Campaign Launched For New Salisbury Dog Park

SALISBURY – Officials in Salisbury are seeking the community’s support for the creation of a new dog park.

Last week, SVN Miller Commercial Real Estate and the City of Salisbury announced the launch of a crowdfunding campaign to support the creation of a new dog park in downtown Salisbury.

Officials said the idea is to create a fenced-in, 4,000-square-foot dog park along the Salisbury Riverwalk outfitted with a doggy drinking fountain, a granite hill, fresh landscaping, doggie bag stations and bench seating.

“With residential space in our downtown already full to capacity, and more being built every day, it is certain that we will continue to see an increase in the number of families with pets who choose to live here,” said Salisbury Mayor Jacob Day. “When we think about the sorts of amenities that make living downtown so appealing, an off-leash dog park might not be the first thing that jumps to mind for some – but for dog owners, access to the Bark Park could clinch the decision to live downtown.”

If the campaign reaches its crowdfunding goal of $5,000 by Aug. 15 at midnight, the project will win a matching grant with funds from SVN Miller Commercial Real Estate and the SVN Communities program.

“Downtown Salisbury is experiencing a vibrant and exciting revitalization,” said Amy Miller, executive managing director at SVN Miller. “We at SVN Miller Commercial Real Estate are proud to be a part of that growth.”

Miller said the campaign is made possible through a new initiative from SVN International. Partnering with Patronicity – a civic crowdfunding platform – the real estate agency created SVN Communities, a place-based crowdfunding grant program.

“This is the first year SVN International is rolling out this initiative,” she said. “So we are very fortunate to be one of the inaugural picks.”

Miller said Patronicity reached out to community organizations in Salisbury months ago in search of community-driven projects.

Successful projects must activate a new or underused public or community space with the program giving preference to permanent physical projects.

“They come into a community and reach out to those in need and look for placemaking and capital projects …,” she said. “The city had sent in an idea about creating a dog park and that’s the proposal the executive team went with.”

The crowdfunding campaign for the new dog park will conclude in August. If the city reaches it’s $5,000 goal, it will have six months to complete the project.

“There are several other dog parks in Salisbury,” Miller said, “but none are located downtown.”

City officials are encouraging members of the community to support the Salisbury Bark Park by visiting www.patronicity.com/sbybarkpark. As of Wednesday, the campaign has raised $1,000.

All donations are tax deductible, and 100% of contributions will go toward the park itself, with no overhead costs or administrative fees.

For more information, call 833-SBY-CITY.

About The Author: Bethany Hooper

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Bethany Hooper has been with The Dispatch since 2016. She currently covers various general stories. Hooper graduated from Stephen Decatur High School in 2012 and the University of Maryland in 2016, where she completed double majors in journalism and economics.