Consultants present draft master plans and community feedback for Prairie Springs and Ingram parks

Chris Silusky of Ayers Associates presented an update on the village’s parks master-planning work at the Pleasant Prairie Park Commission meeting, saying the effort is still in an early brainstorming stage and that design options will be narrowed by the steering committee before more formal public review.

Silusky described the project process as a human-centered, five-step approach and said the team has held four public engagement events and an online survey. "We're right at the beginning of brainstorming solutions," Silusky said, adding that the firm will produce a park program — "a fancy way of saying here's a list of recommendations" — and then generate concept options for review.

Director of Parks Williamson told commissioners the Prairie Springs playground renovation is about "halfway through": old equipment has been removed (much of it sent to recycling), base work is in place, and installers are expected on site in about two weeks. Williamson said the playground’s original curbs and ramp were robustly built and that the village is fortunate to replace them before more extensive failures developed.

Silusky said outreach included the Harbor Market (July 28), National Night Out (Aug. 6), an engagement at Ingram Park (Aug. 7) and an online survey. As of the most recent update, the survey had roughly 140 responses. Key survey figures presented: 75% of respondents reported being married with children; 78% live in the village and 16% in surrounding areas; 44% visit the parks weekly, 15% daily and 15% monthly.

Commissioners pressed on practical issues including how recommended program elements would fit within Prairie Springs’ linear footprint, restroom placement near playgrounds for convenience and safety, temporary accessibility solutions (rubber beach-style mats), and whether seasonal events such as a beer garden or an adventure-race event would affect long-term park layout. Williamson said the village issued an RFP for beer-garden vendors for the 2025 season at the current location and expects one-year agreements while a longer-term site decision is studied.

Silusky outlined next steps: the steering committee will develop relationship diagrams to test spatial connections, produce rough hand-sketched options (typically narrowed to two or three by the committee), then return options to the public for further engagement and bring refined plans back to the commission. The next steering-committee meeting referenced in the presentation is scheduled for Sept. 19; Silusky said the committee will meet roughly every two weeks thereafter to narrow options.

Williamson said the village communications team will distribute press releases and invited residents to sign up for parks updates through the village website (signup corrected to pleasantprairiewi.gov). He also noted that the master-plan work will include early budgetary estimates for larger elements so the commission can consider items during upcoming budget discussions.

The presentation was informational only; no formal commission action was required or taken on the master-plan materials at this meeting. The commission moved on to other business after questions and comments.