Council debates dog park location options

Councilmen express concern with lease

SIDNEY -- The Sidney City Council debated the offer of two different dog park locations in their recent meeting.

City Manager David Scott said there have been groups seeking a dog park in Sidney. In the February 27 council meeting, the question was where, not if there should be a dog park.

"We've identified two areas that could possibly even be used for this. One of them is a piece of city land. That has adequate drainage and its large enough to accommodate.  That's the only city land that we would have that could accommodate something like that," Scott said.

He said the second option is land owned by Flood Communications.

"The radio station has been very generous and wanting to use their land, where their old radio station used to be, which is right there. The reason they want to do that is several. They have their network of wires under there and they aren't super deep. So that land without putting a whole lot of money into it would not be good for anything else. We would not be able to dig under there. So they wanted to work with the City for a long time on this project," Scott said.

He said the advantage of the City land is the drainage and there would be no lease payment. He said the disadvantage is that land would not be available, and community groups have discussed projects larger than a dog park. The proposed cost of the lease is what caused concern.

Councilmen Brandon Bondegard and Brock Buckner, Sr. said after the meeting they support the concept of a dog park. Their concern is the proposed lease.

"For the dog park, I'm down for the dog park. I just don't want the 30-year lease," Bondegard said.

He said the concern is what it will cost the city over the period of the lease, especially when the City has land that can be used as a dog park. Bondegard suggested those two options were brought before council because they are centrally located.

Buckner and Bondegard agree the city has land options without signing a new lease.

"I wouldn't mind everyone getting what they want. You know, the radio station can back off and say 'hey, we still want to partner with the City,' which I know that's what they want to do. They want to promote the dog park. They want to make it the best in Sidney. I feel like if the radio station truly wants this partnership, which I'm sure they do, lease it to us for a dollar. It's on their land. They're getting use out of their land. People are getting a dog park. We're saving that plot of land," Buckner said.

He said in addition, the City isn't getting into unnecessary debt.