Lewes dog park draws support

A big bone has been thrown to the organization working toward opening a dog park in the City of Lewes.

Lewes Unleashed received a financial boost from a local businessman who said he thinks the park is a good idea that he wants to support, and it’s a facility he also plans to use.

“I’m going to ask to be on the board so I can help with fundraising,” said Tom McGlone, managing partner of Heirloom Wealth Advisors, a company with offices in Lewes and in Sparks, Md.

McGlone’s fundraising assistance is off to a good start. He donated $2,000 to Lewes Unleashed, Dec. 6, at the park’s future site.

McGlone, who lives in Rehoboth Beach, said he thinks the dog park could change what he called “Sort of a disconnect between Lewes and Rehoboth.”

“People from Lewes don’t go Rehoboth and vice versa. But there are a lot of dog owners in Rehoboth who could really benefit from this. I can be a representative because I live over there. It’s so far, you know,” he said prompting laughter.

The City of Lewes approved the dog park idea in June and last month approved the initial design concept of local landscape architect Rodney Robinson.

Robinson’s plan is basic, yet elegant. Remove invasive, nonnative and other undesirable plant species, nurture existing indigenous plants and add more of them, and create trails that meander through the site’s wooded, open and grassy areas.

The park will be built on 4.5 acres of a 66-acre parcel the city leases from the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.

The parcel lies off New Road, along the road to the University of Delaware’s College of Earth, Ocean and Environment.

“We’re going to take the design concept and turn it into a detailed design with fences, gates, benches and trees we propose planting back toward the residences,” said Larry Wiley, Lewes Unleashed board chairman. He said the organization and City of Lewes are finalizing a memorandum of understanding defining park responsibilities.

The detailed design, Wiley said, would help to establish the project’s cost. “Then we’d have something to sell to the general public,” he said.

Throughout the past several months, the organization accepted only pledges and already has more than $13,000 worth. Donations are welcomed now that the group has registered, nonprofit status.

Wiley said Lewes Unleashed is also talking with the Delaware Division of Parks & Recreation about qualifying for money from the Delaware Trust Fund, which must be used specifically for park construction.

“We visited the dog park in the Town of Elsmere, near Wilmington, and they got appropriated funds of $100,000 from the state, and used that to match $50,000 from the Delaware Trust Fund,” Wiley said.

Lewes Unleashed has about 1,300 supporters, and more than 70 percent of them live in the Lewes and Rehoboth Beach area, he said.

Wiley estimated the park could be complete by the end of summer 2013.

“We’re going to be recruiting more board members because more and more tasks will need to be done,” he said.

For additional information about Lewes Unleashed and the dog park, go to www.lewesunleashed.org.