DFAs for Dummies

What does it take to build a Dog Friendly Area?

Building a Dog Friendly Area is a somewhat complicated process, designed and maintained by the Chicago Park District, but entirely run by residents, and broken down into a number of steps with specific rules we'll need to follow. Since these rules affect our timeline and the order of our activities, and what promises we are able to make to our community, we thought it might help to provide a simplified version that explains what to expect. You can read the Park District's detailed packet here, if you are curious to see more detail.

1. Step 0.5 (Unique to Winnemac): Before our Committee even formed, residents from the 40th Ward submitted a proposal for a Winnemac Park Dog Friendly Area to the Ward's Participatory Budgeting (PB) process, where our neighbors voted to dedicated $100,000 in City of Chicago infrastructure "menu funds" to our project. As part of this commitment of PB funds, the Chicago Park District has identified three potential sites (further site surveys will be needed - see below). This early support from our community and Alderman is unusual, and has enabled us to get a running start.
   

2. Step 1: Form the Committee: As residents who are interested in leading this work, we assembled the DFA Committee. Our 5-person leadership group currently meets weekly, with quarterly meetings of our broader membership, and topic-focused subcommittees. Learn more about how to join.
   

3. Step 2: Speak With Park Supervisor and Area Manager: Normally, we would need to speak to our Park Supervisor and Area Manager to get their support for our DFA and determine appropriate locations. But since the Ward 40 Office has already done this on our behalf, we are currently scheduling meetings to introduce ourselves, reconfirm their support, and ensure our potential sites might have access to a water line.
   

4. Step 3: Submit the Application: After submitting this application and receiving approval, we will be seen as an official DFA Committee. The term "application" might be a little bit confusing—this stage is not approval of our Dog Friendly Area, just formal recognition of our committee.
   

5. Step 4: Community Engagement, Fundraising, and Site Surveys: This step is PACKED, and consists of the majority of our Committee's work. We will need to:
   
   Demonstrate our community's support for the proposed DFA. At minimum, we'll need: a) A petition, signed by dog owners and non dog-owners alike, and that includes a sufficient number of people that live within five blocks of Winnemac Park; b) To host three community meetings with local neighborhood organizations, and c) Letters of support from key neighborhood groups. This is the minimum—we plan to do more, and to meaningfully engage the broadest and most diverse cross-section of our community that we are able.
   
   Raise the funds we need to build our DFA. The Park District does not provide any funding. Our $100,000 from the Ward 40 Participatory Budgeting process is a GREAT start, but we'll need to raise more in order to move forward.
   
   Conduct site surveys with the Park District, on at least 12 occasions, at different times of the year, and when the park is busiest, to learn how our potential locations are currently being used. This is important—we don't want to risk displacing members of our community that we care about!
   
   ...you may have noticed that all of our fundraising and community support needs to happen before we design the Dog Friendly Area. We would love to be able to co-design the space with our community, and make your support contingent on whether you see yourself represented in the plans. Unfortunately, the Park District's steps doesn't allow for this, so instead, we will do our best to collect your feedback, and make sure that our commitments to you are reflected in the Principles we will use to make decisions. Our community meetings also won't be the last time you hear from us. We will follow up to let you know how your feedback has been used, and offer new opportunities to influence the process. The Park District will also hold community feedback meetings on the DFA's design (see below).
   

6. Step 5: Proposal Packet Submission: We will submit our final DFA proposal package, which will include a simple conceptual design, and our materials demonstrating support from our community, and that our fundraising has been successful. Then we will wait for approval from the Chicago Park District.
   

7. Step 6: Design and Build the DFA: The Chicago Park District will finalize the design and build our DFA, with additional opportunities for community input.