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$400,000 Grant Awarded for Community Park

The Park District of Highland Park was awarded a $400,000 Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development (OSLAD) grant that will be used for trail work, park amenities, interpretive signage, and landscaping at Community Park located at the Recreation Center of Highland Park.  Last year, the Park District was awarded $144,672 Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (lllinois EPA) 319 grant funding to enhance the shoreline of the north pond located at the Community Park.  To date, the Park District has been awarded over $500,000 in grant funding for the development of Community Park.

“We are grateful to the State of Illinois for awarding us the grant funds to complete this unique project,” said Brian Romes, Executive Director for the Park District of Highland Park.  “Community Park will provide new one-of-a-kind outdoor recreation options surrounded by natural habitats that can be enjoyed by all ages.”

The Park District of Highland Park acquired the 100-acre Community Park property from the City of Highland Park in 2018. In accordance with the Park District’s GreenPrint 2024 Master Plan and with input from community residents and stakeholders, the Park District has worked with land planning specialists to create a Community Park master plan that includes green spaces interwoven with natural areas, gardens, and woods through which people can walk, bike and run.  The property also offers unique connectivity to the Recreation Center of Highland Park, adjacent trails, and the Skokie River Woods property.

The Park District of Highland Park Competitive Gymnastics Team participated in their first meet of the season on January 11, 2020, hosted by Viking Gymnastics Club at Niles West High School located in Skokie, Illinois. It is the second year the growing team has competed.

The Level 3 team gymnast Rowan Kach placed second place on bars, floor, and All-Around. Joining Kach in the Eight-Nine-Year-Old Group, Hannah Maletsky placed third on floor, and fourth on bars and All-Around, and Sydney Genser placed fourth on floor and fifth on All- Around. 

In the Ten-Year-Old Group, Naomi Rago placed fourth on vault, and eighth All-Around. Alexa Spector placed third on bars and floor, and fifth All-Around. Fiona Brownstein was awarded first on floor and third All-Around.

Charlie Weisbart placed ninth on floor and beam, and eleventh All-Around in the Eleven-Year-Old age group. Lauren Smiley placed fourth on vault and bars, and fifth All-Around.

“Our gymnasts are working hard, improving on their skills and routines, and exhibiting more confidence while having fun showing off their routines,” said Bruce Keeshin, Park District of Highland Park Competitive Gymnastics Team Coach. “We have started the season off strong.” 

For more information about Centennial Ice Arena recreational and competitive gymnastics programs, please contact Carol Sassorossi, csassorossi@pdhp.org.

Photo: Bottom row (left to right): Charlie Weisbart, Sydney Genser, Hannah Maletsky, Naomi Rago. Top row (left to right): Alexa Spector, Rowan Kach, Lauren Smiley, Fiona Brownstein

If you have been to a Lake Michigan beach over the last year, no doubt you noticed the effects of the abnormally high lake level.  Across the Great Lakes, beaches are shrinking, property is at risk, and public access is being washed away. New forecasts by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) are predicting lake levels will continue to rise in 2020, breaking century-old records. This month, Lake Michigan is over 17 inches higher than it was in January 2019. The USACE predicts record-breaking Lake Michigan levels will occur between this month and summer. Already, Lake Michigan is more than three feet above average.

Why So High?

High Lake Michigan water levels are attributed to higher levels of precipitation in the last year – 2019 had the highest precipitation recorded in over 125 years. According to the National Weather Service, we are also experiencing a warmer winter than anticipated; as a result, lake levels will remain high. Warmer winters contribute to higher lake levels. 

The warmer than average temperatures in December led to more significant runoff due to snowpack melting, especially on lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron, leading to more water supply.  Warm air also causes less evaporation off the lakes’ surface, which leads to more water in the system.  Because the temperatures are higher, ice dams can’t form along shorelines protecting beaches and shoreline structures from damaging high wave action and severe erosion during winter storms.

High lake levels cause storms and the wave action associated with them to be even more damaging to shorelines. High water levels allow waves to come up higher onshore escalating beach erosion. According to the USACE, this sets the stage for coastal impacts and damages in 2020, similar to, or worse than, what was experienced last year.

The New Normal, or Not?

Lake Michigan water levels have been tracked as far back as 1918 and indicate an average 20-year trend between water level lows and water level highs. However, in 2013, Lake Michigan dropped to the lowest level ever. Now, seven years later, the lake’s water level is expected to be at record-breaking highs. Are changing climate conditions feeding rapid shifts in lake levels? It is anybody’s guess if these erratic water levels are the “new normal.” 

What is the Park District Doing to Protect our Public Lakefront Properties? 

The Park District of Highland Park is taking a pro-active approach to protect our lakefront assets from the effects of the high-water conditions and continue providing safe beach access to the thousands of children, adults, and families that use them each year for recreation and leisure. 

The Park District’s quick action to implement the emergency sand nourishment project earlier this fall at Rosewood Beach served its purpose protecting Rosewood’s parking lot, boardwalk, and structures from the devastating damage the November 11, 2019, and January 11, 2020, storms could have caused. The Park District is also working on options to make structural changes to Rosewood Beach that would protect the beach in the long term. The options under consideration include:

High lake levels accompanied by intense storms over the past few years, especially this past winter, have caused damage to the breakwater wall/barge located at the Park Avenue Boating Facility. The Park District of Highland Park has been working with our engineering consultant on monitoring the condition of the barge/breakwater in past years. The significant damage that was sustained last winter was unanticipated and worse than previous winters.

To seek feasible options that provide long-term access to boating activities at Park Avenue Boating Facility, the Park District has formed a Park Avenue Working Group. The Group consists of  Park District Staff and Board, City of Highland Park Staff and Council, North Shore Yacht Club Members, and resident boaters. Consistent with the Park District’s Mission and Board-approved policies, the Park Avenue Working Group is working with our coastal engineer to seek fiscally responsible site improvements that provide long term access to boating activities at Park Avenue Boating Facility.The Park Avenue Working Group’s objectives are to:

Through ongoing lakefront planning, the Park District is also looking at the big picture by developing a Beach Management Plan for completion in 2021.  The plan will address the increasing complexity of managing lakefront parks, and the need to protect the beaches for recreational use and natural habitat. To support the project, the Park District has been awarded grant funding through the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Coastal Management Program. The total project cost is $35,000, half of which is reimbursable by the grant. The Park District’s match is budgeted in the 2020 Capital Plan.

To develop the plan, the Park District will work will engineers at SmithGroup. Engineers will evaluate existing conditions to develop management recommendations and strategies for Moraine Beach, Millard Beach, Park Avenue Boating Facility, and Rosewood Beach. Each location is unique and will be addressed separately to develop specific actions that are customized to local conditions. The focus of the proposed plan is to develop practical, implementable, and quantifiable strategies to address sources of water quality degradation, habitat creation and protection, universal public access, and long-term resilience honoring the Park District’s mission and vision of environmental stewardship and appreciation of the natural world.

Intense storms over the weekend battered community beaches along the north shore. High winds and powerful waves combined with near record-high lake levels exacerbated the already significant beach and shoreline erosion sustained in the past several months. According to the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Lake Michigan is 16 inches above 2019 lake levels, 37 inches above the monthly average, and two inches above the record high for January.

Preemptive measures by the Park District of Highland Park minimized the damage and protected our resident’s safety from the dangerous weekend storm. Most of the damage at the Park District’s four lakefront properties was limited to debris washing ashore in the powerful waves.  

At 4 pm on Friday, January 10, the Park District closed pedestrian and vehicular access to Rosewood Beach, Millard Beach, and Moraine Park based on predictions of 40- to 50-mile per hour wind gusts and extensive flooding along the lakefront. The City of Highland Park also closed Park Avenue Beach access.

Earlier last week, Park District crews moved the Park Avenue Boating Facility wooden hut further inland in anticipation of the winter storm. The hut sits typically on a small deck at the boat launch shoreline. The deck was washed away in the storm.

At Rosewood Beach, sand brought in this past October to protect structures along the Nature and Swimming Coves served its purpose. Rosewood’s parking lot, boardwalk, and other structures were not affected by the storm.

This week, our Parks staff is focusing on the cleanup following the storm, including clearing debris, including tree limbs, logs, and timbers in the north parking lot at Park Avenue Boating Facility. A fallen tree at the north end of Millard Beach was removed. Park District staff will continue removing debris at Rosewood Beach. Washed up logs, timbers, deck wood, and patio chair cushions have been removed thus far. Once the cleanup at Rosewood is completed and if waves stay calm, our Parks staff will return to Park Ave. to clean debris on the south beach near the Yacht Club.

The Park District of Highland Park Board of Commissioners adopted the 2020 budget of approximately $30.6 million at the
December 12, 2019 meeting.   The 2020 Budget reflects a continuation of the Park District’s commitment to maintain quality parks and facilities, continued efforts towards the completion of phase  one of the Park District’s comprehensive master plan, as well as the Park District’s fiscal philosophy of successfully striking a balance between exceeding our community’s expectations with respect to programs and facilities while operating in a fiscally responsible manner.

In preparation for the 2020 budget approval, the Park District reviewed the proposed budget at three public meetings including the Park Board Finance Committee meeting on October 25, 2019; the Park Board Workshop meeting on November 5, 2019; and a budget public hearing that preceded the Board meeting on December 12, 2019.  The 2020 Budget has been available for public review for the past 30 days at West Ridge Center, Recreation Center of Highland Park, the Highland Park Public Library and on the Park District website.  The adopted budget will be published and available on the Park District website in December 2019.

Highlights of the 2020 budget are:

“It is our goal to continue providing valuable programs and services to Highland Park residents that enrich community life through, accountable, ethical, and sustainable operational and long-term planning efforts,” said Brian Romes, executive director of the Park District of Highland Park.  “In the coming year, the Park District will continue aligning our GreenPrint 2024 Comprehensive Master Plan, five-year Capital Plan, 2016‐2020 Strategic Plan, and the 2020 Budget to ensure we continue exceeding resident and customers’ expectations by delivering extraordinary experiences within our parks and facilities.”

The Park District continues to maintain Moody’s Investor’s Service Aaa bond rating, based on its healthy reserve levels, favorable debt profile, and conservative revenue assumptions.   

At the December 12 Park Board Meeting, Executive Director Brian Romes discussed details of a meeting held on December 5 with the City of Highland Park and Park District staff, members of the Park Board, City Council, and the North Shore Yacht Club (NSYC) regarding the potential repair or replacement of the barge at Park Avenue. 

As a result of that meeting, the Park Board agreed to participate in a working group with members of the NSYC and assigned Commissioner Bernstein and Vice President Ruttenberg as the Board Liaisons. The working group will explore potential site improvements at Park Avenue. Lake Michigan is experiencing near record-high lake levels that are expected to continue rising in 2020. Additionally, storms with increased wave action have been occurring more frequently. These conditions have created challenges at all beachfront locations in Highland Park, as well as across all communities on the shores of Lake Michigan. High lake levels and increased storms put lakefront facilities and activities at risk. To assist with its planning efforts, the Park District will continue to work with the coastal engineering firm, SmithGroup. The working group will also explore potential improvements to the boating beach. 

The Park Board acknowledged the value Park Avenue Beach provides to Highland Park residents and will continue working with the City, NSYC, and the boating community on exploring options to preserve and improve this community asset. 

12/16/20 – Moody’s Investors Service has assigned a Aaa rating to Park District of Highland Park’s $6.5 million General Obligation Limited Tax Park Bonds, Series 2020.  Moody’s maintains the Aaa issuer rating and Aaa general obligation limited tax (GOLT) rating on the Park District’s outstanding bonds. Following the sale, the Park District will have $21.8 million in outstanding GOLT debt, all of which is rated by Moody’s.

The Park District’s issuer rating represents Moody’s assessment of the hypothetical debt of the Park District supported by a general obligation unlimited tax (GOULT) pledge. The Park District does not currently have any rated debt supported by a GOULT pledge.

RATINGS RATIONALE

The Park District’s Aaa rating reflects a large and affluent tax base, strong financial position further bolstered by additional liquidity within its capital projects funds and modest debt and pension burdens.

The absence of a distinction between the rating on the Park District’s GOLT debt and the issuer rating is based on the nature of the pledge, which is a first budget obligation payable from all available funds. Debt service is supported with a dedicated levy that is unlimited by rate but limited by the amount of the district’s debt service extension base (DSEB).

RATING OUTLOOK

Outlooks are usually not assigned to local governments with this amount of debt outstanding.

FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO A POTENTIAL DOWNGRADE

The Park District of Highland Park has been recognized as an Illinois Distinguished Accredited Agency by the Illinois Association of Park Districts (IAPD) and the Illinois Park and Recreation Association (IPRA).

The two statewide associations administer the Illinois Distinguished Accreditation program with the goal of improving the delivery of park and recreation services to Illinois residents. “Illinois is well known for having the best park districts, forest preserves, conservation, recreation and special recreation agencies in the nation,” said Peter Murphy, IAPD President and CEO. “The Illinois Distinguished Accreditation program provides an opportunity for these agencies to undergo a voluntary, comprehensive evaluation process to demonstrate that they have met state guidelines to provide exceptional park and recreation services to their community. The result is to improve the quality of life for Illinois residents.” 

“This program gives recognition to park and recreation agencies that go above and beyond in dedicating themselves to offering quality programs and services designed to fulfill their community’s needs,” said Debbie Trueblood, IPRA Executive Director.

A park district or recreation agency interested in applying for Distinguished Accredited Agency recognition undergoes a detailed, lengthy process of application and evaluation. A Joint Distinguished Park and Recreation Accreditation Committee (JDPRAC) comprised of members from IAPD and IPRA coordinates the process. “Agencies submit a self-evaluation and a formal letter requesting admission into the process,” said Mary Crout, IAPD Co-Chair of the JDPRAC. “If the committee determines the agency is eligible to continue the process, we send them an evaluation date.” 

According to Crout, on the day of the evaluation, the agency presents documented information and gives a tour of pertinent facilities and parks for the evaluation team’s review. The team reviews general management procedures, finance and business operations, facilities and parks, personnel, recreation services, legal documentation and other materials including mission statements, goals and safety manuals.

Upon completion of the evaluation, the agency is notified in writing of the official results within ten days. Agencies that have achieved Distinguished Accredited status are recognized with a plaque at the IAPD/IPRA Annual Conference Awards Luncheon in January. 

According to Park District Executive Director Brian Romes, achieving state accreditation brings benefits to the Park District and to the community. “Inviting outside review by experts from other leading agencies and comparisons to a set of industry standards improves the Park District of Highland Park’s effectiveness and efficiencies.” said Romes. 

The JDPRAC approved the Park District of Highland Park for Distinguished Accredited status in November 2018.  Ten areas were highlighted by the committee as outstanding for an agency including the Park District’s Sustainability Plan, Budget Development Process, Volunteer Recognition Program, and Safety Inspection Process. 

 In compliance with the program, the Park District of Highland Park will be re-evaluated in six years to verify that they have continued to demonstrate sound management practices in providing quality park and recreation services to the community.

 IAPD is a non-profit service, research and education organization that serves park districts, forest preserves, conservation and recreation agencies. The association advances these agencies, their citizen board members and professional staff in their ability to provide outstanding park and recreation opportunities, preserve natural resources and improve the quality of life for all people in Illinois. 

IPRA is a not-for-profit organization and public interest group who is an advocate in providing quality park, recreation and conservation education, resources and services to professionals and citizens throughout the state of Illinois.

Rosewood Beach is now open to the public.  The Park District closed the beach temporarily this fall to implement an emergency sand nourishment project at the Nature and Swimming Coves.  The project was necessary to protect Rosewood’s structures and parking lot from erosion caused by near record-high lake levels coupled with powerful early fall storms.   High lake levels have caused major damage to beaches all along the north shore.  

Sand was strategically placed along both coves with a steep grade at the water’s edge.The lake will continue flattening the newly placed material to create a more stable slope.  See illustration below (click to enlarge).

The Park District is working with Smith Group to analyze future lake level projections and long-term options to protect the beach.  According to the United States Army Corp Research and Development Center (USRDC) Lake Michigan hit its highest level for the year in July at 581.92 feet.  The USRDC predicts the lake level will be at 580.94 feet in January – 10.3 inches higher than the level in January 2019.  Over the course of the coming year, the lake could rise another 11 to 12 inches. 

12/2/19 – The Parks Foundation of Highland Park is pleased to announce it has received a $50,000 grant from the Wadsworth Golf Charities Foundation. These funds will be used to support construction of the Youth Golf Development and Short Game Center at Sunset Valley Golf Club.

This new learning facility at the recently renovated Sunset Valley Golf Club will offer a welcoming environment where young people can practice the game of golf while learning the qualities of discipline, fairness, and patience embodied by the sport. The Center will allow young golfers to develop skills in short game fundamentals, including short shots from bunkers, fairways, and roughs. Through lessons, summer camps, junior leagues, and local team practices, the site will encourage youth to improve their game and sports etiquette among seasoned players and professionals at an award-winning park district course. The Parks Foundation is proud to spearhead funding for this state-of-the-art facility typically found only at private clubs, and to further its mission of making world-class outdoor and recreational opportunities accessible to all community members.

“We are grateful that the Wadsworth Foundation recognizes the importance of our effort to establish the Youth Golf Development and Short Game Center,” said Parks Foundation Board President Bob Bernstein. “The Parks Foundation supports the Park District of Highland Park mission to enrich community life through healthy leisure pursuits and an appreciation of the natural world. That includes carrying on Sunset Valley’s tradition of being the primary center for generations of Highland Park and Highwood residents to learn and love the game of golf.”

The Wadsworth Foundation grant adds to the nearly $175,000 generously committed by the community to date toward an estimated total project cost of $200,000. The Parks Foundations actively seeks additional donations to complete the project and invites the public to chip in by buying a brick or contributing at https://pfhpil.aplos.org/Playitforward

The Parks Foundation of Highland Park believes every resident deserves the opportunity for an enriched healthy life. It provides the resources necessary for everyone in our community to have access to the benefits of our world-class park district and contributes to enduring legacies within the community for future generations. The Parks Foundation of Highland Park is an independent, community-led, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. For more information, visit https://pfhpil.aplos.org/

The Wadsworth Golf Charities Foundation is dedicated to improving communities through the embodiment of the moral, ethical and cultural codes of the game of golf. The Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, seeks to make golf and the character-building attributes of the game more accessible to more people, with the ultimate goal of not only enhancing lives but helping to build stronger communities. For more information, visit http://www.wadsworthgolffoundation.org/