Ryan Ostry
Bugle Reporter
@RyanOstry_BR18
rostry@buglenewspapers.com
The Bolingbrook Park District held a community meeting at the Bolingbrook Recreation & Aquatic Complex to further discuss the development plans on Century Park.
Century Park was built in 2000, with the open space land acquisition and development was stalled because a grant that was just missed in 2014.
Layout of Century Park illustration is shown for audience. (Photo by Ryan Ostry)
“The state froze all grants so we didn’t go back in 2015 through 2018,” Executive Director Ron Oesteich said. “They just opened up the grant cycle again with the new budget so when we saw that we jumped on it to hopefully bring Century Park up.”
Now, the open space at 1675 Apple Valley Drive in Bolingbrook has a playground and soccer fields, but adding 60 to 70 trees among other amenities are the focus going forward.
Pathways, accessibility items and features that will make the park more interactive for everyone was the topic among some of the community members, with wheel chair accessibility also being a top priority.
“The people want to see things that are accessible and wheel chair accessible has been very important,” Oesteich said. “Any park that we build we want to make sure that it’s accessible for everyone.”
Another hot topic at the community meeting was more outdoor fitness including the sport Pickleball, which will be implemented if the grant gets passed going forward.
Depending on the state grant cycle, if it goes through, then the planning will come to fruition.
“The cycle ends where they make decisions in January,” Oesteich said. “If we’re successful where we get to the point of a presentation, then we would present in December at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR).”
When traveling to the IDNR, Oesteich and others who present will have five minutes to state their case, and then will wait to hear back to see if the grant is awarded to them in January.
“If everything goes well we hope to all be designing this more towards 2020 or 2021,” Oesteich said.
Even though that Century Park is the only park that will be completely renovated for the entirety, the Bolingbrook Park District will also be replacing 21 playgrounds over the next five years due to the pass of the recent referendum.
“This year we’re doing four playgrounds which will be pretty cool,” Oesteich said. “Next year we will do some of the older parks that we will be replacing, but I’m glad we’re finally able to do this now.”