Cook Park playground equipment will be replaced in Libertyville
Twenty-three-year-old playground equipment at Libertyville's centerpiece Cook Park downtown will be replaced in coming months as the first project under a new parks master plan.
The new playground will include a pour-in-place rubber surface to provide access under the Americans with Disabilities Act as well as two slides, two swings to allow an adult and child to swing together, climbing features and play elements on the ground level that make music.
The total cost of the playground to the village is $152,995. The total would have been $186,511, but a grant of $33,516 from the Illinois Parks and Recreation Association will cover half the cost of the main playground structure.
The equipment has been ordered and will be installed by Cunningham Recreation of Charlotte, N.C., in late spring or early summer.
This will be the first playground replacement project identified in the parks master plan approved by the village board last October.
Proposals were solicited from three firms, which each provided three designs. Those were narrowed to one from each firm, and the final selection included an informal public survey on the village website. The village board approved the equipment purchase and installation in late February.
According to the contract, the existing equipment will be donated to Kids Around the World, a nonprofit that repurposes used playground equipment in other countries. The destination of Libertyville's equipment has not been determined.
Libertyville's parks master plan is the first update of village facilities since 1999 and is intended to help guide park development for the next 15 years.
The 100-page master plan includes information in several areas to allow village officials each year to assess needs, priorities, opportunities and timelines for park upgrades and new projects.
The next playground replacement is planned for Adler Park in the 2019-20 fiscal year beginning May 1. There are no significant parks projects planned for this year as part of the master plan, according to Ashley Englemann, deputy village administrator.
The village's parks and recreation advisory commission will be working on a design for Adler with work expected to be completed by spring or summer of 2020, she said.