York Center Park District's new land development.

Stages of Demolition:

DuPAGE COUNTY, IL – The Trust for Public Land (TPL) announced today that it has protected 6.5 acres in unincorporated Lombard from development by purchasing the property from Waste Management Corporation. TPL immediately conveyed the land to the York Center Park District.

The parcel is just west of Meyers Road and north of 16th Street. It is adjacent to the 14-acre Knolls Park, which is owned by York Township but managed and maintained by the Park District. The two parks together form a 20-acre recreational area, the largest that York Center Park District manages.

Knolls Park is near Montini Catholic High School, York Center School, and the York Township Center, so its soccer fields, the fishing pond, the sled hill and other amenities already get plenty of use. Plans for the additional land include formal gardens, winding walkways, bike paths and a senior-life fitness trail, said Park District Director Sharon Labak-Neubauer.

Since the 1970s, the Park District has fought to keep pace with surrounding development, Labak-Neubauer said, but it always seemed a losing battle. Today, the district owns or manages four parks, and opportunities to purchase new parks have been both rare and expensive. Park District Board President Margaret Crotty said these facts make this acquisition special.

“The census bureau shows a 13 percent increase in the District’s population over the next few years, and we have to fill the recreation needs of this growing population,” Crotty said. “This land could’ve easily been used for one more housing subdivision. Instead, this purchase ensures for our residents a higher quality of life that only a great park can provide.”

District officials first sought to purchase the land in 2004, but needed assistance with many environmental aspects of the acquisition because the land once was a truck parking lot. TPL provided the assistance, purchased the land, protected it from development and gave the District time to apply for an Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

This purchase is part of TPL’s Parks for People Initiative. This national conservation initiative ensures that everyone - in particular, every child - enjoys close-to-home access to parks, playgrounds, and natural areas in cities and suburbs across America.

Since 1972, The Trust for Public Land has worked with willing landowners, community groups, and national, state, and local agencies to complete more than 2,700 land conservation projects in 46 states, protecting more than 2 million acres. TPL specializes in conservation real estate, applying its expertise in negotiations, public finance, and law, to protect land for people to enjoy as parks, greenways, community gardens, urban playgrounds, and wilderness.

The York Center Park District offers more than 400 events and programs annually to its residents. For more information please visit www.yorkcenterparks.org.

Proposed Plans:

Lombard-area park district buys waste firm's parcel

By Joseph Sjostrom
Tribune staff reporter
Published January 3, 2006

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/
chi-0601030259jan03,1,6330466.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

Located inconspicuously between a suburban park on one side and a grade school on another, the garbage truck parking and repair yard is nearly invisible behind its tall wooden fence, yet it has caused anxiety in unincorporated Lombard.

It was not the odor of garbage or truck noise that made people nervous. Rather, it was the possibility that a subdivision of new homes might replace the facility when the owner, Waste Management, moved out.

But when construction machinery eventually rumbles onto the site, it will be to develop a new park rather than to build houses.

It was announced last month that the York Center Park District has acquired the 6 1/2-acre site from Waste Management for $1.2 million.

The acquisition will add to the size of the adjacent 14-acre Knoll Park on 16th Street west of Meyers Road.

The park plan came to fruition after the Park District scrambled to acquire the property after learning of a possible subdivision plan.

"A developer came to us and said they wanted to put fourteen $500,000 homes on the property," said Sharon Labak-Neubauer, Park District director.

"The population of our Park District is about 4,800, and we're projecting 13 percent growth as it is," she said. "But we found out the property was still available."

Knoll Park now has a pond, trails, a sledding hill and picnic shelters. Addition of the Waste Management property will allow the district to add trails, fitness stations, a formal garden and bring its holdings up to a level recommended by park authorities of about 10 acres per 1,000 population, said Labak-Neubauer.

Knoll Park is already used by the adjacent Montini High School for cross-country meets, and the added land will allow expansion of the runners' routes through the park.

"It's a really nice Christmas present," Labak-Neubauer said. "It's an excellent deal, and it proves that Waste Management really wants to keep the property as unoccupied open space."

The Park District was represented in the deal by the Trust for Public Land, a national organization that seeks to preserve open space for recreation and conservation.

Jeffrey Greenspan, a project manager for the trust, arranged for an environmental survey and appraisal of the site, helped the district negotiate with Waste Management and also helped the district obtain a state grant for half of the purchase price.

Bill Plunkett, a spokesman for Waste Management, said the company uses the site to park garbage trucks overnight and to do some repair work.

He said those functions will be parceled out to other Waste Management locations in the Chicago area.

As big and as loud as garbage trucks can be, they kept a pretty low profile, said Nancy Munoz, principal of York Center School, which is located on the truck yard's northern edge.

"They were never a problem," Munoz said. "The school also wouldn't have had a problem accommodating students from new housing, but we're glad to have the park."

She's hoping to work a trade, to receive help from the Park District in installing new playground equipment in exchange for letting the Park District use the school's gym.

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jsjostrom@tribune.com