Friday, October 17, 2003 11:03 AM CDT
New park under construction west of Lake Charleston
BY ROB STROUD, Staff Writer
CHARLESTON -- As motorists approach the city from the south on Illinois Route 130, they might notice a gravel drive leading up a small, but steep hill near the Charleston welcome sign.
What they cannot see is that beyond the hill, the city has started construction on a new park that is part of the 206-acre Woodyard Conservation Area along the west side of Lake Charleston.
Curt Devore, parks and maintenance superintendent, said the work started two weeks ago when Ne-Co Asphalt Co. of Charleston created a gravel parking lot for the conservation area's 5.69-acre park, property that was once farmland.
A $240,000 donation the late Dorothy Woodyard of Sonoma, Calif., made in memory of her parents, Lincoln and Iva Woodyard of Charleston, helped the city establish the conservation area in January.
Devore said Dorothy Woodyard stipulated she wanted her donation to help create an area where people could relax in a quiet, natural setting.
That setting will be embodied by the area around a planned granite memorial to the Woodyards. Devore said the city has begun using dirt from the parking lot to partially ring the area with earthen berms and will also likely plant native trees around it.
"When you're are sitting at the memorial, you will feel like you are enclosed," Devore said. Pine trees may be used to provide screening between the park itself and Route 16, he said.
Parks and Recreation Director Scott Smith, also interim city manager, said once the city gets the necessary permits from the Illinois Department of Transportation, he would like to extend electrical and water lines to the park this fall.
Smith said he would also like to start construction on the park's rest-room building soon, weather permitting.
"I'm optimistic, but I realize that the weather might not allow us to proceed much further," Smith said. He hopes to formally dedicate the park on June 1, but people may be able to use its facilities before then.
The park will ultimately include a less-steep entrance off Route 130, an asphalt drive and 10-space parking lot, concrete walkways leading to the memorial and three covered picnic tables, and a trail that will eventually connect to the trails at Lake View Park on East McKinley Avenue.
Devore said the city will not start the new trail until after the lengthy construction process for the city's new water treatment plant is completed. He said the trail may need steps and bridges to help hikers traverse the hilly, wooded terrain.
Dorothy Woodyard's donation and a $272,217 grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources helped the city acquire the 206 acres.
The city has agreed to maintain the land in its natural state as a conservation area, thereby protecting the lake and its watershed from development.
"This is a beautiful, native forest," Devore said of the woods surrounding the park.
Contact Rob Stroud at rstroud@jg-tc.com or 348-5734.
Add your comments
Not already registered?
Then click Here.
Comment policy:
JG-TC.com encourages readers to engage in civil conversation with their neighbors. Comments that are submitted are not posted to the site immediately. They go into a queue to be moderated and may take several hours to be reviewed. Comments posted on Saturday may not be reviewed until Sunday afternoon.
In order to keep the page a set width, long lines (mostly long links) will be chopped. Try putting spaces in your links or consider using tinyurl.com to make a smaller link that you can include.
We will never edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to remove comments that violate our code of conduct.
No comment may contain:
* Potentially libelous statements; such as accusing somebody of a crime, defamation of character, or statements that can harm somebody's reputation.
* Obscene, explicit, or racist language.
* Personal attacks, insults, threats, harassment or inciting violence.
* Commercial product promotions.
If you have any questions, please contact our moderator.
|
|
CLICK TO ENLARGE
|
|
|
