Naperville to keep Country Lakes Park open space
The southeast corner of Naperville's Country Lakes Park will remain an active recreation area when the park district buys the property from Indian Prairie Unit District 204.
The 11 acres owned by the school district is where the fun is at in the 31-acre park at 1835 North Aurora Road just west of Route 59, said Ray McGury, Naperville Park District executive director. It contains a playground, multiuse fields, basketball courts, trails and a parking lot used by residents of nearby houses and apartment complexes, where open space is not as plentiful as in some parts of Naperville.
"We did not want to lose that 11 acres, especially in that area," McGury said. "We've got to maintain that green space for people, especially in that area where we still have some work to do to acquire some land."
To keep the land, the park district will pay the school district $1.85 million in two installments of $925,000, due in July 2017 and July 2018. The park district plans to delay a lighting project and some other minor work at Commissioners Park, 3704 111th St., to free money to buy Country Lakes Park.
The Country Lakes area west of Route 59 between Diehl and North Aurora roads is undergoing a change, as Pulte Homes is building a 300-house subdivision called Atwater on 204 acres that used to be a golf course. The developer also is installing more than three miles of trails that will be accessible to the public.
At Country Lakes, the park district has leased the 11 acres from the school district since 1992, but the deal is set to expire next summer. McGury said the school district reached out several months ago looking to sell the land when the lease expires.
The sale got the green light from the park board Thursday night, but the District 204 school board still needs to approve it. The board is expected to vote on the deal during its next meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 6, at Crouse Education Center at 780 Shoreline Drive in Aurora.