The Park District of Oak Park board met in joint session with the Park District Citizen’s Committee Monday night at Carroll Center to discuss proposed changes to the Maple Park Master Plan.
Those changes were suggested during a third community input meeting, held Aug. 6. Key among the several changes to the master plan is moving a proposed dog park to the northwest corner of the three-block-long park. Tennis courts currently located slightly to the north of center of the park would be relocated in the southwest corner in the revised plan.
After 90 minutes of discussion and some tweaking, commissioners expressed approval of the changes, saying the plan was “much improved.”
Landscape architect John Mac Manus of Altamanu, Inc., whose firm was also involved in the redesign of Carroll and Field centers, called Maple Park “a beautiful park in a terrible place,” referring to the two major arterial streets that border Maple (Harlem and Roosevelt) as well as the Mohr Concrete facility at the north end of the park. Mac Manus also said the current design of the park, with three tennis courts effectively blocking access to the other side, makes it less than user-friendly.
“The fence of the tennis court constitutes a major barrier to people using the park,” he said. “You actually have to leave the park to get through [to the other side].”
Mac Manus called the latest proposed park layout “a series of meadows, of outdoor rooms,” that are all connected by intertwined foot paths.
“Now you’re able to walk three blocks [within the park] from north to south.”
Mac Manus noted that the most contentious aspect of the Maple Park public planning process has been a proposed dog park. That dog park was originally located approximately in the center of the park and was .31 acres, or 13,800 square feet in size. The new location, which is currently .20 acres, or 9,200 square feet, is tucked away behind two existing berms in the northwest corner. Mac Manus said that size could become either smaller or larger. The site was chosen because it is near the traffic and noise of Harlem Avenue and the Mohr Concrete facility. At its current .2-acres size, the dog park constitutes less than 3 percent of the 7.8-acre park.
While the relocation hasn’t satisfied everyone, those at the Aug. 6 public meeting said the change was almost universally preferred. “We [heard] no objections to the dog park at the north end,” said Mac Manus. “Moving it down there changed the whole complexion of the meeting,” agreed PDCC member Nancy Holmes.
Some Maple Park neighbors continue to object to the presence of a dog park at all, however. A petition signed by 31 residents of the neighborhood around Maple Park claims that the park was chosen as the site for a proposed dog park because it abuts “less prosperous communities,” and is “the location of last resort,” chosen after other neighborhoods rejected a dog park.
The petition also claims that Maple Park is worn from overuse and is ill-maintained.
It further contends that the park is used by people of color, and therefore it is “protected space under ‘Title II of the 14th amendment’ to the U.S. Constitution.” (There is no “Title II” of the 14th amendment. Section 2 of the 14th amendment deals with the apportionment of representatives to the U.S. Congress. The amendment is best known for providing for equal protection under the law.)
Exactly half of the signers live in the 900, 1000, 1100 and 1150 blocks of Maple. Those 19 people represent 13 of the 58 residences on those four blocks. The remaining 19 signers live on nearby Wisconsin and Wenonah avenues.
Several park board members noted that besides concerns about a dog park, some people are likely to be upset at the removal of a number of trees during the first stage of the park renovation in 2009. With the recent controversy surrounding the park board’s removal of six trees as part of renovations at Field Center fresh in mind, Park District Executive Director Gary Balling stressed that many of the trees scheduled to be removed from Maple Park are so targeted due to old age and disease, not because of renovation plans.
“They’ll be coming out, but it’s not due to the master plan,” said Mac Manus , who told his audience that park district staff had already compiled a list of some 20 trees deemed too old or diseased to remain. Many more than that will be planted under the master plan, including many male Ginko trees along the Harlem Avenue side.
The Maple Park approval process continues the lengthening of the public input phase. Balling noted that while several of the early park master plans took just two or at most three public meetings, both the Longfellow Center and Maple Park planning processes have required a fourth public meeting to address neighbors’ concerns.
A fourth community input meeting is scheduled for Sept. 10 at Carroll Center, 1125 S. Kenilworth Ave. The plan will then be presented at the park district’s committee of the whole meeting on Oct. 4. A final decision is expected at the Oct. 18 regular park board meeting.
“The public will have two more meetings to discuss this,” noted Park Board President Mark Gartland.