Brookfield has learned it will receive $600,000 to redevelop Creekside Park off of Burlington and Grove avenues.
Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources announced the award Dec. 16 as part of more than $55.2 million in grant funding being given to local park projects across the state. Brookfield applied for and won the money from the state’s Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development program, which funds land acquisition and development projects for public park space.
The improvements, which village trustees discussed in August, include a new playground with poured-in-place rubber surfacing, a game tables, a single-stall public restroom and native plantings with signage, according to a Dec. 17 press release from the village.
Parks and Recreation Director Luke Gundersen said he expected Brookfield will receive the funding by March or April of next year. In August, officials discussed a preliminary timeline, which says construction should start around March 2026 and end around October 2026.
According to IDNR, OSLAD grants can fund up to half of the costs for a project in most communities. Those the state considers “distressed” — financially or physically — can receive up to 90% of the costs for a project. The village received the maximum amount possible for a development project through OSLAD.
Because Brookfield is not considered distressed, it will have to pay $600,000 of its own money toward the improvements to match the OSLAD funding. In August, Gundersen estimated Brookfield would owe about $770,000 for its piece of the pie, which included installing abutments at Creekside Park for a future bridge over Salt Creek.
Now, despite being awarded the grant, Gundersen said Brookfield will not be able to install the abutments as part of the first phase of the project like the village board had directed over the summer.
“IDNR had reached out to us, the ones who are the grant administrator. They did not want [to award] a grant that wasn’t fully open to the public,” Gundersen told the Landmark. “You put in bridge abutments, that technically wouldn’t be open to the public and ready to go.”
Gundersen said the OSLAD grant requires the awarded organization to complete its project and open it within two years of receiving the funding, which the village could not commit to. Officials have said Brookfield’s plan to span Salt Creek is dependent on receiving future grant funding, as the bridge alone will cost about $1 million.
Gundersen said Brookfield has applied for more funding for the bridge abutments and additional park improvements through the Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program. According to the Active Transportation Alliance, ITEP will provide $140 million in state and federal funding for pedestrian, biking and trail projects across Illinois for 2024, though grant awards are not expected to be announced until the spring of 2025.
He said Brookfield officials have not yet discussed whether the village will apply for more OSLAD funding next year for the bridge as they wait to hear back about potential ITEP funding.
The wooded area across the creek from Creekside Park now appears to be called Creekside Woods, according to the village’s press release. Officials had referred to it in past discussions as South Kiwanis Park, a reference to its location directly south of Kiwanis Park past the BSNF railroad. Gundersen said both names refer to the same parcel of land.
