SEBASTIAN — Improvements are on their way to Sebastian’s Bark Park, the dog park located on Keen Terrace, but they won’t include a restroom facility – at least, for now. The $75,000 worth of identified work at the park has been scaled back to about $29,000, City Manager Al Minner told the City Council this week.
What improvements are still planned for the dog park include a walking trail around the perimeter of the area, a bridge over a pond, and a 12-foot pavilion to provide shade and a gathering spot for the humans at the park.
“I think it’s truly needed,” Minner said of the pavilion, which he expects to cost about $17,000.
Another $2,600 will be put toward the walking trail and $5,500 will go toward new benches and at least one information kiosk, which the Friends of the Bark Park group has requested.
The remainder, approximately $3,900 will be used for beefing up the landscaping, including eight new Live Oak trees.
Minner told the council that he will go back to the city’s Recreation Advisory Committee to determine how best to divvy up the $46,000 that was to go to the Bark Park.
He explained to the council that given the possible high cost of the restroom and the surrounding residents’ concerns about having such a facility at the park, he recommends that it be scrapped from the plans.
Construction on the improvements is expected to begin sometime soon.
