Rutherford College Town Council says 'No' to municipal dog park

Fido and Bowser may be disappointed, but Rutherford College is not building a public dog park.

Town Council decided at its regular monthly meeting Monday night that the cost of building, maintaining, and insuring a dog park was simply too high for a facility in which community interest is too low.

Town Manager Jessica Bargsley had asked the council for direction as to whether she should begin a formal bidding process for building a dog park as part of the facilities at the town’s Greenway Park.

“I’m just not a dog park fan,” said Councilman Mark Stinson. “We’ve got to consider the insurance, the liability, and the costs. I go by the dog park at Valdese Lakeside Park all the time and it is usually empty.”

Veteran Councilman Wayne Annas said, “This is something we simply don’t need to get into. Especially, if only one person in town has really expressed any interest in it.”

Councilman Kress Berry summed up the discussion by simply saying, “It’s just not worth it.”

The council also decided to not move forward with plans for a new mural on the side of the old town hall building on Malcolm Boulevard.

The town planning board had been kicking around the idea of a new mural for the last several months, but had received no design ideas from town residents despite public pleas for them.

Council also balked at the idea of spending $10,000 or more for a mural on a building that could eventually be torn down to provide space for more downtown parking.

“We simply have other projects that are more important and that we may need to be spending money on,” said Berry.

The council did not formally vote on either the dog park or the mural but, after listening to the council members’ concerns, Mayor Yates Jensen said, “These two projects are tabled for the time being.”

The council did decide to allocate $1,700 to the Western Piedmont Council of Governments to be used to hire a full-time person to lead the fight against a Charlotte request to draw more water from the Catawba River Basin.

Bargsley said the Council of Governments has asked each municipality in the basin to contribute to the effort and said the $1,700 request was based on the town’s population and how many water customers it has.

Councilman James Huffman Jr. noted that, “Charlotte has a lot of money” to use in this fight and that “the many municipalities along the river need to pull together and pool their resources.”

“We don’t know what our future is going to be,” said Bargsley. “But we do know that we will need water to meet the demands of any residential growth that we have.”

Council also gave its approval to a new simplified zoning fees schedule that had been worked on by the planning board and by Katelyn Smith, the planner who works with the town under contract from the Western Piedmont Council of Governments.

“This is basically a simplified way for the residents of our town to see where and when permits are required and how much they cost,” said Planning Board Chairman Carroll Hoyle.

Finally, the council heard from property owner Steve Johnson who fears that a homeless camp could develop next to his property on Malcolm Boulevard.

Johnson reported, and Bargsley confirmed, that April Smith, the owner of the property at 1115 Malcolm Blvd., had made a public announcement on social media inviting homeless people to come live on her land.

Johnson said two people are already living out of a car on the property and he feared other homeless persons might accept Smith’s invitation.

Bargsley said the town can enforce ordinances governing public nuisance, disorderly conduct, and littering, if and when they apply. She also noted that camping is not allowed anywhere within the town limits.

Bargsley also said she has repeatedly tried to reach Smith, including going to her door, but that all efforts had failed.

Jensen thanked Johnson for bringing the potential issue to the board’s attention and pledged, “We will keep an eye on this and we will do what we can.”