Elmhurst Park District focusing on six projects in Vision 2020 plan

Elmhurst residents have sent a clear message to the park district: They want more, Executive Director James Rogers said in an annual address Monday.

The park district is taking the initial steps toward implementing Vision 2020, a long-term blueprint developed through surveys, property assessments and other studies conducted over the last two years.

In his State of the Park District remarks, Rogers pledged to continue seeking public input as officials focus their planning on six possible projects identified as top priorities in Vision 2020.

"Really what the community said to us is, 'We like the parks,'" Rogers said. "'We love it, but we want more. We want more and bigger, better and newer.' And that's our challenge now to try to provide that," he said.

The six projects that could encompass a major construction plan are a new indoor sports center, the district's first dog park, a new senior center, an expansion of the Wagner Community Center, additional open space and improved maintenance of existing parks and assets.

"Right now the park board and staff, we're not trying to say one is more than the other," Rogers said. "We're trying to move down the path towards determining how we might be able to provide all of it."

The district has hired consultants from Public Communications Inc. to help create messaging and website strategies "meant to keep Vision 2020 at the forefront of the community's thinking," Rogers said.

"We're continuing to look for involvement, input, feedback as we work our way through this process," he said.

Such campaigns often set the stage for local governments seeking property tax increases via a ballot question. But Rogers said officials want to hear from residents about how to pay for the projects.

"These are some specific capital investments to really build some of these major facilities, so one of the things that we'll be continuing to talk about with the community is how to fund these," Rogers said. "What is the way to fund these? What funding mechanisms might be necessary? Because honestly it can't really be done necessarily with the funding levels that the district is at today."

The park district also has been in talks with other agencies about the possibility of reaching an intergovernmental agreement to fund construction, operations and/or the acquisition of sites. Rogers listed Elmhurst College as one of those potential partners for an indoor recreation center.

"We are continuing to look at a number of the larger facility-type initiatives like a new senior center, like an indoor sport center, and one of the key components to both of those is we think there are tremendous opportunities for partnerships out there," Rogers said. "So we're talking to some of our public government entities. We're talking to private entities and trying to figure out what would be the best way to make those happen."

Only a handful of people, including park district staff, attended the state of the park district address at The Abbey. One of them was Cathy Jordan, who was featured as an advocate for a new senior center during a new Vision 2020 video also unveiled Monday.

"A senior center is a high priority for the Elmhurst community because seniors are living longer ... And they're active and they want to have something that will keep them active and engaged in the community," Jordan said in the video.

But finding the site for a new senior center - and an indoor rec center - is a significant hurdle in Elmhurst, a fairly landlocked community.

"And so the opportunity to find the right location that's available that could be used for either of those type of facilities is really one of our biggest challenges," Rogers said.

In a Vision 2020 survey of 328 residents, respondents said the district should focus on adding more walking and biking trails along with indoor fitness facilities.

Seventy-six percent of households that responded to the survey indicated a need for more walking and biking trails. Sixty-one percent also listed indoor fitness as a need, and 47 percent listed a desire for indoor running and walking tracks.

The survey results also showed support for creating the district's first dog park. The park district plans to build the off-leash park on a 3.4-acre site of a former trailer park at 0S761 Old York Road.