Clinton’s dog park nears completion
Clinton Recreation Director Jason Brown points out features of the new Clinton dog park that is being developed at this site on Carden Farms in South Clinton.
Work is well underway on the Clinton Dog Park, off Carden Farm Road in South Clinton, on land along the Clinch River that the city obtained from the Tennessee Valley Authority more than two decades ago.
Clinton City Manager Roger Houck said the dog park is only about “six to eight weeks away,” and when it opens, there will be fenced areas of about three acres for large dogs and two acres for small dogs.
“We already have two roads built leading into the park, and some of the parking is already in,” Houck said. “We’re shooting for opening sometime this fall.”
Mayor Scott Burton said the dog park is being set up on a 17-acre tract the city got in a trade from TVA, and is being paid for by a $25,000 grant from the Randy Boyd Foundation in Knoxville.
“We’re also planning to put in a nine-hole disc golf course, which will eventually expand to 18 holes, and there will be walking trails throughout the property,” Burton said. “We’ll also look at putting in some pickleball courts.”
Out looking over the site last Thursday, Clinton Recreation Director Jason Brown said the next big installation will be the Kentucky split-rail fence around the dog park, which will include a common area at the entrance, which gives access to the separate areas for large and small dogs.
There will be a water fountain and a dog fountain in the common area, along with a “frost-proof” water spigot people can use to wash their dogs down if they get too dirty in the park, Brown said.
“I even found an old fire hydrant that we’ve fixed up and painted candy-apple red to install in the common area,” he said. It will be just for looks and for the dogs to – well, you know. It won’t be connected to a water line.
Each of the doggie areas will have small shelters with benches and sheet-metal roofs for shade, and Brown said he is looking to plant some trees “for natural shade.” He’s also planning to put up some birdhouses.
Part of the park has been used for years by the city as the launch site for fireworks shows on Independence Day and other special times, Brown said.
“We’ve had this land as long as I’ve been here, which is 20 years, but haven’t done anything with it until now,” Brown said. “We had thought for a while we might use it for some additional ballfields.”
The walking trails will go around the entire 17 acres, and will have a connector to the dog park area, Brown said. Part of the trail will follow along the river.
“We’re looking at setting up a pet expo with some humane societies next spring,” Houck said.
Brown said there will be some “UT orange” decorations incorporated into the dog park, including one large and one small statue of the University of Tennessee team mascot Smoky, the blue-tick hound.
There are two benches for the dog park that were donated by the city’s 4-H clubs, which did a bottle-cap project that resulted in them getting the benches, made of recycled plastic, from a company in Indiana, Brown said.
“Since we got the grant, I’ve been going around looking at other dog parks to see what works well and what maybe doesn’t work so well,” Brown said.
Brown also has other ideas for the rest of the property.
“I believe we could do some festivals here,” he said.