Lake Co. forest district adds a notch to Greenbelt Cultural Center

The Lake County Forest Preserve District broke ground Wednesday morning on an 11,000-square-foot expansion to the Green Belt Cultural Center in North Chicago.

Officials realized that the center, which was visited by nearly 45,000 people last year, was not big enough to fit their needs a few years into their operations, said forest board President Bonnie Thomson Carter.

The current center, which was opened in 2001, was created to provide a space for cultural programs such as summer concerts, special events and as an educational space for youths to learn about the environment.

"Focus groups conducted in 2007 and 2008 identified specific improvements needed for expanded educational and community use of the center," Carter said.

The expansion is set to be completed in the fall of 2011 and will include a multipurpose room built to accommodate 300 people, two community galleries, an outdoor amphitheater and a pond to be used for environmental education programs.

"The expansion will allow us to strengthen and grow existing bonds between the Forest Preserve District and the schools," said Angelo Kyle, chair of the expansion committee.

Design aspects of the $5.6 million project will focus on environmentally friendly technologies. Some of these include geothermal heating and cooling systems, passive heating and cooling, the use of sustainable materials, a green vegetation roof and high-efficiency plumbing.

The district hopes to build the most environmentally sensitive building possible on what they described as a complex site where wetlands border the center on the north, south and east.

"I'm glad to see that the community is supporting this," said North Chicago Mayor Leon Rockingham Jr. "The children can come to learn about nature and how the environment works."