Plainfield Park District Potential Park at Drauden Road and Caton Farm Road

The plans for the park near the corner of Drauden Road and Caton Farm Road began in the spring of 2012.  This plan is the result of a public-private partnership with the Plainfield Township Park District (PTPD) and the landowner, St. John Lutheran Church.  In the spring of 2012 park district staff began working with St. John’s Church, the City of Joliet and the Brookside Subdivision to design and develop a park site that would meet the needs of the surrounding community.  Resolution 2012-07, authorizing the execution of a lease of vacant land agreement for a park site, was voted upon and approved by the park board during the December 12, 2012 meeting.  

This public-private partnership is a great way to get a park into an area of PTPD that has a need for more park space at a low cost.  In this case the church is donating the land and the PTPD is only paying for the development of the park site.  Section 2 of the agreement is for the PTPD to use the entire parcel for open space that is to be seeded with turf grass for recreational and sporting activities until the church is ready to move forward with their construction of a church building and parking on the southern section of the parcel.  Section 3 of the agreement further states that when the PTPD completes construction and development of the park site on the northern section of the parcel, St. John Lutheran Church will donate the land of the park site to the PTPD.

In order to use the site for recreational purposes, there are plans to build a driveway and parking lot on the section of the site that will eventually be donated to the PTPD.  The agreement further states in section 7, that St. John Lutheran Church will split the cost of the driveway and parking lot on this section of the parcel because they will eventually benefit from it when they develop the southern section and add to the parking lot for their church building.  The northern section will be donated to the PTPD and the church will be funding half the cost of the driveway and parking lot that will be constructed for the park site.  In exchange for this cost sharing the PTPD and the church agreed to split the cost of the sidewalk that was installed along Drauden Road. 

The cost to develop this park site is consistent with the features that are proposed which include 2 tennis courts, a rubber surface volleyball court, a sand volleyball court, an inline hockey rink and a picnic shelter.  And also includes the cost of landscaping, seeding, cost sharing for the parking lot, driveway and sidewalk.  The plan includes application for grant funding in 2014 that will help to fund this park site, potentially up to half of the cost.  In the event grant funding is denied the plan is to go forward with developing this site with fewer features.  Based upon the need for a park site with these features, for this underserved area of the PTPD, this project is expected to score favorably during the grant funding scoring process.

Comments have been made concerning the wording of the agreement; however specific points of what is wrong with the wording have not been clearly expressed.  The PTPD’s current legal counsel helped draft, reviewed and approved this agreement.  Additional comments have been made that I did not disclose my membership in St. John Lutheran Church regarding this project and that is not true.  When this project first came up for discussion in closed session I consulted with our district attorney, I revealed my membership in this church and asked if it was ok for me to be involved in this discussion.  And the attorney advised that since there is nothing for me to personally gain financially from this project that it was and is legal for me to be involved.  I additionally reminded everyone in attendance at the December 12, 2012 board meeting that I’m a member of the church and again asked our district attorney if it was ok for me to vote and was again advised that it was ok for me to do so.  My membership with the church was never kept a secret at any point during the board discussions of this project and would never be cloaked in secrecy under any circumstance.

This park site would be a wonderful addition to the PTPD and it is my hope and intention that it continues to move forward toward completion.  Some of my fellow board members disagree and hopefully at our next board meeting on Wednesday, November 13th we can come to agreement that this park would be a wonderful addition to the PTPD.

I would like to thank the residents that attended meetings and provided input, the City of Joliet for their support and effort, Operating Engineers Local 150 for donating their time to do site work this past summer and St. John Lutheran Church for their generous offer to the PTPD for the use of their land for sports fields and the donation of part of their land for a park site.   

Respectfully,

Mary Kay Ludemann, Commissioner

Plainfield Township Park District