Disc golf course changes questioned

One board member says the dog park may increase use of the disc golf course.

By ED RUNYAN

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF

WARREN — Bill Flynn of Howland considers his work in getting the Young’s Run Disc Golf Course built at Clarence Darrow Park in Champion in 1996 to be among his greatest achievements as a longtime member of the Trumbull County MetroParks board.

For the current board to vote at its last meeting to relocate two of the course’s 15 holes so that a dog park could be built there — less than a year after he resigned from the panel — is disrespectful to him, he has told board members.

“I believe the whole area will be overrun by the dog park,” Flynn said at Thursday’s park board meeting. “I feel the course was in very good shape as it was. I don’t fully understand why it had to be done,” he said of moving the two holes.

Disc golf is played like golf except that players use a plastic flying disc instead of clubs and a ball. The course is along Educational Highway.

Joe Holbrook of Warren, one of three other disc golfers who attended, added, “This dog thing will chase a lot of people away. It’s going to create a mess. I’m a dog lover. I have two dogs, but I don’t take them to the disc golf course,” he said.

The men were reacting to a decision the board made last month to use about two acres on the western edge of the golf course for the dog park.

The plan requires moving two of the westernmost holes to another location in another part of Clarence Darrow Park.

Board member Mike Wilson said the board looked hard to find another location where the dog park could be built, but restrictions on most of the park board’s land prevents its use as a dog park, he said.

A dog park is a place where dogs can run and play unleashed inside a fence. Proponents gave the county petitions containing 500 signatures asking for such a park, board chairman Jack O’Connell said.

Flynn says the disc golf course was carefully laid out to make the best use of the terrain. It will not be possible to replicate those two holes elsewhere because that type of sloping, tree-lined terrain isn’t available elsewhere.

Board members Richard Darkangelo and John Picuri said the dog park will bring an additional dimension to Clarence Darrow. “In my mind, the dog park will increase the use of the disc golf course,” Picuri said.

O’Connell said there is no guarantee the state will approve the $34,000 Ohio Department of Natural Resources NatureWorks grant the county planning commission is trying to secure to build the dog park. But if the grant is approved, the board will work closely with Flynn to make sure the golf course is protected, he said.

The board plans to meet a Feb. 1 deadline to apply for the NatureWorks grant. It hopes to build the park as soon as this spring, Wilson added.

runyan@vindy.com