By Chase Holmes, News Reporter
IRONDALE — The City of Irondale and the Irondale City Council broke ground on the site of a new dog park on Thursday, Sept. 28.
The new park will be located on the current site of Ellard Park at 1 Avenue North and Ruffner Court.
Mayor James Stewart said the City of Irondale has been looking forward to a new dog park for a very long time with an initial attempt in 2014 that didn’t work out at the time. That all changed when he was elected.
“When I became mayor in 2020, we began the journey to develop a state of the art dog park that we would be proud of and it would be an attraction and destination for dog lovers,” Mayor Stewart said. “The property is 9.6 acres. It will consist of a pavilion, we will have an area dedicated to small dogs and an area dedicated to large dogs.”
After an initial conversation about installing artificial grass, Mayor Stewart said the city decided to go with natural, Bermuda grass. Other amenities include an obstacle course and various boulders for dogs to play or longue on as well as a mini-walking area for dog owners to walk their pets and exercise.
Construction is expected to begin soon and Mayor Stewart said it will be a three to four month process.
Every park needs a name and Irondale has enlisted the help of the public to name the new park. The idea of an open poll came to Mayor Stewart one weekend and he knew it was the right call.
“One Saturday afternoon I just put out a question on my socials. We wanted a name that is indicative of the area, we wanted a name that will brand the dog park but also a name that will be an attraction. We had people respond randomly to names that would be a good name,” Mayor Stewart said, “We took the top eight names that and allowed people to vote on those names and people can write in as well.”
Voting on the name will take place on the City of Irondale smartphone app. The contest started on Sept. 28 and will run through Oct. 20.
Mayor Stewart said his personal choice for the name of the dog park was inspired by the rail lines that run near the future site of the park.
“When I began to think of where the dog park is in the City of Irondale and what surrounds the dog park, my favorite name is Tails by Rails.”