By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- The Town Council wants a Massena man who is working on a retriever training ground to turn it into a facility that can be used for sanctioned hunting dog trials.

Tony Zappia since 2015, with assistance from other locals and volunteers through St. Lawrence County DSS, has been working on leveling the 67-acre field on Pontoon Bridge Road and said the next stage is to install ponds. He says the ponds are necessary for the events, which have two stages on land and two in water.

The town board at their Tuesday meeting unanimously agreed to spend $15,000 to rent a dozer and a volunteer will use it to dig the holes.

Zappia said hunting dog trials are a big draw in other areas of the country and believes if they were to be held in Massena, it could help the local economy.

“Without water, you can’t get those sanctioned trials. It’s important,” he said.

“He has a step-by-step plan. The ultimate goal is to bring people to Massena. We have examples of people not just coming for the day, but buying real estate. There are certain communities that are out there,” Councilman Steve O’Shaughnessy said, without referencing any by name. “I want to pursue getting ability to … retain the property and dig the holes and get water in there.”

The money will also build a protective fence. Zappia said this would stop dogs from “slipping a whistle” and running into nearby state Route 131. He said it could also deter people riding ATVs from tearing up the field.

Zappia said he has connections in the hunting dog world in Boston, Ga. He said many of the professional dog handlers go south in the winter months and because it gets too hot for the animals, they look for courses in the north during the summer.

“Once these grounds are established, once people start coming up here, they’re going to be knocking on doors, going to farmers and saying ‘Can we lease your fields?’” Zappia said.

“Why would these people be asking farmers for their fields? For a different feel of training?” Councilman Thomas Miller asked.

“Precisely,” Zappia said.

He later noted that the New York State Police have used the grounds to train K9 units.

“They said there’s a lot of scent and they need to work their dogs through that,” Zappia told the board. “They loved it.”

He had previously tried to get $3,000 toward digging the ponds from a St. Lawrence River Valley Redevelopment Agency grant, but said he was denied with no explanation. He did note that at the same time, Massena had two other pending RVRDA grant applications for the Boys and Girls Club of Massena and the Celine G. Philibert Cultural Center and Museum.

“My issue with that RVRDA denial is they didn’t tell us why. I’d hate to put another one forward and not know why,” Zappia said.

“We appreciate all the work you’ve done … we were all frustrated by the fact you didn’t get it,” O’Shaughnessy said.

“Massena has a rep on that board. We can inquire if it would be worth resubmitting,” Councilman Albert Nicola said.

“I would like to pursue getting them started this fall … I don’t care, if we can … at least get those started and continue to put in for grants because there’s still other stuff we gotta do,” Miller said. “If we do that next step, we build those technical ponds … that will help us.”

“They’re always looking for job creation … they do community development projects that don’t create jobs,” Town Supervisor Joseph Gray said.

“You can show this will create business by drawing people. Look at what’s happened to Waddington with the fishing. Waddington’s on the map,” Nicola said.