Mount Prospect Park District asking voters to help fund upgrades

The Mount Prospect Park District is asking voters to take a financial plunge to fund facility improvements, including a new community pool complex at Lions Memorial Park.

The district is asking approval to issue $46.2 million in bonds. The estimated annual tax impact of the proposed $46.2 million bond referendum is $49 per $100,000 of a home’s fair market value, or about $195 for a $400,000 home.

Among the improvements contemplated are the replacement of the Big Surf Pool with the addition of zero-depth entry, aquatic spray features, water slides and lap lanes.

Also proposed is a new Lions Recreation Center featuring a walking track, basketball courts and spaces for preschool/early childhood, senior/active adult and other programs.

In addition, there would be new air conditioning and a multisport artificial turf at the RecPlex and site improvements at Lions Memorial Park, including pickleball courts and an outdoor game area.

“The scope of the projects, the new community pool and the new recreation center, would be beyond what the district can do within its own financing,” said George Giese, the park district’s director of administration.

Giese said the proposed improvements are the result of strategic planning that looked into how the district “could be the best version of itself.”

The village completed a comprehensive master plan in 2022.

“One of the directives that came out of the master plan was to engage the public and look at some of our unmet capital needs,” he said. “We have known for a while now that the Big Surf Pool was going on 40 years old, so that was coming to the end of its useful life.”

With that knowledge, the district engaged a citizen task force to examine different options. The result was a proposal that was tested with the public in a community survey that garnered support from 67% of the respondents.