New Beck Park designs feature overlooks, playgrounds, bike trail underpass

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Evanstonians got the chance to compare two new concepts for the Beck Park expansion Tuesday night, as more than 20 residents attended a meeting to give feedback and comments on the project.

MKSK, the firm managing the expansion, and city officials hosted the meeting at the ETHS TEAMS Transition House, 1742 Lemar Ave. A slideshow reviewing community response from the meeting in early March started off the gathering, followed by a short Q&A session. Some attendees were worried about the limited amount of parking on McDaniel Avenue. Other issues brought up were about park upkeep, as many residents said they observed people not cleaning up after themselves or their dogs.

At the March meeting community members viewed three potential designs for Beck Park, which runs along the east side of the North Shore Channel from Emerson Street south to Church Street. Tuesday's meeting had element of two concepts combined into one, so residents had the opportunity to compare two new concepts.

Both concepts discussed Tuesday include public restrooms, bike trails with an underpass beneath Emerson Street, an expanded parking lot, playgrounds and overlooks over the North Shore Channel and a channel-side trail. Both designs also focused on including a lot of natural features, with walking trails featuring information about the history of the area as a possibility.

Concept A, themed as "traditional solitude," has interactive art elements, naturalized gardens and a playground area meant for kids up to age 12. Concept B features "naturalistic storytelling," with a water feature, a heritage art walk and two separate playgrounds, including one meant for older children ages 12-18.

Those at the meeting filled out a survey about their opinions and MKSK asked residents to vote on both concepts and the different features available to add to them. Residents can view all of the content from previous meetings and also give feedback on the Public Works projects webpage on the City of Evanston website.

In 2018, plans for a splash pad, soccer fields and public restrooms in Beck Park drew community pushback when they were proposed as part of the construction of a water pumping station in the park.

Janet Alexander Davis, a longtime Fifth Ward resident who went to the meetings in November 2022 and March 2023, said she has loved planners’ recent emphasis on community engagement.

"I love them. I love the process. I love their real honesty, wanting to know how you feel about something," Davis said. "I love the interactive way that it was presented. It wasn't a lecture. We learned something from them, but they also learned from us. It felt like [it] really mattered what we thought about things. I think this was fantastic."

Concerns about safety were brought up as residents living across from the park said they noticed people parking in their driveways or hanging around outside park entrances. Residents wanted it to be clear to visitors about what are residential homes versus park property.

Brett Weidl, a landscape architect and project manager at MKSK, said each of the meetings have gone "really well."

"The community's come out strong for every meeting and really given us their honest, transparent feedback, whether good or bad, and we had some really great conversations," Weidl said. "And I think that's really important as we start to hone in on the right solution that we’re hearing directly from them, and their input is being integrated."

The expansion of Beck Park, 2525 Church St., comes from the demolition of Shore School and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District wanting to turn all of the property they own along the channel into open space, according to Stefanie Levine, senior project manager for the city.

"This was like an opportunity to add to what we already have and help fulfill the goals that MWRD has for open space," Levine said. "And Evanston, frankly, doesn't have enough open space. This is a chance to kind of give the community a little more public space that they can use for recreation."

Funding for the expansion is dependent on the project receiving money from the city's Capital Improvement Program, Levine said. The 2024 CIP budget will get passed at the end of this calendar year.

Levine predicted there will be enough money to do the expansion in phases as "it's a lot of improvements," with implementation starting in 2024 or 2025.

"It takes time to take these concept drawings and turn them into construction drawings, and then to bid the project," Levine added. "So you have to add in months of us working secretly behind closed doors … before we show up to build, so maybe 2024, maybe 2025, but again, depends on [the] budget."

The final Beck Park expansion meeting will take place in August or early fall with a final design, a combination of the concepts presented Tuesday night, presented to the community.

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