Skokie, IL. Park Board narrows in on final plan for new park !

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The Skokie, IL. Park Board appears to be getting closer to making a decision on what will be included as part of a planned new park to occupy 17 acres of property. In the spring, a public hearing on development of Skokie Sports Park East included about a half-dozen plans — some with elaborate features, one even calling for a domed facility.

But Park Board commissioners last week narrowed their options to two plans, and the final plan to be decided on could be a hybrid of the two.

“I’m sure it’s not going to be one plan or the other,” said Park Board President Mike Reid. “I’m sure it will be a combination of the two.”

Park District officials say the park will include a configuration of lit fields that can be used for baseball and softball as well as cricket and soccer. The park will have other amenities as well.

Under the plans, at least some fields would have synthetic turf, which is more costly but makes them much more usable and manageable after heavy rains, project designers said.

Representatives of the Lakota Group and Gewalt Hamilton Associates, Inc., firms that are developing the new park, told the Park Board that synthetic turf fields have become increasingly valuable for recreation facilities like the one Skokie is preparing.

They said there is “virtually no maintenance” involved in these fields.

One of the two final plans presented to the Park Board Tuesday, July 21, is estimated to cost $14 million, the other $20 million. But park officials will have opportunity to streamline a final plan in various ways, which could greatly alter the cost, the project designers said.

Both plans include additional parking from the 148 spaces available there now. The number of spaces at the site would increase to a minimum of 278 and likely more.

The park would also include a splash pad, but its size and configuration are still to be determined, as well as a fitness area.

The process has included input from a number of different sources including park patrons.

Park Board Vice President Susan Aberman said a walking path in or around the park should be viewed as a high priority based on feedback about the proposed park.

“It’s very important,” she said. “If we’re going to do this, we must have a walking trail and the bigger the better.”

Commissioners also were hoping a skate park would be part of the new property, but in the end, the designers said it wasn’t a good fit and called it “incongruent” for the kind of park being developed. Park leaders vowed they will continue to explore options for bringing a skating area to Skokie.

The Skokie Park Board has had its eyes on the property next to Skokie Sports Park for a long time.

The site was once occupied by a gas manufacturing plant, which produced gas from coal from 1910 to the 1940s. Legal challenges and a settlement led to a major $60 million to $70 million environmental clean-up by Nicor Gas and ComEd that began in late 2012. The process if finally winding down this summer.

The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District owns the property, the west half of which is leased to the Park District for the sports park. Once the cleanup is completed, the adjoining section will also be leased to the Park District.

Differences in the plans include configurations on how to enter and exit the new park as well as the way fields are laid out and their uses. The designers said there has been a declining desire for fields to accommodate baseball and softball, but the need for soccer, Lacrosse and soccer fields are on the rise.

Some commissioners are planning to take a nearby field trip to the Winnetka Park District to see how one of its parks operates before a final decision is made. Park Board Executive Director John Ohrlund said the Park Board could make a final decision in September.

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