The vision of reimagining Riverfront Park in Bourbonnais came a bit more into focus last week.

During an open house last Wednesday, village residents got a chance to see the results of an online survey by Kimley-Horn and Associates of Chicago

The company is developing a master plan for Riverfront Park. They are being paid $34,400.

Reimagine Bourbonnais is the village’s master plan, a plan of where residents would like village officials to upgrade or add.

“It is great when our residents help us create a vision for our community,” Bourbonnais Mayor Jeff Keast said.

“When we work together, the result is always better.”

The 10.7-acre Riverfront Park is along the Kankakee River in the 1200 block of Canterbury Lane. It is one of the village’s biggest parks acreage wise.

Riverfront Park is one of 24 neighborhood parks the village maintains, which includes the newest park located in The Grove behind the village’s community center.

During a January 2024 open house where village officials introduced the idea to update, several of the 50-plus attendees were concerned that plans would drastically change the park.

Former mayor Paul Schore told the crowd at the time, “the plan is there are no plans.”

Currently the park offers a frisbee golf course, walking and biking trails, fishing, picnic shelters, and picnic tables.

Following the January 2024 meeting, the village posted an online survey to gauge the public’s interest and what they wanted to see in the park.

More than 1,100 people responded to the survey.

River access was the leader when it came to the park’s greatest opportunities, followed by “the park is great/no changes”.

Leading under the category of the park’s greatest challenges, “nothing/Park is Great” was the top response. “Lacking a playground” was second.

Bourbonnais Administrator Mike Van Mill said there has been progress made.

“I think that people obviously see that we’re not looking to do anything that’s crazy with the park, that we just want to do some marginal improvements that make it an attractive place for everybody to enjoy,” Van Mill said.

“You know we want to open up the river. We want to see what we want to do with this additional acreage to the park. I think people understand that there’s progress to be made.”

The Riverfront Park project was put on hold for about 18 months due for negotiations to add land adjacent to the west end of the park

The Kenneth and Marlou Johnston family owned three parcels — totaling 6.63 acres — which includes 600 feet of Kankakee River shoreline.

The family donated the parcels.

According to the ordinance trustees approved to accept the land, the village agreed to reimburse the Johnston family for costs associated with the donation up to $10,000, plus attorney’s fees.

A possible addition to the shoreline is an access area for kayakers as well as a point where rescue crews could launch boats when needed for a river incident.

Trustee Angie Serafini said she looks forward to future planning for the park.

“We had a great turnout tonight and thank everybody from the community for participating. We look forward to gathering all the responses and seeing what our next steps should be,” Serafini said.

Kimley-Horn officials hope to be back in January for a third workshop.