Stoney Creek Park Alliance chooses park design
By Anessa Myers
Published in News on November 23, 2008 2:00 AM
The Stoney Creek Park Alliance selected a final site plan for Stoney Creek Park Thursday, voting unanimously on a draft that includes a dog park, a disc golf course and a children's area.
But before the plan can be finalized, the alliance sent it back to consultant Kimley-Horn and Associates for two modifications.
The first is moving the big dog park closer to Durant Street to provide a larger buffer from residences -- a second park for small dogs will be on the other side of the street. The second alteration was designating a monument honoring donors to the park.
The changes are the result of a recent community outreach session during which the discussion turned toward park plans.
Landscape architect Vincent Cirrito of Urban Resource Group, a division of Kimley-Horn, sent the group two drafts of how each amenity in the park was designed.
Those in attendance decided informally that the draft with a dog park located on the corner of Randolph and Walnut streets wouldn't be best for the neighbors in that area, but were happy with the plan that showed the dog area more toward the back of the park.
Once Kimley-Horn finalizes the plans, the consultants can estimate costs for building the park.
Parks and Recreation Director Sonya Shaw said the final plans and cost projections should be finished in a few weeks. The alliance will take both to the City Council's work session on Dec. 1 for approval.
At that point, the alliance is expecting the council to decide how much it wants to commit to the project -- an amount that will affect the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund grant application since all funds received must be matched.
The committee that awards the PARTF grant gives more points to projects with three active amenities, and Stoney Creek Park will have that in a disc golf course, walking and jogging trails and a children's play area. But since the dog park doesn't have to be included in the amenities' list for the points, the alliance decided to move forward with establishing the dog park as soon as possible.
Alliance members don't believe that the dog park will be an expensive project. During a meeting last week with Jack Kannon, the director of the Wayne Community College Foundation, Kannon said he can help with getting the community involved. He said the project should cost no more than the money needed for supplies. Kannon also said the project shouldn't take longer than a few days to complete. The alliance hopes to complete the dog park by spring.
Mrs. Shaw said she recently spoke with a PARTF grant consultant and he told her that some of the public meetings held by the alliance were a little premature because the finalized plans had not been approved by the City Council, and that the grant committee would look favorably on the group holding another session.
The alliance has scheduled a public information session to show the final park plan on Dec. 9 at 6 p.m. at Herman Park Center. The alliance will make a presentation to the Recreation and Parks Advisory Commission the same night at 5:15 for its approval.
The City Council will decide on the plan before the commission will have the opportunity to do so.