BEAUMONT, Texas — Beaumont city leaders are almost ready to open the gates to an almost $130,000 edition at Rogers Park.
This new edition will be the perfect place for dogs to play and owners to socialize.
This new dog park was apart of a $1.4 million budget approved in 2022 to update parks across the city, according to Ward 2 Councilman Mike Getz.
The dog park will be located behind the tennis courts. There will be two separate sections one for big dogs and the other for small dogs.
"I think it's a really good idea," said one resident, Meredith Brown.
The Brown family have been watching the progress of the new edition to Rogers Park in Beaumont.
"They like to play tennis so we've come up here and we saw the fences up and and the signs that there was going to be a dog park. So we saw that there's been more progress in the last month," Brown said.
For Brown, it's exciting to finally have a bigger space for their two Labrador Retrievers to play.
"They're going to be like crazy, like very crazy. They're going to be so excited and they will have so much fun," said Brown.
Getz says the dog park is the best solution for others like Brown, abiding by the city's leash law.
"It's illegal, in Beaumont, to let your dog run around unrestrained outside your property unless they're on a leash. So you can bring your dog over here and let them run around and interact with other dogs. And people can interact with other people," Getz said.
Plans for the dog park began back in 2019 after a resident, Holli Peterson collected almost 3,000 signatures for a petition, according to Getz.
"She has a dog so she wanted to have a dog park. As her councilman I felt like with that many people wanted something it's my duty to bring that up to the rest of council," he said.
It wasn't been without pushback though.
"This was pretty much an unused area of the park it was just sitting here and now it's going to be utilized," Getz said.
"I think it's a nice thing for the dogs to be able to do," said Brown.
Getz says the park has already been leveled and all that's left to do is add sod and grass. It's expected to open at the end of February.