The city of Lexington and Anderson Communities, which owns Park Plaza Apartments, partnered on the newly opened dog park in Phoenix Park, at the corner of Limestone and East Main streets. Park Plaza borders the park.
Anderson Communities provided the fencing. The city’s parks department contributed design services and will provide signs, said Monica Conrad, director of Lexington’s parks and recreation department. The dog area opened last week.
The city’s other popular dog parks are largely on the outskirts of Lexington, nestled in city parks such as Jacobson, Masterson Station, Wellington and Pleasant Ridge. As more people move downtown, so has the need for parks for its four-legged residents, Conrad said.
“The conversations started about a year ago,” Conrad said. “We got a lot of feedback from downtown residents who were looking for a place for their dogs.”
Park Plaza residents already use the grassy area as a place to let their dogs out. Conrad said Phoenix Park is technically not a dog park. It’s a dog pad, which is similar to the dog area at Pleasant Ridge Park, she said. It’s much, much smaller than the more surburban dog parks such as Masterson, which is 13 acres separated into two different paddocks.
“It’s much more common in large, urban areas,” Conrad said of the park’s design. It’s still large enough for people to allow their dogs off their leashes, she said.
The dog pad is part of a larger effort to make improvements to the city park. The city and several downtown groups including the Lexington Public Library have secured grant funding to make those improvements, Conrad said. The dog pad cost very little in city money because much of the design and signage has been done in-house, she said.
