The Aurora City Council recently approved accepting a $600,000 grant from the state for improvements at Garfield Park on the city’s East Side.
The money is coming from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development, or OSLAD, grant program.
The park in the Pigeon Hill neighborhood is considered one of the city’s legacy parks, along with places such as Phillips Park and McCarty Park.
City officials applied for the grant about a year ago, to put toward improvements that could include a new playground, inclusive play equipment, a splash pad, pickleball courts, street soccer courts, combination turf fields as well as an ADA accessible field, additional parking, a new walking path, bathrooms, a new shelter, signage and more.
The park currently has a playground, baseball fields, a shelter and a gravel parking lot.
Officials estimate the OSLAD grant will cover about half of the cost of renovations and improvements.
The city has published requests for queries about design and project management of the proposed improvements, and the responses the city has gotten are currently being evaluated.
The results would eventually be brought to the City Council for approval. City officials are anticipating beginning the work sometime in 2025.
slord@tribpub.com
