Irmo mayor and mayor-elect celebrate opening of new dog park, talk about future of town

IRMO, SC (WOLO) — Irmo dog owners now have a new place in town to take their dogs.

Both Irmo’s mayor and mayor elect spoke at a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Rawl Creek Dog Park this morning.

“I have a dog but I have no place to bring him. Saluda Shoals used to be the closest dog park,” said Irmo mayor-elect Bill Danielson. “This is Irmo’s dog park and other people may come in and eat at our restaurants. This is what we’re trying to do… grow the town of Irmo.”

Thursday morning, both Irmo’s mayor and mayor elect celebrated the opening of the Rawls Creek Dog Park in the Friarsgate subdivision.

The dog park transforms 10 acres of previously empty land.

“There were some bad things going on here, the police could tell you,” Danielson said. “We had drug issues and other things going on here. Hopefully that will go away.”

The park has separate places to play for large dogs and small dogs. The area will also be under camera surveillance and pet owners will have to register their dogs before they come to the park.

“They will get an entry key which will let them in. That makes it more secure,” said Mayor Barry Walker. “We will know every dog that goes in there has their shots and records.”

The dog park is part of a larger project which has brought a community garden to the neighborhood and plans to add a skate park next year.

“Hopefully the new administration will take this to the next level. I hope to see another grand opening a year from now for the skate park,” Walker said. “My whole vision was ‘How do we get people out of the house and into the community?’”

Walker leaves office next week and Danielson will be sworn in on Tuesday. The mayor elect says he hopes to do more to improve the safety of the area. 

“In this campaign, I must have knocked on 2 thousand doors and talked to folks in this neighborhood,” Danielson said. “Know what the number one complaint was? Speeding.”

Danielson hopes to tackle this issue as well as continue the economic growth of the town.

“I’ve lived in and around Irmo for 37 years,” the mayor-elect said. “I ran because I think I can do some good here.”