Springfield and Auburn to receive state funds for park improvements
Parks in Springfield and Auburn will receive state money for renovations after Gov. JB Pritzker announced Friday that they were among 87 projects to receive grants for future development.
The Springfield Park District and the City of Auburn will each receive $400,000 for improvements to Kiwanis Park and Union Park, respectively. The grants are provided by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources' Open Space Land Acquisition and Development Program, which has provided over $400 million in grants since being established in 1987.
Kiwanis Park, located on the city's east side on Stanton Avenue, was built in 1978, dedicated to the Springfield chapter of the service organization that provided $20,000 to build the park. The 10-acre park is home to ballfields, a playground and a picnic area.
Union Park, also known as East Park, is a 58,800 square-foot facility with a pavilion for special events. It also has a playground and a basketball court.
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Leslie Sgro, president of the SPD board, said that she was excited for the district to receive the grants. Kiwanis Park improvements will include new play equipment, soccer facilities, bathrooms and parking, along with the installation of a walking path around the park's perimeter.
"It's part of our strategic priority to improve our neighborhood and community parks that haven't gotten a lot of improvements over the last several years," Sgro said. "It's due for that kind of renovation and we're very excited about it."
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Sgro said that work should get underway on the $800,000 project next spring. She credited the work done by IDNR, the governor and State Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield to get the grants to the park district for the Kiwanis improvements.
"I'm very grateful for their support and their efforts," Sgro said. "I'm truly excited about the positive improvements to our community (and) to our parks. I think this is something that in our last strategic planning session, the board worked with staff to make exactly these kinds of improvements a priority and we're not going to stop here.
"We have other neighborhood parks that will be seeing improvements soon and I'm happy that we're making progress toward our goals."
Contact Zach Roth: (217) 899-4338; ZDRoth@gannett.com; @ZacharyRoth13
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Springfield, Auburn, Illinois parks to receive state improvement funds
