Carolina Pines Dog Park damage

The storms that crossed South West Raleigh on April 16th did incredible damage and we are still seeing the lingering effects. While we are starting to see signs of rebuilding and improvement evidence of the devastating nature of this storm is very visible. One of the unfortunate casualties of this storm was the Carolina Pines Dog Park. We know a lot of the regular users of this amenity would like to be updated on the progress so we wanted to share this letter from the Director of the City of Raleigh Parks and Recreation Department Diane Sauer. We also wanted to remind you that while Carolina Pines is closed another city off-leash dog park is open – click here for directions to and here for more information on Oakwood Dog Park.

Thank you for you email and including me in the correspondence. I have received and responded to quite a few emails over the past several days in re: to the Carolina Pines Dog Park.

Immediately after the devastating tornado hit Raleigh, Parks and Recreation staff along with staff from Public Works and Public Utilities Departments began our immediate response plan that included “cut and shove” operations to get the streets open. At that time the priority was major thoroughfares. Once major thoroughfares were open, we moved to secondary and neighborhood streets. Once all streets were clear, the Public Works Department moved to “load and haul” operations and the Parks and Recreation moved to “unsafe trees” (leaners and hangers) operations. Due to amount of work that needed to be completed, both Departments initiated their preposition contracts for support from local contractors. Staff and contractors have been working 13 hours a day 6 days a week to get the work completed. At this time, Public Works has completed 2 passes of load and haul and the Parks and Recreation Department has completed (as of this past Friday!) the unsafe tree work.

We are now focusing our attention on load and haul operations in parks and greenways. We are also in the process of the developing a well defined plan of action to address the extensive damage at the three Historic cemeteries. This plan will include an extensive assessment, collection and inventory of damaged monuments and stones, debris management and restoration plans.

Wake County was declared eligible for Federal Disaster assistance on April 19th. The initial declaration only included Category A: Debris Removal and Category B: Emergency Protective Measures. On May 6, Wake County was declared eligible for Category C – G assistance which includes permanent work(replacement or repairs) including Parks and Recreation amenities such as picnic shelters, fencing, facilities, playgrounds, etc. Since that time we have been actively working with the insurance office and FEMA representatives. While this process may take a while, we want to make sure the City receives its full reimbursement for replacement/repairs. Both agencies were very surprised and pleased with the amount of and level of documentation (initial assessments, photographs, etc.) we had completed when we met with them. We are trying to do everything we can to speed up the process so we can get repairs/renovations completed.

At this time and I do apologize, but I can not give you a time line of when the dog park will re-open. We should have most of the in-house tree work completed in a few weeks, but the fence replacement may take sometime based on the process/schedule defined by insurance and/or FEMA.

We truly understand the dog park’s importance to the community and will work hard to get it open as soon as possible.

Please share my email with others and please forward any additional comments or concerns.

Thank you,

Diane B. Sauer, Director
City of Raleigh Parks and Recreation Dept.
PO Box 590
Raleigh, NC 27602
Telephone: 996-4815
Email: [email protected]
www.raleighnc.gov

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