Recreational opportunities for people with special needs in Waukegan, Mundelein and Vernon Hills are getting a boost in part from $1.8 million in grants from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (OSLAD).
The Waukegan, Mundelein and Vernon Hills park districts each received a $600,000 OSLAD grant from the State of Illinois early this year which will be used to improve park lands, with some of the funds earmarked to provide facilities for individuals with special needs.
Quincy Bejster, the director of parks for the Waukegan Park District, said its $600,000 grant will be used to help fund the $1.71 million project starting this year to make the playground at Roosevelt Park — the city’s oldest — universal.
“This is our first fully universal playground,” Bejster said. “It removes all physical, emotional and social barriers to play and recreation. All people of all ages and abilities can play together. We’re very excited about this.”
Ron Salski, the executive director of the Mundelein Park District, said a portion of his organization’s $600,000 OSLAD grant will go toward a paved pad that will be used for a refrigerated ice rink in the winter, and a wheelchair football facility the rest of the year.
Most park playgrounds in Waukegan have some inclusive features, but none are 100% equipped for people with special needs. Bejster said even the play tower, with its slides and ramps, is accessible for children of differing abilities to play together.
“The playground will have a Pour-In-Place or artificial turf surface which works with a wheelchair,” he said. “The play tower will have a wheelchair-accessible ramp, or a transfer station where someone can get off and advance to the next level.”
Adjacent to the Park District’s Adaptive Recreation Center which opened in October of 2023, Bejster said the universal playground at Roosevelt Park is a natural location for the city’s first fully inclusive park.
“It’s an ideal location,” he said. “People can move between the Adaptive Recreation Center to the playground, and will be able to use both. People with different abilities will be able to play side by side.”
Though conceptual planning for Roosevelt Park began last summer, Bejster said the intent was to secure as much as $600,000 from an OSLAD grant. The remaining money will come from Park District funds.
With the funding now secure, Bejster said the design phase of the project will start this spring, with work starting next spring and completion planned for the fall of 2026.
In Mundelein, Salski said there are two recreation centers located in Keith Mione Community Park, approximately 200 yards apart. Now people walk over grass to travel between them, but part of the $600,000 OSLAD grant will go toward an asphalt path connecting the two.
“It will allow people to walk safely between the two facilities,” Salski said. “It enhances safety and is environmentally friendly.”
Along the path will be a pad for the refrigerated ice rink which will be the location for the wheelchair football field in the non-winter months. Now the ice rink is on a grass surface. The pad will ease maintenance.
“There is a real demand for wheelchair football right now,” Salski said. “It will be easier to keep it frozen,” he added, referring to putting the ice rink on a pad.
A shelter will also be built along the path, Salski said.
Matt LaPorte, the executive director of the Vernon Hills Park District, said the $600,000 OSLAD grant will be used for a variety of needs at Grosse Pointe Park, from renovating athletic fields to a new outdoor shelter that will be fully accessible.
Baseball fields will have new dugouts, and there will be shade coverings installed for spectators. LaPorte said the restrooms will be renovated and open all year. Fitness stations will be installed along a walking path, and some will be fully accessible.
At one time, the state considered moving OSLAD funds to a different account. State Sen. Adriane Johnson, D-Buffalo Grove, said in a text she advanced successful legislation to protect the money.
“By safeguarding OSLAD funding, we are securing long-term investments in parks that strengthen our communities, create jobs, and enhance the quality of life for generations to come,” Johnson said in the text.
