Aurora's RiverEdge Park nearly ready for construction
Construction tentatively is scheduled to begin this summer on a more than $14 million downtown Aurora park that will feature a music venue, a pedestrian bridge and open areas on both banks of the Fox River.
RiverEdge Park has been in the planning stages since at least September 2007, when the master plan was released for a signature space that highlights the river. Officials had hoped to open part of the park last year, but the project was delayed by the economic slowdown.
The park will run north of New York Street on both sides of the river.
“It's a central festival park, central gathering place for all Aurorans and really meant to provide economic development to the downtown and give yet another reason to come to downtown Aurora,” planning director Stephane Phifer said.
The park received a boost in October, when Gov. Pat Quinn announced plans to provide an $8 million grant for its development.
The next step in the park's progress is to receive approval of Quinn's grant money through an application process with the state, Phifer said.
That approval could come any day now, Phifer said. After state funding is secured, the city can seek bids for different aspects of the park's construction.
The $14 million music garden, complete with an outdoor performance venue, seating lawn and market area, will be built first, Phifer said. Other areas of the park still need to be designed and engineered.
“It's going to be where most of the activity in the park happens,” she said.
Music garden construction is expected to take between 18 and 20 months once it starts. Construction can continue through the winter if it starts this summer as expected.
“It will be a continuous construction project once it starts,” Phifer said. “With the state grant, we can condense all of our construction phases and really get it all done at the same time.”
Other funding for the 30-acre park will come from the Fox Valley Park District, which is contributing $3 million, and the Kane County Forest Preserve District, which will reimburse the city $2 million for construction of the pedestrian bridge.
The park district shares with the city the goals of improving views and accessibility of the riverfront, so it makes sense to jointly support RiverEdge Park, Jeff Long, spokesman for the Fox Valley Park District, said.
“Our involvement is just combining resources instead of us operating separately,” Long said.
The Kane County Forest Preserve District's commission decided to set aside $2 million of capital improvement funds as an extension of another joint project with the city: filling the gap in the Fox River Trail south of Benton Street.
“It's a nice river connection crossing,” Monica Meyers, the forest preserve district's executive director, said. “It's nice to always be able to have dedicated bridge crossings for pedestrians only versus pushing them toward vehicle bridges.”