WATCH: Volunteers Needed for Melbourne Community Dog Park Build at Southwest Park April 6-7

Volunteer help needed to install fencing, painting, laying sod and rock and building agility course

ABOVE VIDEO:  Coming to Melbourne will be a new dog park built by volunteers on April 6 and 7. Pieloch Dog Park will be located at Southwest Park, 400 W. Florida Avenue. 

BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – Coming to Melbourne will be a new dog park set to be built by volunteers on April 6 and 7. Pieloch Dog Park will be located at Southwest Park, 400 W. Florida Avenue.

The dog park is spearheaded by Melbourne Councilman Paul Alfrey and designed by Alfrey and John Casey, the past chairman of the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office Pet Posse committee.

Knowing there were no dog parks in the south Melbourne area, Councilman Alfrey decided to commit to raising the funds for the park through private sponsors as opposed to utilizing tax dollars.

As he began reaching out to some local community partners, Mark Pieloch, owner of the American Muscle Car Museum, offered to fund the project with a generous donation.

“Mr. and Mrs. Pieloch do an amazing job raising money for many wonderful charities in our local community at the American Muscle Car Museum,” Alfrey said.

“We are fortunate to have them in here in Brevard.”

But there were many obstacles to overcome in finding a location that would make a special park and fit the needs of the community.

The first location was Ruffner Park which is just north of Florida Tech.

“Vice Mayor Debbie Thomas took a lot of heat in that meeting from opposing residents,” Alfrey said.

But they found a better location at Southwest Park that has all the amenities that will support the dog park.

“Through the design phase we studied dog parks around the State of Florida to determine what would make our park special,” Casey said.

“From the custom made fire hydrant water features to the agility course we wanted to make it pet and people friendly.”

Many local businesses are also assisting to make the park a reality. Hydro Plumbing is completing the plumbing within the park and D Bell General Contracting poured the dog-bone shaped concrete pads for the water features.

Also, the Space Coast Association of Realtors provided the colorful Adirondack chairs made from recycled plastic lumber from American Recycled Plastics. Many of the paints used are also recycled from the Brevard County landfill.

“As our community grows, we need to focus on spaces that our children and pets can go,” Alfrey said.

“We can start right here at Pieloch Dog Park. Let’s build something together.”

Volunteer help is needed to install fencing, painting, laying sod and rock, planting trees and building the agility course.

The ribbon cutting and dog park will officially open on Saturday, April 13 at 10 a.m.

A thank you reception for volunteers and sponsors will be held on Sunday, April 14 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the American Muscle Car Museum, located at 3500 Sarno Road in Melbourne.

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