Feedback Sought On Bay View Park’s Design

The Department of Public Works and Alderwoman Marina Dimitrijevic have a plan for how to redevelop Zillman Park, 2168 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., into a “multi-functional and inter-generational public space.” Now they would like your feedback. An online survey is available through March 15.

The triangular park, bordered by E. Ward St., E. Archer Ave. and S. Kinnickinnic Ave., contains 0.7 acres of green space. Beyond benches and trees, the only amenities currently in the park are a Bublr Bikes docking station, a historical marker honoring Bay View’s immigrant industrial workers and the 12-foot-tall, welded-steel sculpture titled “Bud” by artist and former Bay View resident Carl Billingsley.

The redevelopment plan would preserve the mature trees while attempting to reconfigure the park into a mix of green space and plazas.

“Some edges are well defined, with seat walls providing space between the ground planes. Other edges are open, mimicking the continuous nature of the existing park. Plaza spaces are created by widening of the paths allowing them to be flexible for planned, pop-up, and spontaneous events,” says a design document.

As proposed, the park would include 22,960 square feet of lawn area, 9,235 square feet of paved plaza space, 1,595 square feet of platformed, wood space and 1,525 square feet of native garden area.

An open-air shelter is planned in the northeastern corner of the park. A series of concrete cylinders at the southwest corner could be used by children to climb on and would also serve as seats. A seating grove with benches is planned for the western lawn area.

Bordering the KinetiK apartment building and planned Flour & Feed food hall at the northwestern edge is a flexible space for events, which includes a wide path and double-level wood seat walls.

The plan was developed by DPW and Quorum Architects based on feedback from multiple virtual meetings and in-person events. It is a refined version of one of four 2021 designs Quorum created.

The project, part of the city’s MKE Plays effort and one of 63 city-owned parks, is being funded with $500,000 in property tax revenue from the 144-unit KinetiK building, completed in 2020. A tax incremental financing district was created in 2019 to harvest the new revenue.

KinetiK developer New Land Enterprises has already invested in rebuilding what was the alley-like E. Archer Ave. that divides the building and park. The former street is now a hardscaped plaza that a series of vendors, including Gathering Place Brewing Company, have used for small events. It serves as a publicly accessible walkway to access the building’s lobby from S. Kinnickinnic Ave.

The park is named after Erwin Zillman (1888-1970), who represented the area on the Common Council from 1948 to 1956 and 1958 to 1964 as well as serving as publisher of the Bay View Observer newspaper from 1934 to 1958 and authoring his own Bay View history book So You Will Know.

Zillman is part of a three-park cluster at the north end of Bay View, including a playground on Allis Street and a basketball court on E. Bay St. near E. Lincoln Ave.

“Our thought was instead of diluting that money across three parks we would put substantial money into Zillman and make that a really good place for the community, ” said MKE Plays director Joe Kaltenberg at a 2019 community meeting. The playground equipment at 2156 S. Allis St., last updated in 1994, was already removed as part of the effort.