The Park District Board of Commissioners recently discussed funding for the 95th Street Community Plaza.
Park district staff estimate the plaza will cost $3.6 million. The Land-Cash Ordinance was scheduled to fund $2.86 million of the project and Pulte Homes and the Wagner family are donating an additional $200,000. That leaves a $540,000 gap in the funding.
Director of Planning Eric Shutes suggested using more money from the Land-Cash Ordinance to pay for the rest of the plaza. But Commissioner Bill Eagan felt that downsizing the plaza would allow that money to be better spent on another future project.
“On the questionnaires we send out every three years, pool is number one – water is number one. Why are we still doing 95th Street?” asked Eagan. “Take the money, shove it down into Wolf’s Crossing and put in a pool for the residents, which is what they’ve demanded constantly, consistently.”
At previous meetings, park staff have said a pool in Wolf’s Crossing Community Park wouldn’t serve enough Naperville residents, as it’s located in the southwest corner of the city.
Shutes said they received 160 comment cards in addition to emails suggesting they expand the design of the plaza including the splash pad.
“I think it’s important to incorporate suggestions from the community,” said Commissioner Marie Todd. “We only have one splash pad in all of our parks and that’s located in Naper Settlement. So I think it makes perfect sense to put a splash pad out in that area.”
Board President Mike Reilly also noted a splash pad is significantly cheaper than a pool in terms of construction and annual maintenance.
Park district staff also reviewed which playgrounds will be renovated in the coming year.
Heatherstone Park in the southwest and Three Meadows park near Hobson Road have been budgeted for a combined $370,000 worth of makeovers.
“As reported earlier, not only did we have the open house last summer, but earlier this year we had the online equipment selection, so residents were able to pick the equipment for both of these playgrounds,” said Shutes.
Playground renovations are usually complete sometime in the summer.
Naperville News 17’s Casey Krajewski reports.
