NAMPA, Idaho — The city of Nampa is one step closer to opening Huckleberry Dog Park. The nine-acre and fully fenced dog park is located at 11370 Smith Ave.
Total project costs were about $2.5 million, according to Cody Swander, Nampa's Assistant Parks and Recreation Director.
Construction work started at the park in May of 2022. The goal was to have the park open and dogs playing by fall 2023.
But, contractors ran into some issues.
Crews were supposed to lay seeds for the lawn in spring of 2023, but construction delays pushed the seeding schedule to summer 2023.
"It was over 100 degrees at the time," Swander said. "It (the grass) just came up so thin, and was competing with the weeds and the heat of the summer."
It left some areas with bald patches, and others with weedy patches, he said.
The turf germination that came through, wasn't up to required contract specifications. Therefore, reseeding parts of the lawn needed to take place in spring 2024.
All that's left is for crews to improve the quality of the grass before the city can officially open the park.
Contractors laid the new seeds on Monday at no additional cost to Nampa residents.
"Coming back in the spring and hitting it again with some new seed to help fill it in, bring it up to that specification required in the contract and make it durable enough for dogs to run through it without completely destroying it, required us to push back the opening until now," Swander said.
In the next six to eight weeks new grass will grow and thicken, then crews can give it a few mows before the park opens.
The city estimates the park will open sometime this June, Swander said.
Once it's open, dogs and their owners will be able to enjoy a handful of different amenities including walking paths throughout the whole park, and an enclosed water mister.
The park has three different lawns for dogs to play in. Including one for small and senior dogs.
You'll notice the park has berry themed signs for areas like Dingleberry poop station, and Mulberry Tree play area.
"When people come out here, they can say, hey, meet me by Blueberry Bend at Huckleberry Dog Park and we can throw the stick for our dog and have a good time," Swander said.
The city has one other dog park, Amity Dog Park, at 2900 2nd St. South. Amity is slightly smaller with six acres and different features.
Swander said they learned from Amity and incorporated certain aspects at Huckleberry they feel were needed to help a dog park operate more smoothly.
One example of that is having an enclosed water feature. At Amity, dogs tend to run into the pond there as they please. But, at Huckleberry, dogs can only get near the mister if their owners don't mind a wet dog on the car ride home.
In the future if crews need to rehabilitate the lawn at Huckleberry, they can close off one area at a time, instead of closing the entire park down for work.
Swander is excited for a second park to open, with hopes it will help reduce crowding issues at Amity.
"Dog parks aren't just for dogs, they're for people too," Swander said. "We find that a lot of people make really meaningful connections and relationships with others meeting at the dog park."
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