Regular Board Meeting June 16, 2009

The agenda for the Glen Ellyn Park District Board Meeting is online.

The Board will vote on item VII.A, Resolution 09-04, Resolution of Authorization IDNR/OSLAD Grant Application at the meeting on Tuesday. Please see my post from May 31 about the Churchill Park grant for more details. There is also a plan and letter about the project posted on the GEPD web site.

John Vann, landscape architect for the plan, presented information about the project at the June 2 board meeting and at the June 10 special meeting. He said that 75% of the trees are no good and many of the trees in the park are garbage trees. That project will remove any invasive or non-native plants.

The area has a very serious buckthorn problem and removing the buckthorn is a priority. Staff is already working on this problem. Invasives such as honeysuckle, mulitflora rose, garlic mustard weed and burdock will also be removed. The project includes funds for invasive removal and replanting natives.

Some of the tree species that Mr. Vann recommended for removal include: black cherry, black walnut, cotton wood, apple, white ash, green ash, silver maple, and box elder. The plans will create new wetlands to address the excessive water problem at the park. In some areas the tree overstory will be removed to make way for wetlands. Mr. Vann will consult the tree survey of the park to confirm if there are any trees worth saving in the woods.

Over half of the $600,000 project is dedicated to building a new nature center. This will be used for programming, public washrooms and storage. The existing building would be demolished.