The Champaign City Council voted 7-2 Tuesday to study how to provide parks to areas where the city is growing, a process that could eventually result in forcing developers to dedicate land towards creating new parks.

City Planning Director Bruce Knight emphasized that the study would look for a “menu” of possible solutions for creating new parks, but the Champaign Park District Board has officially asked the city council to consider a move towards mandatory dedication. If it were enacted, new developers would have to either donate land in every new development or an equivalent amount of money to go towards park construction.

Bobbie Herakovich, executive director of the park district, said she strongly supported mandatory dedication.

“We definitely need help in securing park land,” she said. “We’d love for it to happen tomorrow.”

Knight said he expected the study, which will be overseen by the city planning department rather than the park district to ensure objectivity, to take about a year to complete. The city will work with adjacent cities like Urbana and eventually form a task force. These members are as yet undecided, but will examine a report of issues and needs and then talk to developers, the park district and homeowners associations to devise a series of possible solutions to the park’s problems.

The city council has debated the problem of creating new parks in developing areas for 30 years, Councilwoman Marci Dodds said. Until December, the Champaign Park District Board had never endorsed a mandatory dedication plan.

The board’s request to the council prompted concern from developers, who voiced their grievances at a chamber of commerce forum in January. That, in turn, encouraged city staff to request the study to investigate the merits of mandatory dedication and look for possible alternatives.

Several council members, including Vic McIntosh, voiced concern with the staff commitment required by the yearlong study, which could delay several other projects within the city planning department.

“I worry a lot that we’re going to put off projects this council thought were immediate (issues),” he said.

McIntosh said he would have liked to support the project, but he and Councilwoman Kathy Ennen voted against the study because of its impact on the other ongoing projects. Though the rest of the council supported the study itself, several voiced reservations about eventually implementing mandatory dedication.

Knight said he was optimistic that the city’s past experience with developers would make the move unnecessary.

“We’ve come up with some creative decisions working hand-in-hand with the development community,” he said.

Champaign currently has 8.2 acres of park land per 1000 residents, below the 10 recommended by the National Parks and Recreation Association and less than Urbana’s 14. Herakovich said the lack of parks was hurting the quality of life in the city.

“We’re getting to a point in our community where children don’t have the opportunity to ride their bikes to a park,” she said.