Having fun is what life is all about, and there aren’t too many areas better than the Tri-Cities for achieving that goal.
The Park Districts of Batavia, Geneva and St. Charles take pride in offering something for everybody and generally have the support of taxpayers in building their systems.
Residents of the Tri-Cities have a wide choice of play. The Park Districts alone offer 139 parks, playgrounds and indoor facilities–Batavia operates 42, Geneva 45 and St. Charles 52–with others soon to move from drawing board to reality.
“We did a survey, and, after open space, the things people wanted most were a gymnasium with a walking track, an expansion of our outdoor swimming pool and more space for programs,” said Steve Persinger, director of the Geneva Park District.
“Many times we have waiting lists for our programs,” he said, “and then we receive complaints that we don’t have enough space.”
It is a refrain echoed by Park District officials in Batavia and St. Charles.
Coming up with a “reasonable solution” is the trick, Persinger said, because some facilities can exist only at the expense of other facilities and programs.
Each of the cities offers year-round schedules of tot-to-senior programs that the Park Districts try to make as inclusive as possible, given budget constraints and the facilities available.
“Facilities are our biggest challenge,” Persinger said. “You always wish you had more, and we’d like to find a way to build them without incurring too much cost . . . or find a way within the present (budget) to do some of that.”
The village found a way to get 76 percent of its voters to approve a $7.9 million referendum question in March by using enthusiasm for a Kane County Forest Preserve project as a starting point.
“We used its Prairie Green corridor idea (a $10 million restoration project that will extend a greenway down the middle of the county,) as a selling point to our voters,” he said.
Another way Geneva and its two neighbors solve the need for more facilities is through shared ownership. Persinger said his Park District has had a good experience building gym facilities with two Geneva elementary schools.
Perhaps the Park Districts’ best resources for new assets are developer donations.
Geneva’s Park District soon will have three new parks in the Fischer Farm subdivision and possibly five in the Mill Creek subdivision. These developments, both west of Randall Road, are within the Park District but outside the city limits, Persinger noted.
Batavia’s Park District also feels a lack of facilities in planning recreational programs, said Jim Eby, director of property and planning.
“We need acreage for a sports field, land for neighborhood parks, community parks and larger regional-type parks,” he said.
Of all the assets within the three cities’ Park Districts and the Kane County Forest Preserve, it is the trails for biking and walking that tie them together and make the length and breadth of the Fox Valley accessible to everyone.
The Fox River Trail links not only these communities but makes it possible to hike or bike from Aurora to the Illinois-Wisconsin state line.
The St. Charles Park District is working on a bike trail along the Randall Road right-of-way that will stretch 4.2 miles from Silver Glen Road on the north to the Silver Oaks Forest Preserve on the south.
“It will tie the Great Western Trail (an old railroad right-of-way) and the Fox River trail when completed later this summer,” according to Jim Breen, Park District director. Because it also hooks up with the Prairie Path, which is the old Aurora-Elgin Railroad track bed, it is possible to bike into eastern DuPage County from either of those two cities.
But parks, programs and recreation, according to Breen, are “our bread and butter, and they have been given overwhelming support by the community.”
That support will continue to be needed given the district’s 10-year plans.
“What we’ve identified,” Breen said, “are long-range acquisition of equipment, landscaping, bike paths, golf courses, a new swimming pool, outfitting new park lands, development of athletic fields–a whole host of activities and items.”
The community’s love of soccer, baseball, football, golf and tennis is reflected in the aggregate $1.4 million capital outlay the Park District sees for park facilities and development over the next five years. Only a swimming pool and a rec center in Primrose Park will cost more money, according to the Park District’s master plan.
Breen said another referendum question isn’t out of the question “if the (park) board goes in that direction” to finance a new west side recreation center and swimming pool.
“The board has taken a very pro-active stance, an aggressive stance in the acquisition of open space,” he said, specifically citing the recent acquisition of a 56-acre spread near Kirk Road.
Phase 1 of the Kirk Road project starts this summer. When finished, Breen said the site will have ball diamonds, soccer fields, tennis courts, basketball courts, a sand volleyball court, pathways for jogging and parking for 400 cars.
Delnor Woods, a recent 24-acre acquisition several blocks north of downtown, also will have two multipurpose athletic fields and a playground shelter.
“It will be more of a neighborhood park than heavily used Pottawatomie Park, where we are resurrecting the pavilion (replacing a 100-year-old local landmark that had to be torn down last winter for safety reasons),” Breen said. Its cost of $300,000 is part of a $2 million master plan for Pottawatomie.
“We also have done a lot in the West Gateway (west of Randall Road) with the city,” Breen said, noting that two major subdivisions will offer park sites of 8.5 and 12.5 acres.
“Our primary purpose is to get the land,” he said.
New developments are required to donate 10 acres per 1,000 population or $100,000 per developed acre to the Park District.
Breen said new projects include the acquisition of some 10.5 acres of active park land to be known as Majestic Oaks whose walking and bike trail will tie it with the established parks in Royal Fox and Charlemagne subdivisions on the city’s east side.
To the north, the Park District has purchased 1.5 acres for a playground that will be contiguous to the new St. Charles North High School, and it is working with the developer of Silver Fox Farms for a 3-acre neighborhood park, he said.
All the Park Districts are benefiting from the Fox Valley’s growth and the good economy.
Jack Cook, president of the county’s Forest Preserve District, said partnering with its communities is one of his district’s goals.
“My goal is to add another 10,000 acres to our (county) district and eventually have 28,000 acres or more,” he said. “We also want to work with our communities’ park districts because we want them to grow too.”
