Plans are coming together for the redevelopment of Eldridge Park’s east playground, which Elmhurst Park District intends to replace in 2020. The Park Board approved playground concepts at the Monday, January 13 Park Board meeting.

In order to gather feedback and engage the community in the playground’s concept, the Park District performed in-person surveys at Eldridge Park during the spring and summer of 2019 and held a Party in the Park Input Meeting last August to see what changes the community was interested in seeing at the park.

At the October 14 Park Board meeting, the Board approved a contract with V3 Companies Ltd. to perform additional assessments at 837 S. Riverside Drive. The property located at the intersection of Route 83 and Riverside Drive, also known as the Kieft Brothers property, is 16.4 acres divisible over two adjacent lots and is the planned location of a potential indoor sports facility.

Addressing park drainage and standing water issues is a project Elmhurst Park District intends to tackle in 2020. Steps toward achieving that goal were made at the most recent Park Board meeting.

Community feedback gathered in 2016 and 2017 rated District parks in “fair” condition overall on maintenance and upkeep. The District’s Vision 2020 Plan, formed based on that feedback, includes improved condition and maintenance of parks and amenities as one of its primary goals. The improvement of drainage would substantially improve park conditions for visitors.

At the September 9 meeting of the Elmhurst Park District Board of Commissioners, staff presented the implementation plans and financial options for addressing Vision 2020 large-scale projects. The six projects, which can be viewed at vision2020.epd.org, were a direct result of community feedback. After reviewing the financial plans, the Park Board decided to pursue a voter survey that will determine the level of community support to fund the six projects through a referendum.

With the roll out of Vision 2020, six key goals emerged including improved condition and maintenance of parks and amenities. To align with that goal, a fence improvement project will begin soon at Berens and Van Voorst parks. The project is based on athletic field park assessments that were completed during the Vision 2020 process.

The Park Board emphasized the importance of safety and the ability to improve access to the Salt Creek Greenway Trail at the May 13 Park Board meeting, where they approved providing a letter of support to the City of Elmhurst in its plan to construct a pedestrian/bike bridge crossing over Route 83. The proposed bridge will extend over Route 83 from the North Graue Woods neighborhood to Cricket Creek Forest Preserve in order to link north Elmhurst to the Salt Creek Greenway Trail.

During the March 11, 2019 Park Board Meeting, board members approved plans for the redevelopment of Salt Creek Park Playground. Details of the plan include replacing the existing playground with new blue and green equipment that allows for more climbing opportunities, providing additional shaded seating with good sight lines, replacing the wood chips with rubber safety surface and providing more shade trees.

The playground will also feature a Friendship Swing, a one size fits all multi-user swing that allows kids and adults to swing together!

Residents can expect to see changes to the first day of registration for Elmhurst Park District programs beginning with the winter season. Based on feedback from residents, the decision was made to hold gymnastics registration on a separate day and time in an effort to reduce the high volume on the District’s current software system.

A survey was recently conducted to gauge the best day and time for gymnastics registration. Overwhelmingly, residents chose Saturday, December 1 at 8:00 a.m. Registration for general programs will then be held on Saturday, December 8 at 8:00 a.m.

Two seats for a six-year term on the Elmhurst Park District Board of Commissioners are up for election in the Consolidated Election on April 2, 2019. Candidates may pick up packets at the Elmhurst Park District Administrative Office at 375 W. First St., from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Candidate petitions or certificates of nomination will be accepted beginning December 10, 2018 through December 17, 2018 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.