Park Board Minutes 2006 05-25-06 (Town Meeting) UNITED CITY OF YORKVILLE
YORKVILLE PARKS &RECREATION DEPARTMENT
TOWN MEETING
Parks & Recreation Administrative Offices Riverfront Building
Thursday,May 25, 2006
MINUTES
The Town Meeting was called to order by Ken Koch at 6:15 p.m. The purpose of this
meeting was to inform and get input from the public regarding the park site in the Prairie
Meadows Development. Attendance was low because most people attended the similar
meeting held at the fire department in the development on May 15, 2006.
In response to the meeting on May 15, Scott Sleezer had the changes made that were
suggested by the public. Overall, the people liked the park site but they asked for a
walking trail around the park and an open area for play. In response to that the park
designer added a 200 ft. baseball field which gives room to fly a kite or toss a football too
and incorporated the sidewalk as part of the trail. The asphalt walking trails will be 8 feet
wide. The monument area was changed to incorporate the fire safety garden along the
monument area to bring a teaching element to the children and the shelter was moved to
be more adjacent to the 2-5 years old playground.
The concerns were more over the Administration and Operations Center. The comments
from the homeowners were more on the layout of the land. The administration area of
the building is about 8,000 square feet and the operations portion of the building is
approximately 10,000 square feet. There would be a parking lot off Hayden Drive to
serve as parking for visitors to the administration area and for administration staff. It
would also serve as off-street parking for the park. There will be a basketball hoop at the
edge of the turnaround to also be served as a recreation area. The parking off of McHugh
Road will be for the maintenance and operation area or for additional parking as needed.
There will be a vinyl coated, chain-linked fence around this area. There will also be a
berm along the west side and heavy planting along the perimeter of it. Parks and
Recreation specifically worked with their architectural firm to have more green space
where they are adjacent to the homes. This will be a one story structure although the area
for the trucks will have a higher structure. They have put the parking lot along the fence
to give a bigger buffer area for landscaping. All of the truck entrances are off of McHugh
Road and will not go through the development. This area has always been identified and
intended to have an operations center because it is such a centrally located area.
The public wanted to know what kind of building was going to be placed there,but at this
point Parks and Recreation does not have any elevations because they are not that far in
the process yet. They do know,however, that they want it to fit into the neighborhood
with a brick/block structure. The two elevated tanks with spill protection will hold 500
gallons each of fuel. It was questioned if the tanks would be visible above the fence.
t Scott Sleezer indicated that this was a good point and they could be moved. The tanks,
though, need to be a certain distance away from a building and will be towards the
commercial area.
Mayor Art Prochaska, who was unable to attend this meeting due to a scheduling conflict,
will be glad to sit down to answer any questions on the building. The whole process will
be very open. Parks and Recreation want to be good neighbors.
Alderman Paul James mentioned that it appeared as if the baseball field was squeezed in
and balls may go over the fence or hit the homes. Scott Sleezer indicated that adding the
baseball field was in response to the public's request for an open play area and by making
it an active play area, it meets the OSLAD grant requirements to fund it. The field is 200
feet with the homes being 300 feet away and will be age targeted with signage. It will be
similar to the ball fields at Beecher. Alderman Paul James suggested making the ball
field into a pavilion area instead for the people in the industrial area. Homeowner Chris
Valk didn't think it would be in the best interest to attract the people from the business
area into neighborhood. Van Truman suggested, instead,putting picnic tables around the
pond area for the business people.
Van Truman indicated that there was a concern regarding the footprint of the building.
Tony Scott from the Record will put in a sketch in the newspaper.
Because this park will be the only park in Yorkville with a water feature,more people
may drive to this park from outside neighborhoods. It is not,however, going to be a
place to set up programming for recreation.
AMG Homes presented to the homeowners that the entire area was going to be park.
Although the area is park owned, the area was always identified for the Administration
and Operations Center because of its central location. They will work with developers to
get them to label the plans better. There will be another town meeting open for
discussion when they know what the building is going to look like,but there will
definitely be a building there. The use of air tools will be encompassed in the building so
it is not loud for the homeowners and the lighting out front will be ornamental lighting.
The lighting around the perimeter will be down lighting following the lighting ordinance
for safety purposes.
The town meeting adjourned at 6:45 p.m.
Minute Taker—Jeanne Arbet