For a few early morning hours each weekend, a patch of grassy space in Oak Park's Ridgeland Common barks, yips and chatters with activity - and has for the last seven years.
But on Aug. 4, the park will no longer accommodate a group of dog-owners who have made the weekend gatherings something of a ritual.
'There's been a lot of angst about the closing of this dog park, and a lot of hope that they'll find another,' dog owner Ellen Pimentel said at the park Saturday morning.
The Park District of Oak Park is installing a synthetic turf field at Ridgeland Common and ending a popular weekend program called Dog Park Plus, in which owners may let their dogs off leashes from 6. to 8 a.m. on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.
'Dog Park Plus was always meant to be a temporary option,' the Park District states on its website.
The district started allowing dogs in Ridgeland Common in 2006, after assembling a comprehensive plan for dog parks. The dogs are allowed in a space that children at other times use for sports and other activities.
The 2006 plan called for two dog parks in Oak Park. The other is Maple Park, which some say is smaller than they would like.
A couple dozen dogs and their owners populated the space on Saturday. Owners like Dog Park Plus primarily because it gives their pets room to run. But the park has become something more than that over the years, developing into a close community of friends.
'Nothing in my daily life would make me run into these people,' owner Stephanie Walquist said. Walquist, who is secretary of a group called Friends of Oak Park Dogs, said she enjoys the time at the park as much as her dog enjoys it.
Friends of Oak Park Dogs is pressing for a new location in Oak Park to let their dogs off-leash. The group's preferred alternative is Stevenson Park, which is a few blocks east of Ridgeland Common on Lake Street. But Stevenson is slated to get a turf field in 2015. Also, Stevenson Park sits on top of a Village of Oak Park water reservoir, a concrete-encased pool located two to three feet below ground. Oak Park officials have said the reservoir might not be entirely impervious to groundwater, and have said a dog park there would violate EPA restrictions.
The Park District of Oak Park is installing turf fields because they stand up to more use than grass fields, District Communications and Marketing Coordinator Jennifer LaFleur said. Oak Park's athletic spaces are heavily used, LaFleur said. Along with Ridgeland Common and Stevenson Park, the district plans a third turf field for Irving Elementary School.
But limited space is as much an issue for pet owners as it is for athletics, said dog owner Brian Kemerly. Kemerly likes the idea of shared-use when space is limited. 'To me, that's a more progressive way of looking at space utilization,' he said.
Cook County is building a dog grove in Miller Meadow, which is a 3.75-mile drive from the intersection of Ridgeland and Lake streets. Miller Meadow is scheduled to open in 2014, but some Oak Park dog owners have expressed a preference for a park within walking distance.
The Park District Committee of the Whole plans to discuss Dog Park Plus at a meeting July 11 at 7:30 p.m. at the Cheney mansion, located at 220 North Euclid Ave.
0 komentar "Dog owners squeezed out of park", Baca atau Masukkan Komentar
Posting Komentar