Renovations at Ottawa's Allen, Peck parks nearing completion

While there has been a lot of focus on Ottawa’s riverfront to the north – plans for the new amphitheater, a park and perhaps a hotel to go next to the new YMCA – there is another facelift going on across the Illinois River and it’s close to being completed.

Ottawa Commissioner of Public Improvements Marla Pearson said the work on the $1.2 million Allen Park improvement project is near 75% completed and should be finished around mid-September. That time frame would put the project well ahead of schedule.

Not only that, the $1.1 million improvement plan at Peck Park on the city’s South Side also is nearing completion.

“We’re super happy with the progress being made at Allen Park, and at Peck Park, too,” Pearson said. “Redoing the parks the way we are I feel is a great addition to the city.”

Because of its location near the convergence of the Illinois and Fox rivers, the Allen Park work – being done by low-bidder Vissering Construction of Streator for $353,256 – is focused on making the 20 acre park less vulnerable to flooding.

High water causes the park to be closed off at its entrance several times a year and has in the past left damage to the shelters and playground equipment there.

This year’s project has metal equipment – including benches, bench swings and a shelter – being placed at the top of the newly-graded hill out of reach of such waters, placed over a rubberized surface.

There will be new sidewalks, a quarter-mile looped hiking trail and, thanks in large part to a donation of more than $19,000 from South Ottawa Township, a new shelter on the west side.

Also, the old staircase to the top made of failing, unsafe railroad ties is being replaced by a concrete staircase. There will be signage installed listing the history of the area and facts about the Illinois River.

Helping defray the cost of the project is an Open Space Land Acquisition Development Grant for $506,000.

“If you remember Thornton Park, there were a lot of pieces, a lot of playground equipment,” Pearson said, “but in this one the grading and all the concrete is probably the biggest park of that project … It’s a lot more concrete games (for example, checker/chess boards, bags boards, ladder toss, etc.) on the lower level because it’s in the flood plain.

“Right now, it’s a matter of putting swings and other playground equipment on top of the hill. Everything is going well.”

Peck Park, also a 20-acre venue undergoing a much-needed update, is nearing the finish. The paving and concrete work – tennis, pickleball and basketball courts, a splash pad, parking lot expansion and fresh asphalt on the access road from McKinley Road – is done.

Crews last week were assembling and installing swing sets and other playground equipment. Pearson said it will be ready to go in about three weeks.

“The pickleball players are really happy with the courts there,” Pearson said. “That was one of the first parts of the project to get done there and they’re enjoying it.”

Also in regard to the parks, the Riordan Pool is enjoying a good summer, Pearson said, still going strong even with the beginning of the school year looming. The staff is considering keeping the pool open only in the evenings after school begins, as it did last year, until about Labor Day.

Pearson said she and the Recreation Board have been keeping an eye on all parks that comprise the city’s 525 acres of park land, like Thornton, Rigden and Kiwanis. Some of them have aging equipment, however, there are no other improvement plans in the works as of yet.

And there are other park improvements on Pearson’s wish list. When the current projects are completed and when the city’s budget allows, she would like to eventually see some fishing piers installed along the river in places where some sections of the sidewalks had deteriorated to the point they needed removal.

“We did get some cost estimates of what it would cost to put in a few piers where people could walk out there to fish, and I know they weren’t cheap,” Pearson said. “Still, I would like to see something like that there. I know the boat ramps down there could use a little help, too. Something like that obviously couldn’t be included in this project.

“But I drive down Boyce Memorial Drive every day and the courts at Thornton are always so full with kids at the splash pad and playing basketball and pickleball. That’s good to see everyone enjoying themselves at all our parks.”