Plan to close dog park raises hackles of owners

Users of a popular forest preserve dog park near Bloomingdale are barking mad about plans to close it to make way for a new road.

Forest preserve officials said the 20-plus acre "off-leash exercise area" at Mallard Lake Forest Preserve has been on the chopping block for some time after the district's master plan called for a new access road to be paved down the middle of the area.

Some dog owners say they were never notified of the plan to close the dog park even after paying a $40 user fee and coming to know the area as their main dog park.

"When I renewed in December nobody called and told me it was closing," said Hanover Park resident Dennis Stralina. "They say we can go to Pratt's Wayne Woods, which is often closed because of mud and flooding, or another dog park at the East Branch Forest Preserve, but that's an awful long way to take your dog for a walk."

Forest preserve officials said the Mallard Lake dog park always was considered "temporary," even though it's been designated for off-leash activities for more than four years. The new road is part of a $3.2 million enhancement project slated to begin in April at the forest preserve that also includes adjacent bike trails, addition of 75 parking spaces at the parking lot, stormwater detention and stabilization of some 1,500 feet of shoreline to prevent further erosion along the namesake lake.

The forest preserve has already spent thousands of dollars on engineering and to erect a stoplight at Schick Road on the preserve's southern end. Forest preserve officials said they want the new road to provide better access than the current entrance at Lawrence Avenue on the east end of the preserve property.

The forest preserve commission will receive a status update on the project at today's planning meeting.

Some commissioners sympathetic to the dog owners' plight have been meeting with them to talk about possible compromises.

"Maybe there's an opportunity to put in a smaller dog park to accommodate them other than completely get rid of it," said commissioner Linda Painter.

The forest preserve rests within District 6, which is represented by longtime commissioner Roger Kotecki. He sees the value in a dog park, but believes it's unrealistic for the dog owners to think the forest preserve is going to scrap plans that have been set for years.

"These are plans that predate the designation of the area as off-leash exercise," he said, "but it doesn't predate the actual use of the area as a dog park."

People have been using the land as a dog park since hunters used it to train hunting dogs, Kotecki said. When the dog park at the East Branch Forest Preserve was closed for repairs several years ago, the forest preserve gave the area at Mallard Lake an official dog park designation. It kept the designation even after the East Branch off-leash area was finished.