Stead Park Improvement Community Meeting: East Gate Killed

The Board of the Friends of Stead Park, plus representatives from D.C.'s Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) and Alexandria-based landscape architects Studio 39, met on June 23 with community members to brief about the soon-to-start renovation of Stead Park (1625 P Street NW). The new design for the renovation included gates on both the east and west sides of the park. Several of the neighbors on the east side of the park came to oppose the gate. After some discussion, the board members agreed to remove the east gate from the project.

Stead Park is in need of some beautification.

"If there's a strong sense you want to kill the east gate, we're OK with that," a Board member said.

Friends of Stead Park President Christopher Dormant chaired the meeting. He said the group and its partners had been working on obtaining the necessary permits from the DC government since January.  They still were not finished with the permitting process. He told the community that some agreed-upon aspects (like the rubber jogging track around the permeter) would not be renegotiated, but community input was still solicited. Groundbreaking was scheduled for next month.

Landscape architect Dan Dove of Studio 39 briefed on the project details. During his presentation, Dove said the east gate was a new addition to the project. It wasn't the drawings during the last presentation to the community in January 2013.

"Where did this come from?" one audience member said during the subsequent Q-and-A session. "This is a major change to be snuck in at the last minute."

"We're very willing to talk about it," Dove replied.

"I didn't hear about this," said another local resident who said people called her "the church lady."

"I think we could have provided some very good feedback," she said.

The presenters said they had done a survey of the park's neighbors, but the neighbors who opposed the gate said they had never heard of such a survey.

"You can never reach everyone," said Friends of Stead Park board member Kishan Putta. Putta is also a Commissioner, representing district 04, on Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2B/Dupont Circle.

(Full disclosure: Kishan Putta is also running for an At-Large seat on DC City Council and I have contributed to his campaign.)

Well before the end of the meeting, Dormant indicated the east gate was not a vital issue and would be removed if the nearby residents were against it.

Other issues discussed:

• The height of the new permeter fence. It will be lower than the existing chain-link fence (10 feet vs. 16 feet). Some people felt this was too short.
• Trees. There will be shade trees lining the inside permeter of the park. These Willow Oak trees will start at 14 feet tall and (in addition to providing shade) should absorb sound and perhaps also intercept the occasional misdirected ball before it exits the park.
• Areas outside the purview of this renovation. They include the 163-year-old building on the P Street side of the site, and the poorly-paved alleys just outside Stead Park's fences.
• Artificial turf. The presenters said the quality of artificial turf had improved tremendously in the last few years.
• "We're going to be very aggressive on rat abatement."
• The performance stage. Neighbors were reassured the stage did not have the infrastructure necessary for large, noisy concerts. It will be more appropriate for children's puppet shows.

There will be a future meeting specifically to address construction and the possible disruption it might cause.

This meeting was also the subject of a June 16 SALM blog post.

(Photo credit: 2013 photo from Borderstan)

CORRECTED: Stead Park Improvement Town Hall Meeting June 23

CORRECTION: The meeting will take place Monday, June 23, NOT April 23 as first published. Apologies for the error.

The DC Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) will present plans for improvements in Stead Park (1625 P Street) at a open town hall meeting Monday, April June 23. The meeting will take place at 7pm in the Chastleton Ballroom (1701 16th Street NW). The public is invited and encouraged to bring questions and comments. DPR officials are expected to have information about the schedule of the improvements and possible road closures that may result.

At the regular monthly meeting of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2B/Dupont Circle June 11, Commissioner Leo Dwyer (district 07) announced the meeting. Dwyer said the ground-breaking on the project would take place "mid- to late July".

"It won't be done by summer," said Commissioner Kishan Putta (district 04), in an interview later. "It will be started, hopefully."

Now, the interior space of the park is pretty bare. When the project is done, the space will be lined with trees and benches.

"The goal of the project is to make the park more usable," Putta said. "A lot of people walk by the park and think 'Stead Park isn't for me'."

From the DPR web page about the project:

The new design will incorporate active play features comprised of artificial turf for a multi-use athletic field (supporting kickball, rugby, soccer, and baseball), a rubberized running track, seating, site lighting, a splash pad interactive water feature, a stage, landscaping to include shade trees, new fencing and gates, and bio-retention areas (a sustainable design package, reused rainwater, LEED standards and stormwater management solutions).

The improvements will all be exterior. This project does not include the 163-year-old building facing the P Street entrance to Stead Park.

There will be a new wall around the border of the park. While they are improving this wall, the plan now is to add two new gates will be added, on the east and west sides. The gates will open onto Church Street, which dead-ends onto the park on both sides. The gate on the west side will provide direct access to the retail district on 17th Street. 

The gate on the east side (i.e., facing 16th Street) might present some problems. The wall on this side of the park will have to be broken to accommodate construction vehicles. The street is residential, and some neighbors on this side of the park are against the installation of a permanent working gate.

"I don't think we have to build it, but I think it's a nice convenience," Putta said. "Logan Circle families would be encouraged to visit."

A compromise position may be emerging, where a gate will be installed, but it will only be open for special occasions. Both gates will be opened and closed electronically -- no need for a caretaker with keys.

"I don't think there is a need for people to shout on this," Putta said. "We're looking forward to a civilized meeting."

From the FAQ page of the Friends of Stead Park website:

What will happen to the adult sports teams once the field is renovated? Will they still be able to play on the field?

Yes. All of the sports that are currently played on the field can continue with the new design. For example, there will be room for two kickball games. We hope that an improved playing surface will make the field an option for other leagues, including youth sports. As always, field permitting goes through DPR.

Friends of Stead Park also has a Facebook page.

The landscape architect on the project is Studio 39 of Alexandria.

Full disclosure: Kishan Putta is running for an At-Large seat on the DC City Council. I have contributed to his campaign.

Safety for Cooperative Play Program in Stead Park to Be Studied

Before D.C.'s Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) commits to establishing a Cooperative Play Program in Stead Park (1625 P Street NW), it wants to make sure the 163-year-old building there can be made safe for children.

Built during the Millard Fillmore administration

DPR Director Dr. Sharia Shanklin led a delegation of DPR employees to Stead Park on February 18 to meet local parents and other interested parties to discuss the status of the effort to bring Cooperative Play to Stead Park.

Deputy Director June Locker said, "We will find a way to make this happen."

"We need a few more weeks to think about it," Chief Operating Officer Bridget Stesney said. "We're not saying no."

The building in Stead Park that would house the program was built in 1851. It does not meet present-day requirements for a building that hosts child-care programs. For example, the building might have to be fitted with restrooms for children and also with a sprinkler system. In addition, if the program uses the second floor of the building, a staircase may have to be modified so children can more easily use it, especially in case of emergency.

"This is definitely an old building," said Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner (district 2B-04) Kishan Putta, who organized the meeting. Putta is also on the board of the Friends of Stead Park.

The team from DPR said they would have to hire an architect in early March to examine the building for compliance with building code. If all goes well, the architect's report should be done by late March and a plan to implement the needed changes in place soon after.

It's still possible to get all this done before September, when the proposed program might start. However, enrollment for Cooperative Play Programs in other locations in DC will start on March 10. It seems unlikely there will be a decision on whether to green-light the program in Stead Park before then. At this meeting, parents were told they could sign up for a Cooperative Play Program elsewhere and still be eligible to sign up for the Stead Park program if it becomes a reality later this year.

If safety issues are resolved, it seems likely the program will go ahead.

"I feel pretty confident that we're going to have the staffing," Dr. Shanklin told the Dupont Current newspaper in January.

The initiative to start a Cooperative Play Program in Stead Park was also the subject of the January 21 SALM blog post.

Deadline Nears for Cooperative Play Program in Stead Park

Friends of Stead Park is still looking for Dupont-area parents of children who are now between 10 months and 4 years of age to express interest in an affordable morning toddler and pre-school program this September. It's not too late to help them convince the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) there is enough demand in the area to justify a city-run program of toddler daycare, called "Cooperative Play Program", starting in September 2014. Many parks in other neighborhoods have Cooperative Play Programs.

Stead Park is located at 1625 P Street NW

The easiest way to express interest is to navigate to their Google Docs form and sign up on line. Expressing your interest in the program does NOT obligate you to participate in it, if and when it should become a reality. Friends of Stead Park just need to demonstrate to DPR that there is great neighborhood interest.

A link to the Google Docs form can also be found on the Friends of Stead Park Facebook Page.

Over 75 interested parents have joined the initiative already, according to Friends of Stead Park Board Member Kishan Putta. More names would strengthen Stead Park's case even further.

Putta is also the representative for district 04 on Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2B/Dupont Circle.

If approved, the program will run from September 8, 2014, to May 22, 2015, Monday through Friday except D.C. school holidays. The toddler care will run from 9am until noon. There will be paid full-time staff, but the program is also partially powered by the parents of the children in the program. Participating parents will have to "serve duty days" once a week, possibly including the organization of visits by outsiders and/or the organization of field trips. Parents will have to pass a background check.

The cost to participating families is anticipated to be $216/month.

The initiative to create a Cooperative Play Program at Stead Park first came from a Friends of Stead Park Board Member and Dupont-area resident. The last time she applied for the program, she found her 23-month-old was on the waiting list for Cooperative Play Programs in both Columbia Heights and Volta Park. Eventually, she had to place her child in a privately-run preschool.

The city-wide registration for Cooperative Play Programs will start in February. At this time, the DPR will have to make preliminary budget and human resource decisions, including how many people to hire for the educational year. They will also need to start interviewing and performing background checks on prospective new employees. That's why Friends of Stead Park wishes to impress DPR with the depth of community interest now.

"We are trying to keep families in the city by making sure they have affordable resources for them -- so we don't lose them to the suburbs," Kishan Putta said.