Nonetheless, I think that most would agree that Meadowood Park is a valuable gem for the neighborhood and a monument to the foresight of the developers of this neighborhood. After all, they could have just sold more lots there and possibly made more money. For reasons that I can't enumerat (whether it was the Town of Speedway or a developer's decision), Meadowood Park was set aside and now we get to (a) enjoy it to the max, and (b) make sure that it remains a thriving place for our descendants and "progeny."
It is in light of all of this that I propose a dog park for Meadowood. For starters, a dog park is a wonderful place for dog owners to take their dogs to exercise. There are plenty of elderly dog owners in Speedway, and I believe that this would be a wonderful thing for them to exercise their dogs as opposed to taking them for long and regular walks.
Additionally, there is the social aspect of a dog park. Whether it is elderly dog owners socializing during the afternoon or millennial dog owners socializing during happy hour, a dog park would have a nice spin-off effect of building community social bonds.
Also, people are generally willing to support and pay for things they use, understandably. As it stands, Meadowood Park is a wonderful resource that appears to be rather underused. While the playground is great for people (like me) who have small children, it provides very little value to those who don't. Similarly, the ball diamonds are great for kids who play little league and adults who want to play in a rec league, they provide little value to the retiree who has no interest in playing baseball or softball.
There are a number of other assets to Meadowood Park, and I don't want to be seen as saying that it is devoid thereof. However, a dog park would be a minimal investment with a maximal result.
This is, of course, an overhead view of Meadowood Park that also includes Wheeler Elementary and a good chunk of the neighborhood. Here is a closer view:
Again, this is an aerial view of the park. It is oriented with North at the top, and I envision a dog park in the southwest "corner" of the park. Here is a closer view:
Of course, this rectangle does not account for the "angle" of the view, nor is it precisely placed. It is put in to suggest an approximate location for a dog park. The location is ideal, in that it is nestled among the trees and would provide a shaded area for people to take their dogs, socialize, etc. As an added bonus, because it is among the trees, it would interfere minimally with the activities that people already do in the park.
As far as cost goes, the area I've outlined is roughly 200' X 80'. I am not a fencing professional, but I did a rough price estimate on Google, and I was informed that chain link fence generally costs $7/linear foot in materials and $10/linear foot in labor. I remain agnostic as to whether Speedway already has the staff to perform the labor. However, based on the Google estimates of $17/linear foot and my estimate of 560 linear feet, I believe that this can be done for less than $10,000. Mind you, $10,000 is not just spare change that shows up in the couch, but given that each house in Speedway pays roughly $1500-$2000/year in property taxes, $10,000 does not seem like an inordinate amount of money, particularly given the possible upside to this.
As far as additional costs, I do not know whether this would increase Speedway's annual insurance rates, law-enforcement costs, etc. I do think that it would increase community cohesiveness, which generally increases property values.
Just a thought.
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