August 4th 2022

Sea Isle City is taking the next step in plans for a dog park that will feature something for both the town’s four-legged and two-legged residents.

City Council voted Tuesday to apply to the Cape May County Open Space Board for a grant to fund the project. Early estimates for the cost of the dog park were around $200,000, but now the city plans to apply for a grant in the range of $1 million, Mayor Leonard Desiderio said.

The cost will include the dog park and a scenic observation tower that is also planned in the same area for the humans, Desiderio said.

After considering a number of possible locations, Sea Isle officials have settled on city-owned property in the north end of town on Landis Avenue near Seventh Street for the dog park.

A timetable has not yet been announced for building the project. Desiderio estimated that the dog park will likely be ready sometime in 2023, a bit later than the tentative fall 2022 completion date the city had been shooting for earlier.

The dog park will give canines their exclusive domain for stretching their legs. While the focus will be on the dogs, the park will also have something for the human visitors.

Sea Isle plans to build a handicap-accessible observation tower next to the dog park that will be high enough to peer over the surrounding dunes and marshlands, providing panoramic views of the ocean to the east and the back bays to the west.

“The scenic observation tower will afford people a great opportunity to witness the outstanding natural beauty of our island, with a great vantage point for viewing environmentally protected areas of the marsh and wetlands, along with fantastic views of the beach and ocean,” Desiderio said.