Park District of Oak Park

3 www.pdop.org Dear Residents, You are invited to celebrate the grand opening of the Austin Gardens Environmental Education Center on Saturday, June 11. is platinum LEED-designed facility showcases many sustainable features including a geo-thermal system, solar panels, storm and grey water harvesting, and more. Festivities will include facility tours, recyclable cras, a scavenger hunt, "rock balancing" and answers to lawn and tree care questions. A free Yoga class will be held from 9 to 9:45am prior to the ribbon cutting which begins promptly at 10am. e Austin Gardens Environmental Education Center will be home to a nature preschool program this fall and will host a variety of environmental classes and one-day workshops throughout the year. Feasibility Study Update A Community Recreation Center Feasibility Study commenced in January 2016 as a result of the Park District's ten-year Comprehensive Plan and community survey. e Park District invited representatives from other Oak Park governmental entities, including the Village of Oak Park, Oak Park Township, School District 97, School District 200, and the Oak Park Public Library, to create a task force to look at the facility needs of our community as a whole. e firm of Sink Combs, of Chicago, IL was hired in January 2016 to conduct the study which began with individual meetings with each Oak Park governmental entity in February. Stakeholder interviews and focus groups were conducted in March with community leaders and representatives from various community organizations as well as students from Oak Park River Frost High School. Over 100 people attended two community meetings to collect community input on March 23 and over 230 people (so far) completed the online questionnaire. At press time the consultants are working on adjacency diagrams to exhibit at a Community Open House scheduled for Wednesday, April 27 to collect additional community input. A dra report is scheduled to be presented to the Park Board in May with the final report expected in June. e deliverables of the Community Recreation Center Feasibility Study include: 1) Determination of amenities to be included in a Community Recreation Center; 2) Identification of potential site locations for a Community Recreation Center and 3) Formulation of probable costs. For more details and a current update on the progress of the feasibility study, please visit www.pdop.org. Working with Our Youth A local resident wanted to know the names of the unique trees that are located in Austin Gardens near his home. He was so curious, he donated $1,000 towards a tree identification program that was recently launched in Austin Gardens and two other Park District parks. e Park District engaged students in three design classes at Julian Middle School to design and install tree identification tags for unique species of trees in Austin Gardens, Cheney Mansion and the Oak Park Conservatory. e final design for the tree tag was selected from nine design options provided by the students. Each tag features the tree's common name and scientific name, an etching of the leaf for tree identification, and the initials of the student who made that particular tree tag. At press time, Julian students were scheduled to install the Austin Gardens tree tags to commemorate Arbor Day on Friday, April 29. We hope to continue this program by asking future classes to help us create tags for our remaining parks. Composting at Our Concerts As good stewards of our environment we are partnering with Seven Generations Ahead, Chamness Biodegradables and the Village of Oak Park to introduce recycling and composting at our summer concerts in Scoville Park. Please look for bins at each summer concert and do your part to care for our environment by participating in this new program. See you in the parks, Paul Aeschleman, President Park District of Oak Park Board of Commissioners 3 2015-2016 Board of Park District Commissioners Regular Park Board Meetings are generally held on the third ursday of each month and the Committee of the Whole (COW) Meetings are generally held on the first ursday of the month. All meetings are held at 7:30 pm at the John L. Hedges Administrative Center, 218 Madison Street, Oak Park. Public comment is welcome at these meeting. ere is no COW meeting in August. Kathleen Porreca Commissioner Kathleen.Porreca@pdop.org Paul Aeschleman President Paul.Aeschleman@pdop.org Victor Guarino Vice-President Victor.Guarino@pdop.org Sandy Lentz Secretary Sandy.Lentz@pdop.org David Wick Treasurer David.Wick@pdop.org OUR MISSION: In partnership with the community, we enrich lives by providing meaningful experiences through programs, parks and facilities. 3

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