Falconer resident Jim Ribaudo is pictured Monday during a meeting of the Village Board. A half-dozen residents expressed concerns over a proposed dog park in the village. P-J photo by Eric Tichy

FALCONER — A half-dozen residents voiced concerns over the proposed placement of a dog park in the village during a special meeting of the Village Board on Monday.

Many of those concerns were about placing a dog park next to the west of the recreation building in Falconer Village Park. The facility, which is in need of repair, is used for a summer youth program that had about 90 participants this past summer.

“I’m 100% totally against it,” Jim Ribaudo told Village Board members.

Ribaudo said his grandchildren enter the park near the recreation building to use the playground. He questioned what would happen if someone were to be injured by a dog.

“Who’s taking the liability if one of my grandkids get bit or something happens to one of them by one of them people or a dog?” Ribaudo asked. “Is it the village’s responsibility? Is it the Rotary’s responsibility? Where’s the liability if the village would face a lawsuit?”

Ribaudo suggested that a location next to a pavilion would suffice for a dog park.

Village resident Steve Garvey, who voiced opposition to the proposed dog park during a working session meeting Oct. 3, again spoke against the plan Monday.

“It doesn’t belong in the village park. Find another location,” he said.

Unlike the dog park in Lakewood, Garvey noted that Falconer Village Park is within a residential area.

“That dog park, or any dog park, does not belong in a residential area,” he said.

The Falconer Rotary Club, which is backing the project, was approved through Rotary International for a matching grant to build a dog park. The grant deadline for the park to be completed is April 2023.

Club members have stated that their preferred location for the dog park is next to the rec building.

Chris Schrader, director of the summer youth program, said the proposed location of the dog park is “one of our main areas of play, especially for the younger kids.” He likened the summer program to a seven-week daycare with about 40 kids participating each day on average and about 90 kids taking part altogether.

Placing a dog park next to the rec building, he said, would force young kids to play elsewhere or to have to go a different route to the ball fields.

“Like I said, this has been an area that is extremely important for us for those reasons,” Schrader said, later adding, “putting in something like this, at that location, is probably not the best thing to do.”

Falconer Mayor Jim Jaroszynski said he has received calls from village residents who support a dog park. He also thanked Schrader for his work with the summer rec program.

In regard to the dog park’s proposed location, Jaroszynski said the youth program takes place in the summer, meaning the space is otherwise underused most of the year.

Village Board member Timothy Dunn said he would like to see designs from the Falconer Rotary Club for the dog park. He said any dog park needs to be big enough so larger dogs can get out and run.

Nina Gustafson, president of the Falconer Rotary Club, said members began discussing a year and a half ago what to do with the money left in its fund for park use. The group decided to explore what it would take to add a dog park to the facility.

This past spring, the village asked residents to fill out a survey about potential upgrades to the park. According to that survey, in which 302 people responded, 52% support the village adding a dog park to Falconer Park; 29% support a dog park, but in a different location; and 14% were unsure whether they support a dog park.

No action was taken by the Village Board on the design phase of the project during Monday’s meeting.