News about Fred Anderson Park

On September 4th, the Board of the South Loop Dog PAC met with Michael Lange, Project Manager of the Chicago Park District regarding the new park at 16th and Wabash (Fred Anderson Park), to discuss the planning for the new park and dog-friendly area. Board members Pamela Focia, Doug Freymann, and Gordon Stewart presented a number of ideas that we believe would make the new DFA a state-of-the-art recreational resource for people and their dogs in the South Loop. We outline some highlights here, but Mr. Lange asked that we not release details of the latest plan until the park district presents them at a public meeting.

o The Park District will hold a public meeting to discuss Fred Anderson Park development plans in early October. As soon as the date is released you will be notified.

o As in previous proposals, the current plan includes a small public stage/performance area and a plaza area, in addition to small-dog and large-dog play areas, surrounded by a strolling path.

o We emphasized that providing more than one entry point to the dog park would better serve the community.

o We emphasized that the park surfacing should be a top priority, as coated asphalt is not ‘dog-friendly’. The CPD is considering an artificial, state-of-the-art ‘canine-grass’ surface, which is designed to be and will be built upon a specialized drainage substructure, for easy maintenance.

o We asked that the dog park design be people-friendly as well as dog-friendly in order to promote (people) socialization and community building.

o We asked that the ‘interface’ between the dog areas and outside of them be carefully designed so that educational materials (e.g. ‘how to greet a dog’, ‘what dog breed is that?’, etc.) could be posted to bridge communities, and, particularly, to teach kids about dogs.

o Michael assured us that consideration of maintenance activities is an important element of the design. Service gates that we suggested be added will be large enough to allow equipment access.

o Construction cannot begin until after approvals and bidding are conducted in Spring 2013. The anticipated construction start would be summer 2013 and construction will take several months.

o The proposed DFA will be ‘large for Chicago’, but likely will not be larger than Wiggly Field or Grant Bark park.

We’ve been doing our part to advocate for the best possible dog-park in the South Loop at Fred Anderson Park. But the Board of the South Loop Dog PAC is a small group, and we ask that you, as a member of the South Loop community interested in, and hoping for, a great local dog park, take action, too. Please keep in touch with us, come to our meetings, help us reach out to the public and to the press, and let your Alderman know how you feel.

And watch for announcement of the public meeting in October!

Park Update - CPD Meeting from 8/6/12

Your South Loop Dog PAC board had a meeting scheduled with Michael Lange (our new Project Manager contact) of the Chicago Park District for yesterday, Monday August 6, 2012.  Unfortunately, Michael decided to cancel the 10:00am meeting at 10:05am when he arrived.

Pam, Elizabeth, Kirsten, and Doug were in attendance and while we were incredibly disappointed Michael cancelled on us at the last minute, in person, after we arrived.  At least we were able to get a few questions in while we stood in the CPD lobby.

What we know from Michael Lange/CPD:  The entire park budget has been increased to $4 million as was announced earlier, but the park is still in the design phase.  They have just been given approval to reengage the architect and are hoping to finish the design by early fall.  If this happens on time they would procure the construction company for spring 2013 construction with a build out period of 90-120 days, but realistically on the later end of that number.  The TIF funds for the park do not expire until the end of 2014 (which was verified by the Alderman's Parks Liaison Leslie Recht).

What about the dogs?  The whole park is 1 acre total and Michael said the entire park would be dog friendly, a dog friendly area/dfa, BUT he could not confirm how much of the park would be an off-leash area or give us the percentage the dog park would be of the total park.  He commented:

I won't give a percentage because it's a spaced that serves the community - whether you have dogs or kids or are by yourself.  

The only other park concern we had time to discuss was the rumors about Acadia having an outdoor dinning space.  Michael had this to say:

We are not designing for any specific vendor in mind.

To date they (Acadia) have no contract with us that I know of. 

Michael said that parks are not designed with specific vendors in mind, but that when the park was built or being built, Acadia could pursue a contract with the CPD for use of the space.  There is a plaza space that will be incorporated into the design, but as of now, it is designed for general use and not being designed for the use of Acadia.

So where are we?  Essentially in the same place.  We're still waiting for designs to be finalized and are hoping they will be finished and presented to the community in the next couple months.  The CPD is hoping to schedule a community public meeting for early October to sign off on the plans.  In the past year and a half since the revised plan for the park was presented in April 2011 (and was resoundingly rejected by the community) the Chicago Park District has been very tight lipped about the project.  There have been no specifics available to us about further development of the park.  This meeting, unfortunately, did nothing to clarify the CPD's intentions nor did it reveal how the park design will continue to evolve in their hands.

Want to help?  Leave a comment on this blog, like our facebook page: 16th and Wabash Dog Park and share your support for the new park.  Also, plan on attending the South Loop Dog PAC Annual Member Meeting which will be scheduled for September...we will be discussing the new park!  And as always, we're always looking for great community members and dog owners to join the South Loop Dog PAC.  More information on membership can be found here.

Thank you for your support!

~Kirsten Agnello-Dean
SL Dog PAC Board Member