A new park moving closer to reality in Countryside will honor a late longtime resident.
At its June 11 meeting, the city council unanimously approved naming the park Larry Robb Park. Robb was a longtime resident of Fifth Avenue Cutoff.
“He used to have big picnics for everyone who lived on the cutoff,” City Administrator Gail Paul told the council.
Second Ward Aldermen John Von Drasek and Thomas Mikolyzk, who attended those picnics, were the driving force behind the park in response to requests from residents who live nearby.
Naming it for Robb made perfect sense, they said.
Mikolyzk said he and his family moved to Countryside in 1981.
“Larry was there. All his friends were there. It’s always been very special, that area,” Mikolyzk said
Mayor Sean McDermott said Judy Robb “is delighted” the park will be named for her late husband.
“He was a really special guy and he loved the city of Countryside,” McDermott said at the June 11 meeting.
Larry Robb raced at Santa Fe Speedway for many years, Von Drasek said, adding “he made Clint Eastwood look like a wimp.”
A Navy veteran, Robb was 79 when he died on Halloween of 2021.
According to a story on www.racestarpublications.com, Robb began racing at Santa Fe in the 1960s.
In that story written by Stan Kalwasinski, close friend and a former competitor of Robb’s, Art “Fireball” Fehrman, said about Robb: “Anything he did was old school, hard core, but he was so humble.”
“That’s how Larry was,” Von Drasek said. “He knew everyone.”
“When I would go out to see him, he had the ultimate man cave. He’d say ‘Are you visiting or are you politicking?’” Von Drasek said with a laugh about his second cousin.
Larry Robb Park will be built on what’s now a heavily wooded, triangle-shaped piece of land at 10701 Fifth Avenue Cutoff, Paul said.
The land is just east of condo buildings on Willow Springs Road and bordered by Interstate 294 to the north and Fifth Avenue Cutoff to the south.
Art Ozga, 38, lives on Prescott Lane, just south of the park site.
“I’m super excited about the park,” he said on June 18.
“There are more and more kids on the street,” Ozga said. “We have a 3½ year old daughter and a newborn son. My daughter loves going to the park.”
The only problem is the park nearest their home – Soehrman Park – is north of the neighborhood on the other side of Interstate 55 and people have to cross busy Willow Springs Road to get there if walking.
It’s simply not a safe crossing, according to Ozga and city officials.
In a related development, at its May 14 meeting, the city council unanimously approved paying NuToys $134,934 for playground equipment.
The playground equipment came with an 8% discount, Paul said. Engineers are working on the design. Bids for the installation work will soon be opened.
“We’re hoping to get the equipment installed in the fall,” Paul said in May. “It will be nice. They’ll have a little walking path.”
There used to be a house on the land purchased by the city several years ago. That was demolished years ago, but you can still see remnants of the old driveway off Fifth Avenue Cutoff.
A gate off the parking lot will give condo residents easy access to the new park, Paul said.
“We’re going to determine if there are any trees we can save. There are a lot of shrubs. All of that has to be cleaned out,” she said of the site.
A community garden is also part of the plan, similar to one found at Countryside Park.
The new park would be all-inclusive making it accessible to those who need wheelchairs, “So, it can be used by all kids,” Paul said.
The city has applied for a grant from the MWRD to install permeable pavers in the parking lot, she said.