Elburn residents tell village officials to maintain, upgrade existing parks

One of the biggest takeaways from the village of Elburn’s strategic plan process is that residents want the village to maintain and improve existing parks before adding any new ones.

The Parks Strategic Plan was developed by the Northern Illinois University’s Center for Governmental Studies using input from a number of focus groups from across the community, including business owners and residents, as well as a group of Kaneland Harter Middle School students from the Elburn area.

Village Administrator John Nevenhoven presented the plan for the village board’s discussion during the April 3 Committee of Whole meeting. Connected to the desire for upgrading and maintaining the existing parks would be to find a larger and sustainable funding source in order to accomplish this and other items that residents desire.

“We got an OSLAD [Open Space Land Acquisition and Development] grant [from the state of Illinois] to improve Prairie Park, but that is 20 years old and it needs to be refurbished again,” Nevenhoven said.

Trustee Pat Schuberg expressed some concern about the residents’ expectations of the village to do certain things, such as physical improvements to the Community Center, when the village does not own the building.

“There’s a misconception because of what it’s called,” Trustee Sue Filek said.

The building often is referred to as the Elburn Community Center, when in fact, the building is owned by a nonprofit organization, not the village, Trustee Bill Grabarek said.

The discussion turned to park programing, and Nevenhoven said that although the village does not have the staffing to offer programs, the village can partner with other local organizations to offer some things.

For example, the village provided funding to create a skating rink on property owned by the Community Center. He said there could be opportunities to partner with the Town & Country Library to offer some events at Prairie Park across the street from the library building.

“We already own the parks,” Nevenhoven said. “But to offer programming we need volunteers.”

Village President Jeff Walter said the parks plan was the only piece missing with the completion of the village’s strategic plan, so it’s good to have it all in one place.

“It’s nice to know what the residents are asking for,” he said. “Now we just need to execute the plan.”

Walter said the first hurdle will be the financial challenge, and it will be up to the village board to decide. He said the village doesn’t have a parks staff. The village relies on the Public Works staff to take care of the parks.

The village will apply for another OSLAD grant to provide for improvements to Prairie Park, including a band shell. Plans call for a stage, built with raised concrete, and a power source. The band shell will be able to accommodate a band, as well as a movie screen for outdoor movies.

The village will find out early next year if it will receive the grant funding.