Southampton Village is planning to take over the Lola Prentice Memorial Dog Park and use the site as leach fields for a planned sewage treatment plant. The village has proposed relocating the dog park, currently enjoyed by hundreds of dog-loving community members, to 135 Windmill Lane, the former site of the Southampton Press. 

We oppose this plan for several reasons:

1) The park was designated a NYS historic site in 1935 and sits on the location of a Revolutionary War era fort. It is also the site of Southampton’s first public school, founded in 1892. It would be wrong to turn this historic park into a sewage leach field.

2) The plan would violate a January 2019 order written by Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice David T. Reilly that permanently prohibits the village from using the park for anything other than educational or recreational use.

3) The dog park, as currently located, is buffered by the ambulance barn, basketball courts and the cemetery across the street. If this plan is approved, the dog park will be less than half the size – 1.1 acres compared to the current 2.5 acres – and adjacent to more private residences. Adequate parking will also be a problem. 

4) The park is home to several very old, well-established trees that will be destroyed if this plan comes to fruition.

Please join members of our dog-loving community to protect the Lola Prentice Memorial Dog Park, keeping it in its current location, to be enjoyed and valued for generations to come.

Thank you,

Lisa Daffy

Susan Lamontagne