City councilors last night unanimously approved the ordinance amendments necessary to create Lowell’s first dog park. City officials have said they hope to be able to complete the nearly $36,000 conversion of an out-of-use public park located alongside Route 110, off the ramp to the Hunts Falls Rotary, by early next month.

Anne Barton, deputy director of the city Division of Planning and Development, told councilors that city officials “have a very strict set of rules” for the park that includes licensing, vaccination and other requirements.

“We’re proceeding cautiously with this,” she said.

The site, a level, grassy expanse that overlooks the Merrimack River, is officially known as First Street Park. It is recognizable for the curved, candy-cane striped tubes jutting from the ground.

Crystal Arnott, a Back Central neighborhood resident and the founder of Lowell Unleashed, an association of local dog owners whose lobbying efforts led to the creation of the new park, said the new facility would provide a legal and safe place for dog owners to exercise their animals. The closest such parks are in Somerville and Derry, N.H.

“Any dog owner knows a happy dog is a tired dog,” she said. “And that keeps the neighbors happy as well.”