Elgin, Streamwood, Hoffman Estates collaborate on dog park

Elgin residents wanted a dog park, but officials were having trouble finding a location that wasn't surrounded by houses. Same story for the Streamwood Park District. The Hoffman Estates Park District had a location, the desire for a second dog park within village limits and an interest in intergovernmental agreements.

A collaboration was born.

Elgin City Council members are set to give preliminary approval to the city's contribution — $53,865 — during the committee of the whole meeting Wednesday.

Randy Reopelle, director of Elgin's Parks and Recreation Department, said the partnership is a great opportunity, especially because the city has to help pay only for development costs and will leave continuing maintenance to the Hoffman Estates Park District.

“It lets us get in there and provide that to our residents and learn how these things are operated,” Reopelle said.

Reopelle said Elgin's master plan, adopted last year, includes mention of the need for multiple dog parks, given the city's size. But no other parks are in the works yet.

Dean Bostrom, executive director of the Hoffman Estates Park District, said the new park will replace two soccer fields in Canterbury Park South, which is along Elgin's border with Hoffman Estates south of Stockbridge Place and east of Cobbler's Crossing. Four new soccer fields elsewhere in the district made the conversion of the two in question an agreeable change.

The park originally was slated to fill just 2 acres, but Bostrom and his equivalents in Elgin and Streamwood agreed the larger park would be best.

The total cost for construction is $133,000. Elgin and Hoffman Estates are paying the same amount and Streamwood is adding $25,270 — a fair split, Bostrom said, because of Streamwood's smaller population.

It will cost residents of the three communities $49 per year to use the park; nonresidents will be asked to pay $69. Registration can happen in any of the three towns, but Hoffman Estates will do the work of maintaining the records as well as the facilities.

Once the funding is approved, Hoffman Estates Park District will begin to bid the work and kick off construction. The park is set to open Aug. 1.