On Sunday, volunteers gathered at Elks Park to begin work on the Rotary Club of Terrace's latest project- an off-leash dog park.
"It came up that a dog park was needed in the City of Terrace, so we asked around and talked to the city and found some space," said Rotary President, Sean Bujtas.
On Haugland Avenue, several members of the club and additional supporters constructed a gravel access path and additional parking that links the dog park with the ball diamonds at Elks Park. The team also brushed and cleared the inside of the fenced-off area where dogs will be allowed to run off-leash.
"We were brush-clearing trees to make sure that there's good lines of sight inside the park. We built a walkway up from the parking lot so people have a nice gradual walk up to the dog park opposed to going through a bit of a gully," adds Bujtas. "There's definitely a bit more work to be done, but we're getting there."
Several local businesses worked alongside the City of Terrace by donating equipment and material to help the project along. These include McElhanney for providing the design and permitting, Finning for providing a Caterpillar Compact Track Loader, JL’s Excavating for providing the gravel and West Point Rentals for providing the gravel compactor and cutting saws.
Bujtas is looking forward to the end result and admires the community's hard work and dedication in getting this project underway.
"It's been really positive, we’ve seen lots of good feedback on social media from locals. In fact, people started coming by when we were doing our work, thanking us. It just goes to show that the community is looking forward to using the park when it's up and running."
The Rotary Club has agreed to donate up to $40,000 for the construction of the park, which is expected to be completed by the end of May.
