The Park District of Oak Park on Thursday shortened a list of potential locations for a new off-leash dog area from 16 to one.
A fenced-off section of Stevenson Park is the only viable replacement for a popular "Dog Park Plus" program that recently ended at Ridgeland Common, the Park District Board determined after assessing nearly all Park District properties over the last month.
"Until we get a land-stretcher, there is no good place to put this," Trustee Sandy Lentz said.
The space at Stevenson was opened Aug. 10 as a temporary option for dog owners to let their pets off-leash for a few hours on weekend mornings, which they had been allowed to do at a 130,000-square-foot space in Ridgeland Common until the district began installing a turf field there early this month. At Stevenson, the district erected fences and added rock to an 8,300-square-foot space on the park's southern edge. The space is open from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. on weekends and holidays. The board opted to keep that space open and to evaluate its use.
Over the last month, urban-design contractor Altamanu evaluated 16 Park District parks – all but the district's playground spaces for young children – based on criteria the board had developed. The criteria assessed factors like location, fencing and size of parks. Based on the assessments, none of the parks met a minimum threshold score the board had set for further consideration.
"It's clear to me at least that we don't have a facility that's appropriate for this use at this time," Trustee Victor Guarino said at the board's Thursday meeting.
Board members have expressed the difficulty of satisfying all the groups who use parks with the Park District's limited space.
Paul Aeschleman, the board's vice president, questioned why Austin Gardens was not a suitable space. Altamanu owner John Mac Manus said the fence around the gardens would not keep small dogs inside the park. Further, Lentz said the wildflowers in Austin Gardens could be ruined by dogs.
Since March, Oak Park dog owners have pressed for a permanent, centrally located space to replace Ridgeland Common. The group Friends of Oak Park Dogs has been vocal about the community benefits of such a space.
Oak Park's one permanent off-leash area, in Maple Park, doesn't match the experience owners and their pets enjoyed at Ridgeland, dog owners have told the Park District Board. In addition to a large space for their dogs to run, pet owners had developed a special kind of community that gathered in the early weekend hours at Ridgeland, owners said. They have expressed skepticism that another, smaller space planned to open at Ridgeland Common in 2014 will provide the same experience.
Cook County is working on a 7-acre dog park at Miller Meadows, also scheduled to open in 2014. Dog owners have expressed concern that the community element of the Ridgeland space will not travel to Miller Meadows, which is about four miles from Ridgeland Common.
Some dog owners have suggested using a larger section of Stevenson Park as a permanent replacement. But a Village of Oak Park reservoir lies a few feet beneath the park, and the reservoir's concrete casing is old and might have some cracks in it, Village of Oak Park staffers have told the Park District. Environmental Protection Agency standards also prohibit water reservoirs from being located near sources of pollution, Village Manager Cara Pavlicek told the Park District in a memo.
Also, Stevenson is scheduled to get a turf field in 2015.
wjventeicher@tribune.com
www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/suburbs/ct-tl-oak-park-dog-park-plus-20130819,0,265575.story
A fenced-off section of Stevenson Park is the only viable replacement for a popular "Dog Park Plus" program that recently ended at Ridgeland Common, the Park District Board determined after assessing nearly all Park District properties over the last month.
"Until we get a land-stretcher, there is no good place to put this," Trustee Sandy Lentz said.
The space at Stevenson was opened Aug. 10 as a temporary option for dog owners to let their pets off-leash for a few hours on weekend mornings, which they had been allowed to do at a 130,000-square-foot space in Ridgeland Common until the district began installing a turf field there early this month. At Stevenson, the district erected fences and added rock to an 8,300-square-foot space on the park's southern edge. The space is open from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. on weekends and holidays. The board opted to keep that space open and to evaluate its use.
Over the last month, urban-design contractor Altamanu evaluated 16 Park District parks – all but the district's playground spaces for young children – based on criteria the board had developed. The criteria assessed factors like location, fencing and size of parks. Based on the assessments, none of the parks met a minimum threshold score the board had set for further consideration.
"It's clear to me at least that we don't have a facility that's appropriate for this use at this time," Trustee Victor Guarino said at the board's Thursday meeting.
Board members have expressed the difficulty of satisfying all the groups who use parks with the Park District's limited space.
Paul Aeschleman, the board's vice president, questioned why Austin Gardens was not a suitable space. Altamanu owner John Mac Manus said the fence around the gardens would not keep small dogs inside the park. Further, Lentz said the wildflowers in Austin Gardens could be ruined by dogs.
Since March, Oak Park dog owners have pressed for a permanent, centrally located space to replace Ridgeland Common. The group Friends of Oak Park Dogs has been vocal about the community benefits of such a space.
Oak Park's one permanent off-leash area, in Maple Park, doesn't match the experience owners and their pets enjoyed at Ridgeland, dog owners have told the Park District Board. In addition to a large space for their dogs to run, pet owners had developed a special kind of community that gathered in the early weekend hours at Ridgeland, owners said. They have expressed skepticism that another, smaller space planned to open at Ridgeland Common in 2014 will provide the same experience.
Cook County is working on a 7-acre dog park at Miller Meadows, also scheduled to open in 2014. Dog owners have expressed concern that the community element of the Ridgeland space will not travel to Miller Meadows, which is about four miles from Ridgeland Common.
Some dog owners have suggested using a larger section of Stevenson Park as a permanent replacement. But a Village of Oak Park reservoir lies a few feet beneath the park, and the reservoir's concrete casing is old and might have some cracks in it, Village of Oak Park staffers have told the Park District. Environmental Protection Agency standards also prohibit water reservoirs from being located near sources of pollution, Village Manager Cara Pavlicek told the Park District in a memo.
Also, Stevenson is scheduled to get a turf field in 2015.
wjventeicher@tribune.com
www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/suburbs/ct-tl-oak-park-dog-park-plus-20130819,0,265575.story
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