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City officials want to create one, too. Right now O’Sullivan’s Island — a meadow where the Naugatuck and Housatonic rivers meet in Derby — is the leading possible location.
“There is plenty of parking and it is centrally located,” Hughes said of O’Sullivan’s Island.
Derby will probably team with the City of Ansonia to fund the park. An inter-municipal agreement is being written for the two cities to review.
In the meantime, Hughes said city officials need guidance planning the park.
To that end, Derby is asking for volunteers to form a ​“Friends of the Derby Dog Park.”
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The idea is get the public involved in the dog park — especially local dog owners who will be using the park.
“We’ve noticed that Shelton has a very active group and we would like to see that happen here,” Hughes said. ​“The volunteers, ideally, would be the primary users. They own dogs. They know what dogs need.”
Hughes is the chairman of the Board of Aldermen’s Community Relations Subcommittee. The group discussed the dog park during a meeting Tuesday night in City Hall. The other aldermen in attendance Tuesday were Art Gerckens and Carmen DiCenso.
O’Sullivan’s Island is next to the Derby Greenway, a very popular recreation trail from the Derby-Shelton bridge to Division Street.
The Derby Greenway is often used by dog walkers. Some of the owners do not clean up after their dogs.
The Derby Board of Aldermen is considering banning dogs from the greenway. A public hearing on the dog ban is scheduled for March 22.
There is a public outcry each time the city considers banning dogs from the greenway.
Derby officials hope the dog park plan will help take some of the sting out of a greenway dog ban — assuming it happens.
The feces situation inside the Derby dog park will not be monitored by the city’s Department of Public Works. The park will be self-policed by the people who use it, Hughes said.
DiCenso said he wants to city to move forward quickly with the dog park plans.
“The land is there. The money is there. Ansonia wants to help. I want to move forward, especially if we’re going to talk about a ban,” he said.
DiCenso encouraged residents who want to see a dog park in Derby to attend the Aldermen meeting later this month.
“I think this is a good thing and I’d like to get residents involved,” he said.