Valley Stream scout builds dog park shelter

A group of volunteers braved the cold weather last Saturday to finish off a gazebo at the new Valley Stream dog park, near Village Hall. The 8-foot by 8-foot shelter is Boy Scout Jack Clifford’s community service project for his Eagle rank.

Clifford, a senior at Central High School, is just one of several teens from Boy Scout Troop 369 working on a project at the new dog park, which is expected to open in the spring. He began making plans for the gazebo back in August, and has worked on building it over the past two months. “It’s been a long process, very tedious,” he said, “but it’s all coming together.”

On Saturday, volunteers finished construction of the roof and put the shingles on. Clifford said the blustery weather conditions have been the norm during the building process. His project could be finished no later than Feb. 19, his 18th birthday.

The gazebo will serve as a shelter from the sun and other elements for dog owners in the large dog park. The first step was digging four holes to anchor the posts. That’s where Clifford faced his biggest challenge.

After digging the holes, pouring the concrete and setting the posts, Clifford found out from the village that he had to move his shelter. This was before the park’s fencing was put up and it turned out where he was building the gazebo wasn’t even part of the dog park. Taking the posts out and starting the process all over again at a spot a few hundred feet away added some extra time to his project. “If it wasn’t for that,” he said, “we would have had it done before the new year.”

But, Clifford said, he was prepared to deal with the challenge as Eagle projects are designed to teach scouts leadership even in times of adversity. As the president of the Audio Tech club at Central, Clifford said he already has had experience as a leader.

Though he has done some of the construction himself for his Eagle project, Clifford’s primary role was to lead. He supervised a group of volunteers, including fellow scouts, troop leaders, family, friends and neighbors. Clifford also had to seek donations, and was able to secure the building materials from various Lowe’s and Home Depot stores.

Several other scouts from Clifford’s troop are contributing to the dog park. His brother, Charlie, is building obstacles for the dogs. Shaun Powers is making signs, Rick Weiner is building benches and Peter Marin will create four murals and build a shed for supplies. “We’re pretty much putting together the inside of the dog park,” Clifford said.

Scout leader Mike Powers, the Eagle committee chairman, learned about the dog park from Envision Valley Stream leader David Sabatino. Powers found out what was needed for the dog park, and brought the ideas back to his scouts.

Clifford said he chose the gazebo because it was the biggest project that needed to be done and didn’t mind the challenge. “It’s a lot of hard work, but it does pay off in the end,” he said. “Helping the community is always a good thing.”

Richard Infield, leader of Friends of the Valley Stream Dog Park, said the contributions from the scouts are invaluable to the completion of the park. “It takes care of most of the things that we need to build,” he said. “I don’t know how we would have done this if they weren’t around.”

Infield said that the group never had to consider other ways of how to get these items built because the scouts have been a part of the park’s planning since the early stages.

The grand opening of the park is being planned for the first weekend in May. Infield said that he would like to have rescue groups and pet-related vendors at the event. The Friends group is also beginning its fundraising efforts. One big-ticket item is a decomposed granite surface, which Infield said is ideal for dog parks but will cost about $20,000.

The new surface won’t be ready for the park’s opening, however. “For the first year, the grass is fine,” Powers said.

Clifford, who said he is excited to see the facility open, added that he has gotten positive feedback about his contribution to the dog park. A moment he’ll never forget, is when working on his project one afternoon in December, the mayor and Santa stopped by on a fire truck. “How many people can say they had Santa at their Eagle project?” Clifford said.