Southwick Agricultural Commission backs dog park, eyes 250th anniversary Farm Day weekend

Other Committee · Meeting of February 11, 2026

Southwick Agricultural Commission signals support for a privately funded dog park on 32 donated acres. Diane Gale, a Five Point Grove Road resident and chair of the Friends of the Southwick Dog Park, presented the project to the commission at its February 11 meeting, describing a multi-section park on land donated by a company identified as Hillcar on Hudson Drive, with covered solar carports, a drilled well, cameras, and no cost to the town. Excess solar power would flow to municipal electric accounts, and the full 32-acre parcel would ultimately be deeded to the town.

"We want to do this all with private funds, donations, grants," Gale said. Commission members agreed to prepare a letter of support by the March 11 meeting, a document Gale said strengthens grant applications. The commission also heard from Sarah Gardner of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, who invited members to a February 28 Pioneer Valley farmland-protection roundtable at Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School, with commission member Bert Hansen confirmed to attend.

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Source: the Other Committee meeting of February 11, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.