Cedar Rapids looking to add dog park at Jones Park

CEDAR RAPIDS — The city of Cedar Rapids is looking into building a dog park at the now-closed Jones Golf Course.

Staffers are seeking proposals from consultants to design an approximately 10-acre dog park at Jones Park, 201 Wilson Ave. SW.

It would be the third dog park managed by the Cedar Rapids Parks and Recreation Department. The others are on 13.8 acres at Cheyenne Park, 1650 Cedar Bend Lane SW, and the 11-acre K9Acres near Gardner Golf Course, 5200 Golf Course Rd., Marion.

The new dog park, which might offer a pond for pooches to swim in, may be available by next fall.

The city wants the park to include a main dog yard, a small dog yard and a training yard complete with agility and training equipment. The facility, which would be available for daily use, would include walking trails, shelters and seating areas. The park would be accessible in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Additionally, the project calls for the design of a new access roadway and parking lot for the dog park. The access road will come off C street SW and cross an existing wooded area and drainage way to access the dog park.

The city will ask the consultant to provide site research, preliminary design and cost estimates, public outreach and final designs. Once a consultant is selected, this firm will work with city staff to review the project scope and set timelines.

Before issuing the request for qualifications, Parks Superintendent Mitch Ahrendsen said city staff met with members of the K9COLA user group that helps administer the two existing dog parks.

“This was helpful because we were able to ascertain what currently works well in the dog parks, and what may need to be tweaked for the new dog park,” Ahrendsen said in a statement.

Cedar Rapids staff also reached out to city staffers in Iowa City to discuss how they manage their dog park’s pond feature — a highlight for the dog park, but one that comes with a high cost and maintenance.

The Jones Golf Course closed in 2020 during the pandemic, followed by derecho damage. The Cedar Rapids City Council in November 2020 instructed city staff to explore ways to repurpose the course, which was not reopened.

For years, the Jones course, frequently closed because of flooding, had been a drag on revenue from the city's four municipal 18-hole golf courses — Ellis, Gardner, Twin Pines and Jones.

Pickleball courts also will be added to the repurposed course, Parks and Recreation Director Hashim Taylor said. The courts are being rebid because the initial bids came in too high, he said.

When city staff gathered public input on the ways they’d like to see Cedar Rapids repurpose Jones Park, a dog park was high on the list, Taylor said.

The city said it received 1,890 responses to its survey seeking input for the first phase of transforming Jones Park. The top three choices were a disc golf course — one already is available at the park — pickleball courts and a dog park.

Other possibilities, city staffers have previously said, include enhancing winter activities such as cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and ice skating. A hill for sledding already is available at the park.

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