MAUMELLE — It seems that the Four Paws Park in Maumelle needs to be adopted.
Maumelle Friends of the Animals pays $1 a year to rent the small piece of property from Maumelle Water Management, said Sandy Brandon of Sherwood, president of the friends group.
“It is not our dog park,” Brandon said, emphasizing the point.
She said the nonprofit group rents the property for use by Maumelle Animal Control, at 425 Hyman Drive, for its shelter animals, but supervisor Rita Cavenaugh said that because of liability issues, shelter dogs aren’t allowed to use the space.
“I can’t allow shelter animals, unless they’re adopted, to be taken out there,” Cavenaugh said. “It’s across the street; if someone adopts an animal, they can go over there. The community uses it constantly. Yes, we keep it clean. … The attraction of the dog park causes people to come in here and look at the dogs and get them adopted. We maintain it, and Public Works keeps the grass cut. It’s a good kind of PR tool to get people in here.”
It isn’t ideal, though, Cavenaugh said.
“I have dreams. Our dog park’s fairly small; we always want bigger,” she said.
The site is “approximately 1 acre,” said Barry Heller, general manager of Maumelle Water Management, a public-owned utility.
Brandon said that as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the Friends group can’t be responsible for making substantial improvements to the park. She said the group is limited in what its funds go toward.
“It’s not something we would improve on. …. We did a Phase I, Phase II and Phase III. None of those are things our group can continue to do,” she said. “We can’t really be associated with big money coming in and going to a dog park.”
According to a flier from Maumelle Friends of the Animals posted on the city of Maumelle website on the Public Works page, picnic tables are on the list to be purchased, and there is “an additional wish list for Phases II and III.”
Brandon said the group’s money goes to buy medication and provide veterinary care for the animals at the shelter. Brandon, a real estate agent, said she has volunteered with the Maumelle Animal Shelter for about five years and adopted a dog from there.
“Four Paws Dog Park — that’s what the shelter named it. Everybody kind of picked that up,” she said, and started taking their dogs to the space. “It’s very small — it’s a piece of land with a fence around it.”
The Friends group recently received a donation and improved the entrance to the park by putting in a double gate, Brandon said. The money was donated by a man in memory of his brother, Pat Dodson of Maumelle, according to the Animal Services website. Dodson died June 17. Brandon said the money was given specifically for the dog park.
“[The gate] needs gravel under it because water pools up, and we’re getting estimates for that,” Brandon said. A “water fountain — a spigot” may be installed, too, she said. A plaque in Dodson’s memory will be posted at the entrance, she said.
“We went ahead and used the money and explained to [the donor] that’s what it would be,” Brandon said of the gate. “We told him anything else he wanted to do, it had to be separate from us. We are really not able to renovate a dog park. Our money is used to support the shelter.”
Cavenaugh said the gate created a “prep area” for people to get ready to take their dogs into the park. Additional fundraising was conducted to go with the man’s donation of about $1,000.
“We earmarked the money — it was $2,000, $3,000,” Cavenaugh said.
The Maumelle Water Management must approve any improvements to the park, Cavenaugh said, because the department owns the property. The park does have doggie-waste stations with plastic bags, she said. It also has a water faucet.
Maumelle Friends of the Animals, according to its website, was founded in 1992. The group supports foster homes, shelter spay-neuter clinics, veterinary services for shelter animals, financial assistance for senior-citizen pet ownership and the “community dog park — Four Paws Park.”
Friends of the Animals will not do extensive improvements to the park, Brandon reiterated, and the group doesn’t own or operate the park.
“It’s just something we would be unable to do with the land being owned by the Water Department. I don’t know who would ever end up owning it, but it wouldn’t be wise to put money into it,” Brandon said.
She said Maumelle has several nice areas that would make good locations for a dog park.
“There are so many places people could do it. Somebody should try to put one together,” Brandon said.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.