Architects hired by the Mokena Community Park District unveiled preliminary plans for the Yunker Farm, a 62-acre site that will one day be transformed into a working farm and community park.
Representatives with Architectural Resource Corp. of Orland Park presented a conceptual plan last month to the Yunker Park Advisory Committee, a 14-member panel that has been working on plans for the north side of the Yunker Farm site for two years.
The Yunker property, located along LaPorte Road just west of Schoolhouse Road, may one day be the home of a miniature golf course, a splash park, a concert area, a fishing pond, a pedestrian walkway and open space.
“This is a wonderful starting place. I’m excited to see that this achieves a balance between open space and functionality,” committee chairman Bob Hennessy said.
Architectural Resource President Max Bianchini encouraged the committee to study the plans and make comments or additions at the committee’s next meeting, slated for June 26.
“We can look at things that might be added to the mix and what can be improved. Then we can go forward,” Bianchini said.
Hennessy told the panel there isn’t a time frame or budget for the Park District to develop the farm.
“It hasn’t even gotten to that point yet. We originally put together this committee to get ideas going. We know this isn’t going to happen tomorrow,” he said.
Bianchini said his firm was told by the Park District not to be constrained by dollars when planning the park, but instead to be creative.
A subcommittee of the Yunker Park Advisory Committee will meet at 7:45 p.m. June 13 in the First Bank of Illinois in Mokena to begin discussing the working farm and restoration of the farm buildings.
In March, the advisory committee provided background information to the architects on the planning they have completed to date, including a list of identified amenities, a summary of community surveys, restoration and historical preservation information, and preliminary drawings and maps.
