Inclusive playground project in Woodstock almost completely funded

Woodstock will receive a key $600,000 grant needed to make a new inclusive playground a reality, marking a win for the city almost one year after the project was pitched.

However, a timeline on the playground’s completion is still not yet available, Woodstock Executive Director of Operations Christina Betz said on Wednesday.

The playground would be designed with all ages and needs in mind, pitched as being for those “ages 8 to 80.” It would include rubber surfacing, colorful equipment designed by recreation therapists, art and music sensory structures, along with swings, climbers, slides and spinners, according to the Woodstock Recreation Department’s website.

Such a playground would provide children with various disabilities, including those who need walking assistance or have a sensory impairment, to still engage in way they might not be able to with a regular playground, said Tara McCarthy, an adapted physical education teacher for the Cooperative Association for Special Education in DuPage County.

The benefits of playing come in the form of allowing kids, and even adults, to engage in community and help brain development, McCarthy said.

“It allows ... kids [with mobility issues] to be more independent whereas with other playgrounds, they may not even attempt to be,” McCarthy said. “Not everyone knows how to play. It’s a learned behavior.”

With the grant, Woodstock now has almost $1.2 million for the project, with the project estimated to come in around $1.4 million, City Manager Roscoe Stelford said. However, the price tag won’t be final until the design process is finished.

The city should receive the grant agreement in the next month or two, which should outline how and when the city will receive the money.

Along with the $600,000, the City Council approved $500,000 for the project throughout the past year. Another $74,000 was donated by the Community Foundation of McHenry County, and nearly $2,000 more has come from public donations, Betz said.

Another $100,000 could be received courtesy of a grant through McHenry County, Stelford said. That will go in front of the McHenry County Board at some point. Remaining money will either be raised through fundraising during the summer or through the city.

Getting the grant really helps solidify our plans and ability to build this. It’s something we’re very excited about and we think it’ll be a great addition for the city.

—  Woodstock Mayor Mike Turner on receiving a state grant for the city's inclusive playground project

While the plan is to have it built at some point during the city’s fiscal 2023-24, which starts from May 1, the city still needs to receive both the grant money and the grant agreement, Betz said. The latter will lay out the terms of how the grant can be used.

Mayor Mike Turner said with the grant, he expects the City Council to make getting the playground complete as much of a priority as it is able to.

“Getting the grant really helps solidify our plans and ability to build this,” Turner said. “It’s something we’re very excited about and we think it’ll be a great addition for the city.”

The $600,000 grant comes from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources’s Open Space Land Acquisition and Development, or OSLAD, program, and is the maximum amount an agency can be awarded, according to the department’s website.

The grant is a matching one, meaning the city will have to contribute at least $600,000 to it, Woodstock Grants Manager Terry Willcockson said. She believes there could be a lot of support financially from the community for it, as it we well-received when originally pitched a year ago.

“I’ve never seen a project get that much positive support just from the first time it was submitted,” she said.

In September, city officials weren’t sure whether they would meet the deadline that month for submitting a plan to obtain the grant. Betz said getting the project from the idea phase to a viable playground project was done “within a very short time.”

That work includes finding funding sources, picking a location and finding a vendor to complete the playground’s design, she said.

“What typically takes one to two years to develop was accomplished in approximately 10 months,” Betz said in an email.

Set to go on top of Sledding Hill at Emricson Park, Betz said the location for the plan is unlikely to change. Any construction work will have a “minimal” effect on the rest of the park, minus the need for additional parking for Dream Field and other park amenities.

Some challenges will include any possible supply shortages for the playground equipment, but it’s not known yet whether this will be an issue, Betz said.

I’ve never seen a project get that much positive support just from the first time it was submitted.

—  Woodstock Grant Manager Terry Willcockson on the inclusive playground project

In total, the state awarded 118 grants out this year through the OSLAD grant, totaling almost $60 million, according to the Department of Natural Resources website. Five of those went to McHenry County.

One of those grants went to Algonquin, who also received the maximum $600,000 to both improve its Towne Park and install an inclusive playground there. The total costs for the upgrades are expected to run about $4.3 million.