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Community center staff ask board to fund outdoor-facility replacement plan; staff to explore adding items to CIP
Summary
Community center staff presented a multi-year plan and cost estimates for outdoor facilities on the community center campus, and asked the board to consider increasing annual set‑asides or adding the items to the county’s capital improvement plan (CIP).
Community center staff asked Cook County commissioners to consider a multi-year funding plan for outdoor facilities on the community center campus, including the skate park, tennis and pickleball courts, hockey rink and a recently installed bike skills park.
Sarah Waddle, speaking for the community center, told the Committee of the Whole that some outdoor amenities were already in dedicated building-fund savings accounts but that many others were not included in the county’s capital improvement plan. “Those savings accounts are only for some of these outdoor facilities and not for all of them,” Waddle said, and she asked the board to review current practice and funding.
Staff provided an inventory of campus assets — including a skate park, two playgrounds, picnic shelter, tennis/pickleball courts, hockey rink, warming house, ball field, horse park and a bike skills park — and presented replacement-year estimates and cost projections adjusted for inflation. Waddle said the county currently saves about $12,500 per year toward outdoor-facility replacement, and staff estimated the county would need to save roughly $73,355 per year beginning in 2026 to meet the projected county share of future replacement costs across the campus (staff modeled a mix of county responsibility, user-group fundraising and grant funding).
Specific funding examples cited in the presentation included: new or resurfaced tennis courts (County share estimated at roughly $16,000 per year through 2028 to meet a 50% county share of a projected $125,000 replacement for certain courts), the skate park (projected full replacement in approximately 10 years), and the bike skills park (purchased with legacy grant funds; staff said preliminary records show the county is the grantee and will take ownership under a memorandum of agreement). Staff also noted that grant-funded capital additions create ongoing maintenance obligations that typically fall to levy-funded budgets after initial installation.
Commissioners and staff discussed options for funding: folding these outdoor facility items into the county’s next CIP iteration, increasing annual levy set‑asides, seeking grants or user-group fundraising, or targeting tourism-related revenue streams. Commissioners expressed a preference for incorporating outdoor facilities into the CIP planning process so exterior maintenance and replacement is included alongside building needs and other long-term capital obligations.
No formal funding decision was made. Commissioners asked community center and administration staff to return with options: what it would take to add outdoor facility items to the CIP, an updated financial management plan, and a recommended annual contribution or alternative funding mechanisms. Staff said they would follow up with more detailed proposals and timing.
