Dog owners in Upper Providence are outraged that the township has closed a 4-acre dog park that was donated by a former resident.
On the other side, the Pennsylvania township is outraged by dog owners who aren’t picking up their pooches' poop.
The result may be a lawsuit.
Upper Providence officials closed Reynolds’ Dog Park last month, a piece of land made possible by the $100,000 willed for that purpose by Roger “Bo” Reynolds Jr.
The township’s reason? Calling it a public health risk, officials said that there was so much poop in the park that lawn mowers contracted by the township refused to go in after it clogged their machines and sprayed excrement up the drivers’ backs.
But some dog owners protest that this was not the whole problem. Pointing the finger at the township, residents told the Inquirer that there were only two trashcans for the whole park for quite some time, and the town emptied the trash infrequently.
"By Fridays, poop bags were flowing out of the receptacles," Renee Pappas Fogg told the Inquirer. "By Saturday and Sunday, it was just gross."
But no matter whose fault the “grossness” is, one local attorney tells NBC Philadelphia that the township has no right to close the park and he will file suit on behalf on Reynolds’ behalf.
Luke McLaughlin III, the executer of his late law partner Reynolds’ estate, says that he is obligated to file suit over the closure. The township is not honoring the spirit of Reynolds’ will, McLaughlin says.
“When Bo passed away and I read his will, he had bequeathed $100,000 to establish a dog park in Upper Providence Township…so the dogs could go out and be worked with fences,” McLaughlin told NBC Philadelphia.
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