Dog park gets go-ahead in Lehighton

A local Girl Scout has finally received the go-ahead to create a dog park in Lehighton.

On a narrow 4-3 vote, borough council on Monday approved the creation of a dog park at Skyline Park along North Third Street.

Initially, council deadlocked on a 3-3 vote, with council members Autumn Abelovsky, Ryan Saunders and council President Grant Hunsicker in favor, and council members Joe Flickinger, Lisa Perry and Donnie Rehrig opposed.

Since Councilman Darryl Arner was absent, Mayor Clark Ritter, in his capacity as mayor, broke the tiebreaker when he cast the deciding vote in the affirmative that resulted in a 4-3 majority vote.

Flickinger said that logistically with the parking, he didn’t believe it was a good idea to have the dog park located at Skyline Park.

Rehrig said he agreed with Flickinger as far as parking was concerned.

However, Abelovsky noted that the matter was discussed at a public meeting of the Lehighton Dog Park Association last month.

Council’s decision means that Jessica Mabus, of Girl Scout Troop 329, can follow through with her plan for a dog park.

Initially, the tentative location for the park was the grass area next to the Lehighton Recreation Center on South Eighth Street.

However, Mabus told council last month that she would like to create the park at Skyline Park.

That came after Mabus approached council in March with the idea to create the park as her Gold Award Project for Girl Scouts, which is the equivalent to the Boy Scouts Eagle Scout Project.

As for the actual design, it would be one large dog park and one small dog park.

The mission of the Lehighton Borough Dog Park Association is to organize the establishment of a dog park in the borough; provide adequate areas, boundaries and supplies for a community dog park; and encourage participation from volunteers to maintain a community dog park within the borough.

The park is intended to provide a safe and secure environment where owners may exercise and train their dogs, providing effective socialization opportunities for people and their dogs, as well as enhancing positive interaction between dog owners and the community.

Mabus is still in the process of applying for grants for a dog park, and the grants would need to be submitted through the borough.

Borough officials last September debated putting an end to its dogs prohibited in parks and playgrounds ordinance.

At that time, council on a 4-3 vote agreed to advertise an ordinance to abolish the current borough ordinance pertaining to dogs prohibited in parks and playgrounds.

No other action has been taken on the ordinance since council’s vote last September.

This isn’t the first time a park has been proposed for Skyline Park.

In December 2016, council heard a proposal from “On the Grind” Association about creating a skate park at Skyline Park.