Elk Grove Park District

Survey: One in five rates Park District facilities as excellent

Herald-Whig Staff Writer

Usage of city parks in Quincy is above both state and national norms, but only about one in five of those who are using the facilities rate their condition as "excellent."

That finding was part of a glimpse of the recently completed community survey shown to members of the Quincy Park District Board of Commissioners and other district officials Wednesday night. The survey was conducted earlier this spring by Leisure Vision, a division of ETC Institute, of Olathe, Kan. The survey, which cost $16,500, will aid the Park District in formulating its first Comprehensive Plan for the community since 2005.

"It takes courage to look at yourself like this," Ron Vine, president of Leisure Vision, said as he briefed the board on his firm's findings.

The overview of the survey provided by Vine gave the district high marks overall, but it also showed areas where the public believes attention is needed.

"This provides us with a real opportunity to address multiple needs ... and achieve a positive end result," Dan Gibble, second-year executive director of the Park District, said. "The survey was conducted to establish priorities and support for the future development of parks, trails, recreation facilities, programs and services within the community."

Leisure Vision has done similar work for cities in 47 states, including Illinois park districts in Northbrook, Lake Bluff, Elk Grove, Wheeling, Gurnee, Schaumburg, Champaign, Urbana, Hoffman Estates, Woodridge, Glenview and Geneva.

Roughly 2,000 questionnaire packets were sent to random citizens in each of the city's four geographical sectors. That followed Leisure Vision officials meeting with four separate focus groups, which also represented the four areas of the city.

Nearly 95 percent of the respondents indicated they had visited city parks at least once in the past year, which is considerably higher than the national benchmark of 72 percent and the Illinois average of 77 percent.

While the visitation of parks is high, just 21 percent of those who said they had been to a park in the previous 12 months rated the condition of the facilities as "excellent." That is lower than the national percentage of 30 and the Illinois average of 38.

Other findings discussed Wednesday were:

º Overall satisfaction and value received from the Park District is high and well above the national and state trends.

Elk Grove Park District Awarded OSLAD Grant — Elk Grove Village ...

Fountain Square Park was originally built in 1993. It was considered a state of the art park featuring the first splash play equipment in the area. The Elk Grove parks are updated on a planned schedule and the district has made basic improvements to Fountain Square Park. In order to completely renovate and install new water features in the park the District needed the grant money to make it possible. While the district optimistically anticipated the grant money the planning for the renovation has gone on over the past year. The residents in the Fountain Square neighborhood have actively met with Park District staff to give their input on new features and improvements. Until the announcement by the IDNR and the Governor the District had conceded that the water features and redevelopment were not going to be possible. The announcement of the grant was met with gratitude from the Elk Grove Park District staff and the Park Board of Commissioners. The Fountain Square Park renovation will be a great destination for the residents of Elk Grove Village.

Recreation and parks, the leisure behavior, attitudes, and interests of the citizens of Elk Grove Village, Illinois, A study conducted for the Elk Grove Park District

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