Dog Park Construction Underway

Weston Today photos

December 1, 2024 | by Ted Craft

On the day before Thanksgiving, nearly seven years after Weston residents voted to approve building a dog park on town-owned land, construction began with heavy equipment clearing dead and down trees along the park’s accessway and parking area.

The project, having obtained all local approvals several times, was delayed for a dog’s year by legal actions variously filed in Superior Court, Appellate Court, and state commissions. None of the challenges were successful.

The most recent motion, filed in July, asked the Superior Court to grant a preliminary injunction blocking construction of the park entrance. The complaint alleged that the Town’s design did not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), so the case was moved to federal court.

On November 4, the motion was denied by United States District Court Judge Kari A. Dooley.

Rather than violating the ADA, Judge Dooley ruled that “the proposed work is designed to render the entrance to the dog park ADA-compliant,” that it would harm neither the able nor the disabled, and that “tree removal, grading, drainage, all make the area more accessible, not less so.”

The balance of interests

Judge Dooley noted standards that apply to a motion for injunctive relief, including demonstration of “irreparable harm in the absence of the injunction.” She ruled that the plaintiff, Ellen Strauss, “has failed to demonstrate how any of this will cause her irreparable injury, or any injury. It appears … that she simply does not want this dog park constructed.”

If anything, said Judge Dooley, the “balance of the interests” falls in favor of the Town, noting the expenditure of time and resources, the “will of the majority of residents,” and the costs of engaging experts to create the dog park “in an ADA-compliant fashion.”

“With delay comes rising costs,” said Judge Dooley, referring to prices that escalated during the years of litigation, eventually requiring a scaled-back design and another round of approvals and lawsuits.

In a walkthrough as work began on November 27, First Selectwoman Samantha Nestor said she expects to be able to open the park early in the new year.

Public Works director Larry Roberts said progress should not slow with the arrival of colder weather, unless the ground freezes, which usually does not happen in early winter, if at all.

Dog Park Construction Underway

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