City of Ionia leaders and dignitaries cut the ribbon officially opening the new Ionia Dog Park on Friday afternoon, including, from left, City Council Member Dawn Ketchum, City Manager Precia Garland, Parks and Recreation Director Matt Painter, Ionia Public Safety Sgt. Keegan Teitsma, “Mangle” the Great Dane, City Council Member Tom Millard, Mayor John Milewski (cutting the ribbon), Chamber of Commerce Director Lynnelle Wilson and Downtown Development Authority Directory Cassie Rice. — DN Photo | Tim McAllister
IONIA — Tails were wagging in excitement all over Ionia County as the long-awaited Ionia Dog Park at the corner of Steele and Adams had its grand opening ceremony on Friday afternoon, the warmest and sunniest day of the year so far.
The event was attended by dozens of local dog owners and their furry pals, as well as city leaders and dignitaries, including Mayor John Milewski (who cut the ribbon), City Manager Precia Garland, Downtown Development Authority Director Cassie Rice and City Council members Dawn Ketchum and Tom Millard.
“This park is more than a space for our four-legged friends, it’s a great example of place-making in action,” said Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Lynnelle Wilson. “It’s about creating spaces where people want to gather, connect and enjoy our community. This dog park adds value, not only for the pet owners but to the city as a whole.”
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“It is just an exciting day,” added Parks and Recreation Director Matt Painter. “It’s been in the process a couple years, and we are glad to have it opening today. It certainly is a beautiful day for it.”
City Council Member Richard Starr brought his little pal Chewie to check out opening day at the new dog park.
“He seems pretty excited to run around and meet other dogs,” Starr noted. “Now he’s probably going to want me to bring him out here two or three times a week. Yeah, we’ll see how that goes!”
Ionia Public Safety Sgt. Keegan Teitsma brought along Mangle, a massive and intimidating but quite friendly 7-year-old Great Dane that Teitsma rescued from Houston, Texas.
“When we got him, he had some sort of slice or gunshot wound to his foot, and it was all mangled up,” Teitsma recalled. “My kids named him Mangle after the robot on some show they watch, and the name stuck. He’s a very good boy, and he’s really great with kids.”
The majority of the $461,270 cost of the .75 acre Ionia Dog Park was paid for with a $375,478 Community Development Block Grant Program: Public Gathering Spaces Initiative grant from the state. The remaining $85,792 came from city funds.
“This has been in the works for about 10 years,” Milewski recalled. “It was a little over a decade ago when we had the first community survey response about wanting one. So it’s been a long road, but totally worthwhile. We had some bumps, but we are finally over the finish line.”
The park was designed by RJM Design in Grand Rapids and was deliberately placed close to both the Fred Meijer Flat River Valley Rail Trail and Fred Thwaites River Trail.
The park is split into large and small breed areas, and its features include a 5-foot-high fence, water and agility play features, a shelter, waste stations with bags provided and a 6-foot-wide walking path that looks like a bone and a paw print when viewed from above.
There is a gravel parking lot on the south side of the park near the park’s gates. The paved lot on the north side of the park is private parking that is not recommended for use by park guests.
The original plan for the new dog park came in about $100,000 over budget, so it had to be redesigned.
“Once we did that, we were able to re-bid it,” Garland explained. “It still came in a bit over budget, but it was then doable.”
The park was originally going to open last year, but construction was delayed because of problems with the electrical service installation and a necessary redesign of the shade structure.
“Once we began the process, we ran into a few additional snags,” Garland recalled. “Such as there not being an electrical service here, it being a vacant lot. So that had to be added, and then there were issues with the footings on the shade shelter. They were not properly engineered, so they had to be redone.”
The period between completion of construction and Friday’s ribbon cutting seemed long but there was a reason for the wait.
“In order to allow the turf to establish, we held off opening a little, and it’s really come in extremely nicely,” Garland said. “Sometimes you have to wait a little longer than you anticipated. But measure twice, cut once and you get the best outcome, so we’re very pleased with the final product.”
“We were patient and it paid off, and all of our little four-legged friends seem very excited,” Milewski noted.
City leaders agreed that it is now up to the public to use the public parking lot to the south instead of the private lot to the north, to maintain peaceful interactions between pets and people and to keep the grounds clean.
“Just make sure your dog’s not aggressive and you’re cleaning up after their messes,” advised Public Works Director Jeff Petersen. “There are bags inside and right outside the park for that.”
