Framingham Dog Park: City Applying For Grants, Seeking Donations

FRAMINGHAM, MA — A plan to build a dog park in Framingham — the city's first — is moving swiftly, with city officials saying they are ready to apply for grants to pay for almost the entire project.

Framingham Parks and Recreation Deputy Director Tom Begin updated the City Council on the project Monday night. The preferred option for the park is a 1-acre site south of the skateboard park at Farm Pond Park. Begin said the total cost of the project will be about $262,000, which includes construction and future costs like overhead.

In the next few weeks, the city will apply for a $225,000 Stanton Foundation grant to cover construction, plus a $25,000 grant from the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program to cover additional costs. The city also has about $18,000 in other accounts to use for the project.

The Stanton Foundation, founded by former CBS president Frank Stanton, has funded dozens of dog parks across Massachusetts, including the new park in Natick along Route 135. Begin told Councilors he didn't know how long it might take for the foundation to review Framingham's grant request.

In the meantime, Begin said Framingham is open to accepting donations from citizens for the park. At other dog parks, people have donated items like benches and dog houses to memorialize people — or canines. Anyone interested in making a donation should contact the parks department.

Framingham citizens organized under the group FramBARK have been advocating for an official dog park since 2015. The group announced it was shutting down in December 2019, but the dog park effort came back in 2020 under a citizen petition.