Norwood residents are urging the Parks Department to renovate the dog run in Williamsbridge Oval Park, which they feel is inadequate and causing harm to their pets.

Preliminary designs called for a new dog run, but residents fear funding for the $13 million park renovation project now under way may run out before that happens.

Every night, Herbert Godoy brings his boxer, Leela, to the Oval’s dog run, where a group of dog owners meet. Godoy and others say the dog run does not have proper fencing, flooring or lighting and no water source.

“There’s wooden chips on the ground and they cut our dog’s paws,” he said. “One owner’s dog even got ringworm from it.”

This past October, Friends of the Oval, a group of local residents, began to address the issue, creating a dog run committee and collecting 150 petition signatures.

“We live in apartments and don’t have the privilege of having backyards,” Godoy said. “Our dogs need to run around and socialize. That’s what dogs do.”

Five years ago, the Parks Department made renovations to the dog run on the terms that community members who use the run would maintain it. However, Godoy said, the former group of dog owners disbanded and allowed it to fall into disrepair.

The newly-formed dog run committee recently approached local Parks officials about possible renovations. During informal meetings between the Parks Department and the committee, Godoy said, it seemed the agency was more inclined to renovate the current dog run, as opposed to relocating it, a decision the committee does not support.

“It’s useless to fix the current dog run,” he said. “It would cost more time and money and the main problem would still remain, the wood chips.”

Just this week, renovations were made to the current dog run’s fencing. A metal wire has been run through the fence in order to make it stand more upright.

The dog run committee is asking the city to allow them to use Oval Park’s abandoned bocce ball court, where the Parks Department originally put it in a schematic master plan dated September 2006. The court is concrete and about 85 percent fenced in, the committee says. If allowed the space, they promise to properly care for the dog run, which members say they will use every day.

Phil Abramson, a Parks Department spokesman, said the agency is considering fixing the dog run, but is currently developing plans for other areas in the park.

“Right now we are focusing on developing a master plan for the entire park, including updating recreational facilities for children,” Abramson said. “We have met with the committee in the past and are always willing to meet with community members.” He would not elaborate or address any specific suggestions.

Kenny Garcia, who owns a Rotweiler, said the committee is willing to help build the new dog run, if given permission and funds.

“This needs to be renovated because we currently have no place for our dogs to play,” Garcia said. “No one plays bocce. If they give us the court, they don’t even have to do it, we’ll work for it.”

He said the committee is currently looking into having the bocce ball court priced for fencing and other renovations.

Garcia said two months ago his dog lost his nail jumping over the fence, which he feels is too low and unsafe.

“[An immediate relocation] is better for everyone,” Godoy said. “Many people won’t use the current dog run, and walk their dogs in [other parts of] the park and don’t clean up. There are a lot of kids running around here, and it’s not safe. But if we had a proper dog run, this wouldn’t happen.”