Kewanee Park District officials want to build a splash pad in Liberty Park, and will apply for a state grant to help pay for it.
Part of the application process was taken care of at Monday’s City Council meeting, as the council approved a 100-year lease of the Liberty Park property to the park board.
Liberty Park is a triangular tract of land on the north side of West Park which the city turned over to the park district in 1951. At that time, the City Council passed an ordinance leasing the property to the park district “in perpetuity,” according to an intergovernmental agreement approved by the council Monday.
But no written lease was approved at the time, the agreement says.
The lease approved Monday does not require that the park district pay anything for the Liberty Park property. It does require, though, that the park district mow and maintain the area and “improve the park as necessary to meet the shared goals of the Kewanee Park District and the City of Kewanee.”
At Monday’s meeting, Andy Dwyer told the council that the lease was required as part of the park district’s application for a state Open State Land Acquisition and Development (OSLAD) grant.
Dwyer, the park district’s director of parks and recreation, told the council that the OSLAD program provides grants of up to $600,000 for improvements to parks and other public properties. The park district has obtained OSLAD grants for previous upgrades at Windmont and Northeast parks.
Dwyer said in addition to the splash pad, the park district would like to replace the aging playground equipment in Liberty Park. District officials are pursuing a matching-funds grant to pay for that equipment, he said.
A splash pad would provide fountains, showers and other fixtures where young children could cool off on a hot day.
Liberty Park once featured a wading pool for small children, which was closed years ago.
Dwyer said he has been working with state legislators on getting the OSLAD grant for Liberty Park. He said the staff at the Bi-State Regional Commission will prepare the grant application, which is due later this month.
