Margate’s Anne Pancoast Dog Park is open to Ventnor residents.
VENTNOR – The Board of Commissioners Thursday, Aug. 8 renewed a shared services agreement with neighboring Margate for the use of the Anne Pancoast Dog Park located at 400. N. Argyle Ave., one block south of the Ventnor border.
The board approved a resolution formalizing the one-year agreement, which allows Ventnor residents to use the dog park without having to pay a fee. Ventnor will pay Margate a $3,500 usage fee.
Ventnor residents had proposed building a dog park at Ski Beach or on the tract of land behind the Ventnor Educational Community Complex, which is a block away from the Margate dog park.
“It wouldn’t be welcomed by neighbors of Ski Beach and having a dog park next to the school is not a good idea,” Mayor Beth Holtzman said last year when the agreement was announced.
Admittance to the dog park requires dogs to be vaccinated and licensed in Ventnor or Margate.
In 2009, Margate spent $60,000 to build the dog park over an old landfill.
After 10 years of wear and tear, the park got a makeover in spring after glass, cans, stones and PVC pipes that were once buried in the landfill were becoming exposed to tender doggie paws.
Someone recently posted a handwritten sign at the park stating that glyphosate herbicide, which many believe causes cancer, has been had been used to kill grass in the sandy surface. Several telephone calls to the Margate Public Works Department, which maintains the park, were not returned.
The park was dedicated May 13, 2014 to the memory of Margate community activist Anne Pancoast, a dog lover who petitioned the city to build the park. The inscription on the sign reads: “All dogs go to heaven & Anne is there waiting for them.”
The $30 annual usage fee has been waived for both Margate and Ventnor residents. Users gain access through the unlocked gate. Users are advised to pick up after their dogs.
The park is open 8 a.m. to dusk, and users accept all liability for damages suffered by any person animal, according to the park’s Rules and Regulations, which are posted on the margate-nj.com website.
