Committee Looks for Solutions on Dog Park Upkeep, Condition

The Benson Park Committee opened its May 16 meeting to address the deteriorating condition of the dog park at Benson Park, which members worried was growing unsafe for both dogs and people.
“I go to the dog park every day, but in the five years that I’ve been going down there, you’ve lost more than 90% of the grass down there, you’ve lost more than 50% of the dirt that’s in there, and all you’ve got left is rock,” said member, Gary Willaims. “There’ pieces of asphalt in there that are breaking up. I can’t see another five years of this lasting the way it is.”
Part of the problem came from rain washing dirt away during rainy months.
He talked to local company Sunshine Paving to fix some of the asphalt while adding a dry well to improve drainage. The company offered to pave the asphalt at a discount, although Willaims did not have an accurate idea of what the cost might be.
“The reason I’m bringing this up now, is because we’re losing this real fast. We have to get the water stoppage done now,” Williams emphasized in response to an email from the Department of Public Works that no money was available for the project before July 1. “We have to do something quickly. Let’s start with trying to get the water diverted.”
Public Works will need to do a study on where the dry well should be for a longer-term fix, although Williams raised the possibility of trying to redirect the flow of water toward the nearby parking lot.
Joe Undercofler of 137 Musquash Road was pessimistic about being able to easily redirect water or dig a dry well.
“There’s actually a high spot in that parking area, we were in there with a loader back in 2012,” said Undercofler. “That whole area is all one solid piece ledge.”
He had trouble breaking up the underground rock deposits in the area, even with heavy equipment.
“I was part of the original dog park committee, that whole dog park was put there as a volunteer effort, we had fundraising,” Undercofler explained, going into the history of the park. “Around 2016-17, the dog park committee, which was a subcommittee of the Benson Park Committee, disbanded. At that time, the Board of Selectmen decided they were going to put a lock on the gate, there’d be no more dog park.”
Undercofler eventually got the park re-opened by independently working to keep the park maintained and asking for help in keeping the trash cans empty when traveling after retirement.
“I think it’s amazing you’ve done it for so many years,” said Sarah Petkiewicz. “Is there a landscaping company that would donate their time?”
She offered to put up a sign for advertising to see if anyone would be interested, although it was unclear how feasible that plan might be. As with moving forward for fixing the flow of water, cost is an issue. Historically, Hudson does not allocate money for upkeep.
Chair, Jack Madden, promised to meet up with Undercofler later to write down what needed to be done while seeing what the Park Committee might do to help.

Newsletter Updates

Enter your email address below and subscribe to our newsletter

Stay informed and not overwhelmed, subscribe now!