Plans Progress for Bainbridge Dog Park
March 15, 2018 by Diane Ryder

Dog owners looking for a place to exercise their pets off-leash might soon have that opportunity at Centerville Mills Park this spring, as plans proceed to build a double enclosure dog park.

Dog owners looking for a place to exercise their pets off-leash might soon have that opportunity at Centerville Mills Park this spring, as plans proceed to build a double enclosure dog park.

Park Board Chairman Marty Sfiligoj told Bainbridge Township Trustees Monday night that his committee has been researching rules and operations at other township dog parks throughout the state, as they plan a proposed park for Bainbridge.

The idea originated with resident and dog owner Roger Weiss, who approached park board members last year with the need for a dedicated place for dogs to run free and socialize.

He and park board officials presented the idea to township trustees in February. Trustees, all dog owners themselves, did not take formal action then, but unofficially gave the group the green light to begin the planning process and raise the estimated $6,000 to pay for it.

“As we researched other communities’ dog parks, one theme came through,” Weiss told trustees Monday. “Any problems were people problems, not dog problems.”

Weiss described one township dog park near Canton that attracts 200 dogs and their owners every weekend. He recounted one incident when a large dog bit a smaller one and said if there were separate sections for large and small dogs that should eliminate any problems with aggression.

“The parks are basically self-policing, with very few confrontations from a liability standpoint,” Weiss said. “It looked pretty good.”

At trustees’ request, Weiss presented them with petitions bearing the signatures of about 150 township residents requesting a dog park. He said his committee has raised about $2,600 in pledges to date.

Trustee Jeff Markley, a landscape architect, has been helping the group design the enclosures. He said once trustees officially approve the plan, the committee might be able to raise the remainder of the funds. Township road crews would supply the labor to install the fencing.

“That will be the taxpayers’ portion, for a different component of what we want Centerville Mills to be,” said Markley.

Trustees agreed to vote on formal approval for the project at their March 26 meeting, pending discussion with the Geauga County Prosecutor’s Office on liability issues.

In other discussion, Service Director Jim Stanek announced the township would receive a grant of about $1,800 from the Geauga-Trumbull Solid Waste Management District for tire removal.

Every year during spring clean-up days, townships take old tires for disposal. The grant covers the cost.

Markley said in past years, the program has been especially successful in the Chagrin Falls Park community and proposed the township set up a drop-off site at the community center to make it convenient for residents to drop off old tires.

Markley also pointed out clean-up day rules have changed for accepting mattresses and upholstered items, such as furniture and rugs, because of a growing problem with bed bug infestation in the area.

“The health department says there is a bed bug issue that they are concerned about, so any upholstery or carpeting needs to be bagged before we can accept it,” Markley said.

In addition, volunteers will not be able to enter a senior citizen’s house to bring out any mattresses or upholstered items for disposal.

“It’s unfortunate, and it’s going to make it a little tougher on seniors, but it can cost up to several thousand dollars to get rid of bed bugs,” Markley said, explaining anyone bringing mattresses or upholstered items to the clean-up day that are not bagged will be turned away.

In addition, trustees agreed to sell asphalt grindings from road projects to local contractors and township residents, pending approval from the prosecutor’s office.

“We have surplus that we need to cycle out,” Stanek told trustees, adding the grindings come from road projects when material is removed.

The grindings are used to fill holes or as an alternative to paving.

Stanek proposed selling the material for $9 per ton, plus a $30 delivery fee, within the township.

“We’re not making money, just recovering our costs,” he said, noting he would convert the measurement to yards instead of weight in tons.

“Run it by legal,” Trustee Lorrie Sass Benza said. “It doesn’t hurt to approve it contingent on approval by the prosecutor.”

Trustees approved the sale, contingent on Stanek’s conversion of measurement and review by the prosecutor’s office.

Markley announced the township is working with the Chagrin River Watershed Partners to seek grant money for an erosion repair project needed on the northeast portion of Paterak Lake at Centerville Mills Park. He explained the lake is eroding at one spot and could leak into adjacent Smith Creek that runs into portions of the City of Aurora.

Markley said the discussion is in the preliminary fact-finding stage, but he hopes the township could receive grant money to pay for repairs to the lake before the erosion becomes a serious environmental problem.