September 23, 2024
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Yorkville city council to look into donating park equipment to Kids Around the World

Council also plans to vote on continuing trend of laying claim to unincorporated lands

By Joey Weslo
The Yorkville Parks Department plans to completely dismantle Rice Park and install newly designed play equipment.

The Yorkville Parks Department plans to completely dismantle Rice Park and install newly designed play equipment. (Provided by The City of Yorkville)

Another piece of Yorkville may end up in the sunny Caribbean, while multiple rural expanses of unincorporated Kendall County might soon find themselves in Yorkville.

At the upcoming city council meeting on Sept. 24, the council plans to decide if the decades old playground equipment at Rice Park should be donated to the non-profit Kids Around the World, like Emily Sleezer Park recently was. The charity removes old playgrounds, refurbishes the equipment, and re-installs them in underprivileged area across the world. Emily Sleezer Park’s old equipment is being reconstructed in the Dominican Republic.

Like Emily Sleezer Park, Rice Park at 545 Poplar Drive is slated for a complete tear-down project. The park board schedule playgrounds replacement after two decades of use. The new equipment was ordered in 2023 at a cost of $90,402.60. It will cost an additional $13,900 to install.

Meanwhile, outside Yorkville’s city limits, 16.5 acres of unincorporated Kendall County could become a parking lot if Yorkville decides to help with the rezoning.

The site, owned by A & D Properties, LLC, is located north of Ament Road and west of South Bridge Street. It has two buildings and provides parking for trucks. With the rezoning, the trucking business could expand to construct three new buildings, 58 trailer parking stalls, and more than a hundred extra parking spaces. The business plans to sell and provide storage for semi-trailers, semi-tractors, and heavy machinery.

The site falls within the 1.5 miles City Planning Boundary.