LONDONDERRY — Members of the town’s Dog Park Study Committee are eyeing Sanborn Road as a potential location for a new dog park.

On Friday afternoon, committee chairman Dottie Grover confirmed members would be pursuing town-owned, former salvage yard land on Sanborn Road after eight of the panel’s nine members voted in favor of the location.

The committee members will further discuss their plans with the Town Council on Oct. 15, Grover said.

“We still have a few things to look into before then,” Grover said, noting that a cost estimate would be determined in time for the upcoming Town Council meeting.

Last year, members of Southern New Hampshire Services had hoped to build a senior housing complex on the site but changed their mind after a spring 2011 property assessment revealed traces of arsenic and magnesium in the soil.

Grover said the state Department of Environmental Services has since confirmed the land is safe for use as a dog park.

“We’re not looking to drink the water,” she said.

Among the other locations the committee considered was a Sargent Road parcel owned by the FAA and an area behind the Town Common.

“Most of us agreed, the Sanborn Road site was the easiest to access, it’s mostly flat and the EPA has confirmed the presence of chemicals is minimal,” Grover said.

It’s been just over a year since the Town Council elected 10 members to a dog park study committee and since that time, the group has been meeting monthly at the town’s Cable Access Center.

Committee members have reached out to their neighbors to gauge their thoughts on the potential park, with an online survey posted on the “Londonderry Dog Park” Facebook page.

The group has also researched various park locations, construction costs, public health and safety requirements, and funding sources.

While the majority of the committee voted in favor of pursuing the Sanborn Road site, one committee member disagreed with the decision.

During last week’s Heritage Commission, committee member Deanna Mele told the board that speaking as one citizen, she favored some of the other options.

“Unfortunately the site I’d have liked us to obtain was the FAA property. It’s family oriented as it’s near the ballpark,” Mele said. “Sanborn Road was really my last choice. It’s too far away from most people in town.”

Mele added that she felt the dog park would also be an appropriate addition to the Town Common area.

Heritage Commission members noted, however, that center of town might not be the best spot for dog park, since not everyone is fond of dogs.

aguilmet@newstote.com