Creation of off leash dog parks

What I like about dog parks:
 
- fully fenced - pretty much a requirement
- Double gated entrance is handy
- Lots of poop disposals, OR one of those big collectors that allow it to naturally disintigrate (?)
- Trees and paths! Much more interesting than flat plain land
- Our is 6 acres... which is awesome
 

Take a look at this site. It has a lot of information about starting a dog park and has lists of dog parks around the country.
http://www.dogpark.com/index.php?id=12,0,0,1,0,0

Lots of poop disposals- a single inground unit is no good because a lot of people are too lazy to carry it across the park to dipose of it.

Fully fenced is a must.

Bigger is better.

Keeping it out of sight of the road will cut down on the traffic (not necessarily a bad thing) and keep ti from becoming overcrowded.

Check out fortwoof.org for my favorite local park's site.

This might not answer your questions, but here is my dream dog park:

- as big as possible. the smallest park I really enjoy is about 10 acres, which I know isn't possible for all parks.
- I don't really care about fencing, although I know many people do, especially in suburban areas
- a watering station for drinking
- a pond for swimming
- grassy surface. I went to a park in California that has wood chips covering the ground and my dog absolutely hated it. dirt is okay, but so messy when it rains.
- field section and an area with paths, trees or at least some shrubbery for dogs to run through
- a separate area with an agility course would be awesome. It's rare to find this, though.
- I really hate parks that put out a million chairs for people to sit on. I think it encourages people to be lazy and not supervise their dogs properly.
- poop bags and disposals
- convenient parking available

If you're in a suburban area, I wouldn't put the dog park in the middle of a residential area. If you can section off a part of a larger park or forested area, I think that's the best way to go. Don't have it right next to a playground.

1 - Someone who is knowledgeable about dog behavior to supervise the activity.  (This won't happen, but it would be my first choice - a lot of dog owners have absolutely no idea what constitutes play versus aggression.)
2. Double gate system so no dogs escape when entering or leaving the park, and a one dog limit inside the area enclosed by the gates, so that no fights break out in close quarters.
3. No soft squeakie toys allowed (they tend to cause fights)
4. No flexi leads within the park (they cut people's legs)
5. Fresh water spigot - some dogs won't drink out of a communal waterer.
6. No unspayed or unneutered dogs, or Pits allowed after the age of six months (that keeps the Pit Bull problem away - mostly all of them can play very nicely as puppies, but in some, the switch that says "fight other dogs" goes off unexpectedly even two or three years later).
No Filas - period. (As most members here know, I am vehemently *anti* breed ban, legislatively, but the public needs to be protected in a venue where most of them would not know what to do if an emergency happened.)
No "puppy hazers", or dogs that constantly obsess on another dog that clearly doesn't want to play.  No humping & clasping, or posturing over other dogs.  Owners must police their own dogs, or you will have trouble.
7. Separate area for shy dogs, little dogs, and rowdy dogs, if you have enough room.  Some little dogs play nicely with big ones, but some breeds (Huskies, herding dogs, sighthounds) can view little Fifi as dinner.  Be careful - it doesn't take much to have a tragedy.
8. Laminated sign with directions to the nearest emergency vet hospital.  Animal control & police phone numbers, too.

Have fun, and have a park, but keep safety as a priority.
I'm speaking as someone who has run play groups for dogs for the last 4 years, and I hear the horror stories from my clients.  Most of them have fun at the dog park, but only because they have taken the time to come to class, learn about dog play behavior, and prepare themselves (they carry Direct Stop and know how to safely break up a fight)
I'm not trying to discourage you, but dog parks can be fun, or very dangerous.  Your group should do their homework so you get the former, not the latter. []

For a basic set up, I'd just make sure the area is FULLY fenced (for some reason our local municiple dog park is only partially fenced--what is even the point? If my dogs had perfect recall, we wouldn't need to go to a dog park!) and the fence is secure. Another part of our local dog park, where there is at least a fence, only has a snow fence, which is rapidly disintegrating. A chain link fence is really the only way to go here. Ugly, yes, but won't allow smaller or more wiggly dogs to squeeze through gaps or very determined dogs to easily jump over.
 
A water source is also really important. Again, our local dog park doesn't have water. Users of the dog area have to truck water from the closest fountain which is about 1/2 mile away, using gallon jugs that regular users bring to the park and leave there for that purpose. In the summer the situation approaches dangerous for the dogs. We've had to leave on occaision not because my dogs were done playing but because we'd all run out of water and were in fear of dehydration.
 
The surface you choose is important. Grass is ideal, but unless your park is large enough that users can sort of "rotate" which areas they play in, it will become a mud pit in short order. This is why some parks have wood chips or gravel or cement. The park we use is at least 4 acres, and even it gets really muddy in a lot of spots if we've been having rainy weather for more than a day.
 
Two seperated areas would be nice, so that if there's a personality clash or there's some users who have very small dogs that can't play with larger ones, they can use the other area.

Anne has some great ideas, although I don't know how you could enforce a spay/neuter requirement.  There are some purebred dogs that go to our park who will definitely be bred some day down the line. Among our list of posted rules are "no children under 12 unless accompanied by an adult" and "no females in heat".  You'd think that second one would be a no brainer ... but you never know. Stupidity abounds. We also have a water fountain that serves both people (from the top) and dogs with a refillable bowl at the bottom. Whenever I notice that Max has disappeared for a few seconds, I can always spot him trotting back from getting a drink. Our rules also say "no puppies under 4 months" and the city is planning to fence the southeast quadrant of the park off for small dogs.
 
Joyce

Take a look at this site. It has a lot of information about starting a dog park and has lists of dog parks around the country.
http://www.dogpark.com/index.php?id=12,0,0,1,0,0

 
According to this site, there isn't one dog park in PA.  At least not listed here, but I've never seen one or heard of any around here.  It definitely seems to be more popular on the west coast. 

I live in Pittsburgh, PA and there at least 3 dog parks pretty close to me - the one houndlove goes to, there's one in south park and I think there's one in north park.  I know there are at least a dozen in the county since one of the shelters here had a list.....  this list isn't just ones with OLEA, but it might help the pittsburghers around here [linkhttp://www.pghdogs.com/parks.php]http://www.pghdogs.com/parks.php[/link]
 
So that list might be a start, but it definitely doesn't list nearly all of them. 

-Definantly fully fenced, with a strong fence.  I have a beagle and there's no way I will ever let her off leash somewhere that isn't fully fenced around other dogs, no matter how great her recall is.
-Only puppies over 4 months allowed, that way they have all their shots.  You definantly don't want your park contaminated with something like parvo.
-Some agility equipment.  Like a couple of jumps, an open tunnel (those are most dog's favorites) and an A-frame.
-Drinking area for the dogs and people.
-Double gated so you have an area where you can take off the leash without dogs coming towards you, and so dogs won't get out.
-Maybe an area for small dogs.  But small dogs can also be allowed with the big dogs if the owner thinks it's ok.
-Signs stating the rules, that are easily seen.  Especially stating no kids under 12 in without a parent.  And no little kids (probably under six) so they don't get hurt.
-A pond for the dogs to swim in.
-An area where you can put lost signs up or found signs.  As well as a way to get in contact with other's with similar dogs to schedule play dates.
 
My city's dog park won't be opened until next year (I think) and I have only been to a dog park trial thing.  They just set up an area for dogs to play in similar to a dog park to show people how much our dogs want a dog park.  I sure can't wait for it to be ready though!  I really want to get in contact with other dog owners in the city so we can schedule play dates.  My dogs have no social life right now.  lol.

I would just like to point out that fence height is important as well.  My dog can scale a 5 1/5 foot fence in about 4 seconds and with no warning.  So 6 feet is the bare minimum that I would go.  Also regular maintenance on the fence needs to be done.  My 90 pounder can squeeze his frame through the tiniest holes near the ground, so burying the bottom of the fence would be a bonus for him.