Park Board Hears Denning Park Renovation Proposal

Denning Park is poised to receive a $508,000 face lift.

On Monday night, the Park District of La Grange Board of Trustees heard preliminary plans to upgrade the property across the street from Lyons Township High School's South Campus. The park upgrades may include new parking, clearing and removal of some trees and some debris, landscaping and drainage work. The upgrades to the park will be paid for from funds provided by a grant from Lyons Township.

Jeffrey Braun, an architect tapped by the board to redesign the park, shared with the board his preliminary ideas, which includes new walkways, new parking, the removal of a couple of storage buildings, relocation of a children’s play area and the installation of at least three new soccer fields.

Board President Mary Ellen Penicook said the board submitted a “large” grant proposal, but the township government picked the pieces they were willing to fund.

The plans also includes the creation of two new entrances to the park, which will line up with the entrances to South Campus. Braun said the village leaders are in the process of installing a traffic light somewhere near the school, so it makes sense for the park entrances to line up.

Renovation plans also include a section set aside for a community garden, where residents can plant fresh vegetables, though those renovations will not be an option until the summer of 2012, said executive director Dean Bissias.

One area of concern facing renovation of the park is drainage. Currently there is a drainage ditch running along the southern park borders. The ditch feeds water from Gilbert Avenue into a detention pond. However, the grade of the ditch is slight and often holds water for weeks after a large rain and serves as a breeding ground for mosquitoes and other insects. The new upgrades are designed to remedy that problem.       

Todd Abrams, a civil engineer with W-T Engineering, said there are two primary solutions to the current drainage problems, regarding the drainage ditch and planting new vegetation to help absorb water and create a wetlands, or install an underground drainage pipe that would carry the excess water to the detention pond. The first option has a price tag of approximately $80,000 and the second option has a cost of $146,000.  Both solutions will allow greater use of the land in the park, with the second option providing more useable land. Both plans move the current detention pond slightly north, which will allow an additional soccer field to be placed in the southern corner of the park, Braun said.

Trustee Tim Kelpsas said the renovation of the park will include the addition of about two acres of land the park district purchased several years ago. He said the district has not been able to utilize that additional land until now.

“There’s been so much talk about us selling off 2.82 acres of land in Gordon Park, but we’re adding two acres to Denning Park. It’s exciting to see this land become part of the park,” Kelpsas said.

The plans presented Monday night are preliminary. Several times during the presentation Penicook told the audience that the board was not yet taking any action.

“This is the first time we’re hearing these plans and they are not set in stone,” she said.

But the preliminary plans were met with favorable approval by some in the audience. La Grange resident Terry Lavinkoff said she was glad the board was addressing the renovation.