Sorry, Fido: One of your favorite dog runs in Manhattan Beach is going to be closed for a month. But when it opens, you can look forward to a bigger space to play in Polliwog Park.

Construction began on Monday for an expansion and improvements to the popular Polliwog Park dog run. In addition to landscaping, lighting, fencing, and irrigation improvements, the project will expand the dog run by 1,350 square feet, increasing its size by nearly one-third.

City Council approved the project last month, with all work being done in-house by Public Works, and with hard costs budgeted as "not to exceed $50,000." The dog run will reopen once again on May 1.

Recognizing the importance of having dog-friendly open spaces in town, the city's Parks Master Plan had called for more dog-friendly areas. The Parks and Recreation Commission had searched throughout the city for viable locations for additional space for dogs, and after "extensive outreach," according to Parks and Recreation Director Mark Leyman, ultimately landed on expanding the current Polliwog Park dog run. 

The existing dog run has the shape of a long, irregular rectangle that was narrower on the west side, with a space taken away by storage containers and port-a-potties that stood adjacent to the area (and have since been taken down). Not only were the structures eyesores, they also partially blocked visibility for owners watching their dogs from one end of the run to the other.

To expand the dog run, the storage containers and port-a-potties have been moved and new fencing is being added to expand the square footage. Two sheds, used for soccer and baseball storage, and the port-a-potties, are being moved to the southeast corner of Begg Field. A Begg Pool storage shed is being moved to the southwest side of Begg Pool, and a school district storage container has been removed. 

The city had received an original design that was projected to cost $324,000, but with community input, city staff proposed to simplify the design and have the work done in-house to keep the cost under $50,000. 

An image of that pared-down design from David Volz Design is below, with red X's marking design elements that were eliminated to reduce costs. The faint dashed line in the middle of the shaded area shows the footprint of the current dog run.

One idea had been to have a separate dog run for small dogs, but in a community survey, according to Layman, about 80% of respondents preferred one larger run open to all.

As the work continues, the construction and renovations will not impact any parking spaces or access to Begg Pool.

The new dog run design was approved, 5-0, on February 4, with one of the more unique votes before City Council:

"Mayor Howorth?"

"My dog Juno says 'Yes.'"

"Councilmember Charelian?"

"My dog Oreo says 'Yes.'"

"Mayor Pro Tem Lesser?"

"I and my family of dogs say 'Yes.'"

"Councilmember Franklin?"

"My cat says, 'What's all the fuss? Yes.'"

"Councilmember Tarnay?"

"Yes."