Rotary Park Foundation donates $5,000 to city of La Salle

The Rotary Park Foundation recently donated $5,000 to the city of La Salle.

The funds will go toward reimbursing the city for the Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development Grant, a program administered by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. This was a matching grant for $800,000.

Finance Director John Duncan said at Monday’s La Salle City Council meeting that the foundation encouraged the city to apply for the grant with the knowledge that the city would be responsible for $400,000.

Duncan said the foundation has been working toward reimbursing the city for its investment in phase two of the park, which added the baseball field, the concrete parking lot by the diamond, a shelter, a second soccer field, the path around the soccer field, electric and lighting work along the road, and a dog park.

Phase one included the city acquiring the property and adding the Rotary shelter, a playground area, a pond by the playground area, one soccer field and the road leading into the park. Phase three included the disc golf course, restrooms, a restored pond, a new hiking trail and a fishing pier.

In July 2023, the city was awarded a $50,000 grant from the National Fitness Campaign and Blue Cross Blue Shield for an outdoor fitness court.

The court includes different stations, such as pull-up bars, weight stations and an open area similar to Ottawa’s outdoor fitness court.

Last January, the city began phase four after being awarded another matching OSLAD grant to install pickleball courts, a sledding hill and parking lot improvements.