After 20 hours of work, Girl Scout Troop 75749 constructed two bat houses and a bird house and presented them to the Manhattan Park District at their board meeting on September 11.
In their presentation, the scouts explained how they learned about the animals, what color to paint the houses, and how to construct them. The bat houses will be placed at Round Barn Farm Park, intended to help the displaced bats who had left during barn renovation, and the bird house will be placed at Central Park.
The troop also planted several trees at Round Barn Farm Park.
“I just want to say, on behalf of the park district and board, thank you so much for your work and your effort towards the boxes and, obviously, your continued support of the park district,” Executive Director Jay Kelly said to the troop.
“We realize this was a project for you, but thinking of the park district and how you can improve your community, that’s very thoughtful and civic-minded. Never give that up. Thank you for all of your efforts,” Kelly added. Board President Bridget Hope also echoed Kelly’s sentiments.
Considering the Possibilities: Sports Complex Adjacent to Round Barn Farm
The board engaged in considerable discussion regarding the potential for a sports complex or recreation center after the property owner of a 10-acre parcel adjacent to Round Barn Farm proposed a development idea.
The board had the option to take action on the agenda item, a resolution to approve an architectural site plan with Arete Design Studio, but ultimately, they decided to table any action until the next board meeting.
An architectural site plan would lay out what possibilities exist in terms of a recreation center/sports complex on that property, how much parking would be available, and retention.
However, the site plan would be a rudimentary schematic, Kelly explained. He emphasized it wouldn’t be as developed as an architectural plan, as any architecture and engineering work would come much, much later in the process, if the project were to be approved.
“I just want to remind everybody, the site plan is simply seeing – this is a piece of property, what could potentially go on this property, a building, a field? What could potentially go on this property?” Kelly said.
“I don’t want the community to get upset that, for one, we’re going to have this thing – because we don’t know. We’re a long way from that. So, I just don’t want to get people’s hopes up because there is a lot to figure out,” Kelly added.
Approving a site plan would be the first step toward exploring the option to see if it would be something that would be beneficial for the park district – a feasibility study would still need to be conducted to determine if it would be profitable and economically responsible, and there would be a lot of work that would need to be done before a project of that scale could be considered.
“I think it’s worth a good faith effort to do a site plan and look at it,” Board member Ed Ludwig explained, expressing he would be interested in learning what possibilities exist, though he did want the cost of the site plan to be shared.
Board member Kristy Byers inquired how fast the developer would want to move forward if the site plan came back favorable. Kelly explained nothing would happen fast, and he wouldn’t anticipate anything happening in 2026. The site plan probably wouldn’t be completed before the end of this year, and then the feasibility study would have to be conducted, negotiate the lease, and more, he explained.
“We have a lot of acreage that we own, the park district owns – the taxpayers own – of their own property. If it was $5,000, $2,500, if it was $100,000, it’s too much. It’s not our property. If they want us to even think about putting into it, they should do the site study. They should pay it,” Board member Joe Farkas said, indicating he was opposed to paying anything toward a site plan, because the park district already has property they could use.
Byers expressed reservations about this project taking away from what’s happening at Round Barn Farm, and pondered whether people would want to look at a rec center on that property.
“How is the community going to take that? We’re building a million-dollar, beautiful venue, open area with trees, and then there’s a pole barn in the back because that’s essentially what they all look like,” Byers questioned.
Kelly reiterated the site plan would allow them to explore possibilities. It could come back that there wouldn’t be anything desirable, or it could come back as something the board could see as beneficial. Ultimately, it’s whether the board wanted to spend the $2,500 to find out.
Hope added she thought it was worthy of a discussion, but no action needed to be taken at that meeting. She also asked Board member Nick Goodwin if he had any input before they tabled it; he did not. Goodwin briefly said he barely had a voice after being sick the past week.
Kelly had intended to meet with the developer in advance of the meeting, but was unable to do so and, as such, he wasn’t able to pitch a proposal to split the $5,000 cost for the site plan to the developer.
A meeting was set up just before the board meeting, and Kelly advised he would keep the board apprised of the outcome. Regardless of how Kelly’s meeting goes, the board still would need to approve or deny any proposal for a site plan.
Other Park District News
After several members in the community requested a park bench at Central Park, the park district heeded the call and installed one. In other Central Park news, the district has shut down the Splash Pad for the season, and new bathroom doors are on order to replace the ones that had been vandalized.
The dog park is popular, with 203 passes having been processed at the time of the meeting. The district still is working out some issues with the gate and hopes to have them resolved soon.
Program registration is going well, and the park district will be offering indoor pickleball at Wilson Creek.
Disc Golf will be returning to Round Barn Farm, though with a 9-hole course. Kelly explained they have it all laid out, and it will be one basket per hole, but the paths limited them from making it larger. Still, Kelly felt it would be a nice course for disc golfers to enjoy.
PDRMA park district risk assessment organization visited the district with a few recommendations. The district also established a safety committee as recommended by PDRMA.
A representative from LWSRA will attend the October meeting to go over what they offer to participating districts. Also coming up at the end of October will be the popular Trick-or-Treat Trail on October 25.
Ivanhoe Park’s playground is going in, and paint will soon be going on the Round Barn. Prairie seed will be added to the trails in White Feather, though only on the park side not the homeowner side, which will be seeded with regular grass that will be mowed.
Stephanie Irvine is a freelance reporter.