By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — A campaign to create an enclosed dog run at Winslow Park, where dogs can roam freely, has gained new momentum.

Three Representative Town Meeting members and a Westport designer who loves dogs are spearheading the project, first envisioned two years ago.

Currently, dogs are allowed off leash in a designated northern area of 29-acre Winslow Park, at Post Road East and Compo Road North. But the area is not adequately enclosed, the advocates say, to ensure dogs’ safety.

Two dog run supporters, Mimi Duvall-Sajda and Sal Liccione, a District 9 RTM member, met with Michael West, the town’s parks superintendent on Sept. 23 to check potential locations in the park where a dog run could be built. 

The proposed dog run would be completely enclosed, preventing unleashed animals from running into the street, and providing other benefits for both dogs and their owners, they said.

The enclosed area would promote health and socialization for dogs, “and contribute to the overall well-being of the community,” Duvall-Sajda wrote in a letter to the Westport Journal. It also would also help foster friendships among residents who own dogs, she said.

Karen Kramer, a District 5 RTM member and dog run proponent, said, “I really think it is important to have a safe place for dogs. We are definitely going to get this done. It’s really necessary.”

Andrew Colabella, a District 4 RTM member, who launched efforts to create a dog run in Winslow Park two years ago, has designed an enclosure that would not take up much space in the large park, he said. “It’s not even a full acre of the park. It’s a fraction of the park … but it’s enough space for people to bring their dogs,” he said.

Colabella posted an online petition, “Westport Needs A Dog Run,” in October 2022. Still uploaded on Change.org, it had 826 signatures as of Wednesday.

“We’re getting immense support from the Westport community, as well as residents from nearby towns, including professional dog walkers and others who come every day to Winslow Park,” Colabella said.

It has been gratifying to collect so many petition signatures supporting a dog run, Kramer said. But the pandemic dampened the effort, at least temporarily, she said — until now.

The group’s next step is to bring the idea before the Parks and Recreation Commission. Colabella and Liccione both are members of the RTM Parks and Recreation Committee, and Kramer is a former member of that committee. 

But the final decision on whether to establish a dog run will be made by the Parks and Recreation Commission, West said.

Part of the impetus for an enclosed dog run was the death of a dog that ran from Winslow Park into Compo Road North and was hit by a car two years ago. In response, the Parks and Recreation Department installed split-rail fencing in a few areas to improve safety, but the barriers are not adequate to prevent dogs from finding their way to the road, Colabella said.

Colabella’s petition was not the first petition to call for an enclosed area for dogs in Winslow Park. “Enclosed Dog Park for Westport,” a petition launched in June 2019 by Nancy Rosen, and also posted on Change.org, had similar goals. “There is no fencing to contain dogs while they play,” the petition said. It gathered 75 online supporters.

A third petition, posted in 2018 by Matthew Vining, advocated installing a shower to clean up dogs after playing in Winslow Park. It garnered 193 signatures.

The group supporting a dog run at Winslow Park is looking for public feedback on the proposal, Colabella said. Residents should send comments to: RTM-dl@westportct.gov.

Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist for many years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman and has taught journalism at New York and Southern Connecticut State universities.