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ITS DOG-GONE TIME
Manteca dog park will open in November
bow wow barrel copy
bow wow barrel are some of the amenities that the new Manteca dog park will feature when it opens later this year - photo by PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED

Yelping about Manteca’s lack of a dog park — an amenity first approved by elected leaders in 2003 — will come to an end this November.
That’s when work is expected to be completed on the city’s dog park being created an established grassy area on the northwest corner of the Manteca Civic Center campus at 1001 W. Center St.
Parks and Recreation Director Kevin Fant  told the Manteca City Council during a special meeting Tuesday that the notice to proceed has been filed by the firm awarded the bid for the $227,993 project — F. Loduca Company. He noted work would start within the week. The project will be completed in 30 to 40 days.
Fant said that would allow for a grand opening by mid-November.
That prompted Manteca Councilman Mike Morowit — who had inquired about the dog park progress — to respond, “so we will have paws on the ground” in November.
The dog park at the corner of Magnolia Street and Eucalyptus Avenue will have a double entry gate system to prevent dogs from getting loose.
The 5-foot high fencing will employ vinyl slats with chain link fencing. There would be a drinking fountain for humans and a bowl drinking fountain for dogs as well as two trash receptacles, five dog waste stations, dog park rules sign, and bulletin board.
It will have two separate areas — one for larger dogs and one for smaller dogs.
The project will also include:
uFive dog bone shaped benches.
uTen 15 gallon trees.
u194 one-gallon shrubs or groundcovers.
u13 stained paw prints set in concrete.
uA double pointer plank jump: Essential hurdles for dogs to clear.
uWhippet walk: It is a ramp device where a dog walks up a ramp to a level stretch about two feet above the ground and then back down a ramp on the other side.
uA Samoyed sit and stay table: The raised square platform is a tried and true dog park furnishing that helps with obedience training.
uBow Wow Barrel: A mini pike-like tunnel.
uScottie Seesaw: Basically a teeter-totter for dogs.
A large chunk of the cost — $48,600 — is for the installation of missing sidewalks along Eucalyptus Street.
Costs are being kept down as there is landscaping — turf and trees — already in place along with an irrigation system.
There are restrooms nearby as well as off-street parking.
The council had set aside up to $278,270 for a dog park that carries an annual estimated $10,000 a year cost for maintenance. The project low bid is $35,000 less than what was budgeted.
The dog park site was selected in December by the council. It actually was the first site picked in 2003 by a previous council. They had considered and rejected a proposal to place a dog park at the Manteca Golf Park directly across from the tennis courts on Union Road. The staff at the time came back several months later and said it might interfere with future plans to expand the Civic Center complex. Staff noted in 2003 that they expected the Civic Center to be expanded by 2013 which would require a dog park put in place at the campus to be removed.
Dog lovers in Manteca first sought a dog park in 2001. That was when the original plan was floated by several citizens led by Park West neighborhood resident Karen Grupe. A year later the Dog Owners Group of Manteca was organized. The dog park at the time had a price tag of $60,000.

Council OKs dog
park for a 2nd time
but different location
In 2007, the city adopted a new location for a possible dog park. The location was on the northeast corner of the 52-acre park where Woodward Avenue and Birdwell Avenue.   The Parks and Recreation Commission in their Woodward Park master plan adopted in the summer of 2007 tossed in a large shade structure to bring the total cost for a dog park to $250,261. Nothing happened
The dog park project was revived again in 2008 as dog lovers started pushing for progress. Believing the Woodward Park site wasn’t favored by the city even though it had been adopted but not acted on, they suggested other possible locations. One suggestion was to use the Button Estates Park sandwiched between the Manteca Christian Center and Discovery Creek Drive that was rarely used by humans as the location for the dog park. By that time Lathrop already had a dog park even though they didn’t start talking about having one until three years after Manteca voted to establish a dog park.
When Manteca staff was ready to move forward with a dog park in 2009, the Great Recession had hit.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com