Astronomical.
That’s how Kris Stimpson describes the progress the nonprofit RUFF has made in the six short weeks it has been organizing and raising money for the off-leash dog park it plans to construct in Renton this summer.
Stimpson is recreation manager for the City of Renton and one of three city staff representatives on RUFF. The nonprofit’s full name is Renton’s Unleashed Furry Friends.
In those six short weeks and with only one fundraiser, RUFF has raised more than half of the $20,000 it needs to start construction. The City of Renton has pledged to match that $20,000 to pay for start-up costs and up to $30,000 more for any additional costs.
City staff has approved the park as a two-year pilot project. The park will go up on a 5-acre city-owned field next to the Cedar River trail, site of the former NARCO brick plant.
RUFF hopes to break ground in early August. Construction by the city should take only a couple weekends.
Kevin Poole is helping handle operations for RUFF. He suspects that RUFF surprised many city officials by organizing so quickly.
“I’m not really sure that they had realized what they had unleashed,” Poole says. “We are incredibly energized and it seems like we have incredible community support.”
Stimpson said she receives calls daily from enthusiastic dog lovers who want to help with the park.
Plans for the dog park started last spring when the city created a Dog Park Task Force after years of dog-park requests.
RUFF is seeking volunteers and donations of money and construction materials including fencing. All donations are tax-deductible. To help or for more information, visit www.rentonoffleash.org or e-mail rentonoffleash@gmail.com.
But it wasn’t until October that the City of Renton’s Parks Commission unanimously approved a proposal for an off-leash dog park. And it was not until December when the city finalized its budget, with $50,000 included for the dog park.
RUFF just got going in March. Its first fundraiser, Wags ‘n Wines, was Monday at Vino at The Landing. About 135 people attended and more than $8,000 was raised at that wine and auction party.
“It was fantastic,” Poole says. “We had a huge turnout. We had to turn people away, we had so many people.”
Tickets will be sold in advance to RUFF’s next fundraiser, in June at the Dog & Pony Alehouse and Grill.
But Poole’s not sure that RUFF will have to hold too many more fundraisers. The group hopes to lower its construction costs with donations of materials.
The biggest cost for the 5-acre dog park will be fencing. RUFF is estimating fencing will cost about $10,000. Whoever donates the fencing will land naming rights to the park.
RUFF is also seeking the community’s help installing a water line for a dog spigot and in creating or paying for log benches for the park’s human visitors.
The park will also have two informational kiosks. RUFF will cover the park’s maintenance.
“As far as amenities, we’re really just going to start out as a really basic facility … and who knows what will happen after that,” Poole says.
Poole has hopes for what happens after that though. He and his dog Pokey want the city to extend the life of the dog park beyond the two years of the pilot program.
The mixed-breed Pokey now has only a small yard. She gets her running done in a Bellevue dog park more than 20 minutes away from the house she shares with Poole and his partner.
That will change with Renton’s new dog park.
“She’s got a ton of energy because she’s still a puppy, and she would love to be at that dog park every morning,” Poole says.
