Fences have been installed at Dolphin Lake Park in anticipation the start of a $3.25 million construction project that will include a fully renovated clubhouse, walking paths and a playground area.
Wednesday, Dec. 17, at Dolphin
Lake Park in Homewood. (Photo
by Eric Crump/The Chronicle)
Earth work began this week at the park, located at 183rd Street and Governors Highway, said Darren Jasieniecki, marketing and public relations director for the Homewood-Flossmoor Park District. Initial construction will take place on the park’s south end, where the Dolphin Lake clubhouse and pool have been located since 1970. The park district board voted to close the pool in 2010.
be done alone the lake shore.
(Photo by Eric Crump/The
Chronicle)
Additional improvements at Dolphin Lake will include ADA access to all areas of the park, a large shelter, improved parking, outdoor classroom, pond overlook, fishing stations and bioswales, according to a park district press release. Bioswales are landscape elements designed to remove silt and pollution from surface runoff water.
Two bioswales will be landscaped with native vegetation and will filter stormwater from the parking lot and other areas along the pond. Interpretative signs will be installed that provide information about the bioswales, wetlands and pond.
the south end of the park.
(Image courtesy of H-F
Park District and Hitchcock
Design Group)
The current building will be demolished down to the upper level floor. It will be a one story building with storage in the basement. Lower level locker room fixtures have been removed, walls taken down and that area will remain for storage.
The new clubhouse will include two spaces for park district activities. Those rooms will open into one large space with a kitchen for programs or activities that require a larger area. The north wall of the clubhouse building will be constructed of mostly glass and will overlook the lake with access to a wrap-around deck.
The total cost of the project is $3.25 million, of which $400,000 is coming from a 2014 Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development grant. Jasieniecki said the park district refinanced older, higher interest bonds to provide the balance of the funds for the project. There will be no tax increase to pay for these bonds, he said.
More information:
Homewood-Flossmoor Park District
Contact Tom Houlihan at [email protected]