After being approached by the group working to build a dog park in Pelican Park, the Mandeville City Council said it would like to look into building its own dog park inside city limits.

Members of the Pelican Bark Park Committee appeared before the council several months ago requesting the city’s support in getting a dog park built in the Mandeville area. Since then the group has been successful in securing approximately 3 acres in Pelican Park for the facility and are currently in the fund-raising phase of their projects.

Sarah Pokorny and Christy Write paid another visit to the council Thursday night, hoping to get the city to pony up some money to help their cause. But it seems the city has other plans, which include some dog parks of its own.

Local developer John Crosby, who showed up at the meeting with his son Andrew and their dogs, a Maltese named Mister and a rat terrier named Audio, has offered to prepare some plans for a dog park as well as put together a price estimate for the city. He said he will have that ready for the council to review at its next meeting April 23.

Mandeville Mayor Eddie Price said he would like to look into the possibility of the city doing both, donating money to the Pelican Bark Park and building one of the city’s own.

Mandeville Zoning Commissioner and Pelican Park Commission Chairman Nixon Adams agreed that having two or more dog parks in Mandeville would not be a bad idea.

“One dog park is not the answer,” he said. “You need them all over the town.”

He told the commission the agreement with Pelican Park involves the use of the land, which will not be used for fields because the commission has decided to protect some large oak trees in the area.

The Pelican Bark Park Committee will have to fund the construction of the park, and Pelican Park will pick up the tab for maintenance, which he estimates will run in the $20,000 per year range.

That cost will include irrigation, grass maintenance and treatment for fleas and ticks.

Councilman Jerry Coogan said he is not in favor of providing any funding for anything at Pelican Park, because Pelican Park is outside of the city limits.

Write said the group has already started its fund-raising and would hate to see the efforts split between two parks. Councilman Jeff Bernard echoed her thoughts.

“I think we ought to focus on one first,” he said.

Pokorny said the first phase of the project will cost $90,000 and will include fencing, an irrigation system, turf, signage and water facilities. So far, the group has raised $17,000.

Jimmy Ray, with Meyer Engineering, who constructed the dog park in Metairie, said the cost to build one in the city would be less, because the city is looking as smaller parks.

He said the one in Metairie costs $40,000, but that included a shelter, and if the area had adequate shade the city would not have to construct a shelter.