Many are aware that Bolingbrook is in the process of getting a really cool nature center, the Hidden Oaks Nature Center, located near Boughton and Schmidt roads. However, now the center is about to get even cooler with the addition of more funding from the state.
Bolingbrook Park District will receive $389,000 from the state's Open Space Land Acquisition and Development grant (OSLAD), to fund further projects such as the construction of a picnic pavilion, two outdoor classroom areas, composting toilet facility, additional parking area, trails, and interpretive signs.
"It's wonderful, we would not be able to do the development without the funding," said Alice Eastman, the park district's superintendent of natural resources. "It was wonderful for Gov. Quinn to release that funding especially during these economic times," added Eastman.
The OSLAD program is a state-financed grant program that provides funding assistance to local government agencies for acquisition or development of land for public parks and open space. Projects funded under the program vary from small neighborhood parks or tot lots to large community and county parks and nature areas like Hidden Oaks. The program is financed by a percentage of the state's Real Estate Transfer Tax.
Under OSLAD guidelines, development and renovation projects are limited to receiving a $400,000 grant maximum. The nature center, which cost about $6 million to construct, received close to the grant's maximum funding. This is the nature center's second string of state funding. Two years ago the district received $750,000 to help pay for the 17 acres nature center site.
The new funding will pay for half of the nature center's proposed projects. Without the funds, Eastman said perhaps only one of the outdoor classrooms would have been realized. The others would have remained on a wish list. Several other sources will be tapped to pay the balance, she said. Planning is already underway and construction will begin next year, and it will not delay the center's June 20th, grand opening.
The center is designated LEED status (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) at the platinum level.
###
Debbie Lively is an award-winning journalist, novelist and Bolingbrook mother of two. She also instructs people in the art of writing.
Leave a comment