Grunwald to sell snacks and draw attention to the area.

The Miller Dam Lake Association is looking to fund some projects to improve the experience of people visiting Miller Dam. Recently two new floating docks were installed, purchased by North Central Outdoors for $7,467.45. Svejda said that they are very stable for being floating docks. There is also a 17-year-old boat landing that is in need of being replaced and repaired, according to Svejda. He said that he was contacting engineers for a new boat landing. One quote he got was $9,000 just for the engineering of the landing. Svejda said that there should be a lot of funding available for this project. One of the projects that the Lake Association proposed was to fix the boat landing. Other projects they are looking into doing is fixing the concrete by the pavilion there along with replacing culvert and widening the sidewalk in the same area. All of these projects were approved by the committee and will be funded by the Miller Dam Lake Association.

Svejda suggested to the committee that his current office be relocated. He explained how his office is an old mechanical room and that the department would benefi t from a relocation of the space. He suggested that his office could be repurposed for storage. The committee gave him permission to look for a better location for this office.

Many maintenance updates were given during the meeting. The booster pump system at the courthouse, a system that has spent 21 years pumping water through the courthouse, needs to be replaced. Svedja is looking into more quotes, but one number is that it would cost $26,000 to replace it. The emergency generator at the courthouse is low on fuel and the heating and cooling coupling pumps are in need of being replaced. One of them is leaking, but Svejda suggests replacing them all. They are also looking to replace the water heater at the Education Center and find funding for a dock at Spruce Lake.

THE STAR NEWS

THE STAR NEWS

Sara Nuernberger came to the committee seeking permission to construct a roof overhang on a fairgrounds building to protect historic farm implements on display there.SHAWNA KONIECZNY/