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McHenry council awards $37,700 landscape-architecture contract for Cold Springs Park; neighbors press to keep it passive
Summary
The council approved a $37,700 contract to produce a landscape-architectural plan for Cold Springs Park, including $1,600 for community meetings and grant-preparation work; councilors and neighbors emphasized maintaining the site as a passive nature park and using grant funds (OSLAD) where possible.
McHenry — The City Council voted Monday to award $37,700 to a consultant to prepare a landscape-architectural plan for Cold Springs Park, a largely wooded neighborhood park that councilors and nearby residents said should remain passive and low-impact.
Alderman Sue Miller made the motion to award the contract and Alderman Doherty seconded; the roll call vote passed with Alderman Bassi recorded as opposed and the remainder of the council voting yes. The contract price covers the consultant’s design work and includes $1,600 for community meetings and about $8,300 for preparing an OSLAD (Open Space Land Acquisition and Development) grant application, a city staff member said.
‘‘We have talked about Cold Springs Park a million times privately,’’ Alderman Miller said during discussion. She and other council members said the city’s master park plan identified Cold Springs as a park to preserve and to plan carefully. Director Hobson (parks) explained the consultant’s scope includes mapping sensitive wetland areas, producing design alternatives that respect nearby homes and preparing the OSLAD application, which would be a dollar-for-dollar match if awarded.
Neighbors at the meeting urged a low-impact approach. Iver Johnson, whose address is adjacent to the park, said the park’s ecology has changed over decades and recommended professional guidance: ‘‘It seems to me that the relatively small amount of money to get intelligent, informed architectural planning ... is a good investment of public money that it will benefit us all in the long run,’’ he said.
Other speakers warned against overdevelopment that would increase traffic and intrusion into a quiet neighborhood; councilors and staff repeatedly described the park as intended to be passive and noted the contract expressly includes a community meeting so neighbors can influence the outcome.
City staff said the $37,700 will be funded from parks developer-donation funds, not the general fund. If awarded, the OSLAD grant would reimburse some design/engineering costs dollar-for-dollar and could improve the scope of built amenities while keeping the park’s passive character, staff said.
What happened next: The council approved the consultant contract; staff will hold the community meeting(s) included in the fee and proceed with the design and grant-preparation work. Any formal design approval or construction work would come back to council for later review and appropriation.
