by Lonny Goldsmith, November 17, 2005

One of nation's best gets better

What started as an innocent item in a quarterly newsletter is paying big dividends for Alimagnet Dog Park.

Mentioning that lights wouldn't be added anytime soon because of the cost, an anonymous donor has stepped forward to cover the cost - estimated between $55,000 and $75,000 - of lighting the popular Burnsville dog park.

"It will be, to my knowledge, the first in the metro area that's lit," said Garrett Beck, a recreation supervisor for the city of Burnsville. "As the park has become more and more popular, it had been a request. It's been happening around the country."

Lighting the park was brought to Beck's attention in the annual survey that is given to park users.

"To light such a park is cost prohibitive," Beck said. "We let users know that we understand the need, why they would want lights, why we don't have them and why we won't have them in the future. Someone read about it and decided to do something."

Beck said that lighting the park would be more like lighting a street rather than a baseball field.

"The donors asked me to get them more detailed figures," Beck said. "Once I gave them the information they were looking for, they decided it was something they were willing to go through with."

The project is out for bids now, and Beck hopes the project will be completed by the end of the year.

"Right now, the weather is fabulous, but there would be a cost increase if we were trenching after the frost," Beck said, adding that the donor was prepared for that. "Where we're at in the timeframe, I don't see that happening."

The park was rated the third best dog park in the nation earlier this year by Dog Fancy magazine and won a $10,000 grant from the magazine and Novartis, a company that in part is dedicated to animal health.

The donation was received by PACK (People of Alimagnet Caring for K-9s) a non-profit group that is dedicated to making improvements at the park.

Brigitt Martin, one of the PACK board members, said that lighting a park the size of Alimagnet, which is seven acres, is unusual.

"We've been dreaming about it for years," Martin said. "We have a wonderful park and users who use it to exercise their dogs, and have a social outlet at the end of the day."

Martin said she hoped people would use the park responsibly, even with the opportunity to go out at night.

"People still have to exercise caution going out at night," she said. "I expect that it will increase park usership and open it up for people who might not otherwise come."