The City of Kenai’s first dog park could open as soon as July, city administration told Kenai council members Wednesday.

When completed, the opening of the dog park will cap a yearslong effort by community members, now organized under the Kenai Dog Park Friends group.

Council members gave initial approval on Wednesday to the use of money raised by park volunteers to help complete site work before the summer. The council will hold a public hearing and final vote on the legislation on May 3.

Still to be constructed prior to a grand opening, Kenai City Manager Terry Eubank wrote in an April 13 memo to council members, is the park’s pavilion and additional drainage, as well as the park’s remaining fencing and hydroseeding. The city also plans to hold a volunteer day once site work is complete to install agility equipment and other park features that were acquired by project volunteers.

Efforts to establish a dog park in the City of Kenai can be traced back to at least 2018, when the city council approved the use of land near Daubenspeck Park for the project. Council members voted last year to up the park’s footprint to just over 1.5 acres. In addition to donating land, the City of Kenai has also chipped in $88,000.

Contributions from the city to the park are in addition to what park organizers have fundraised since proposing the creation of a dog park in Kenai. Per Eubank’s memo, park organizers have raised more than $43,000 in cash for the project in addition to “thousands more” in materials, services and volunteer hours.

More information about the Kenai Dog Park can be found on the group’s Facebook page at facebook.com/KenaiDogPark/.

Reach reporter Ashlyn O’Hara at ashlyn.ohara@peninsulaclarion.com.