ADVOCACY
Friends of Wheaton Parks is primarily engaged in advocacy in support of Wheaton Park District parks, facilities and programming, as well as improvements to access. We will endorse and support candidates for Wheaton Park District Park Commissioner who share our values. You may read our positions on public issues and candidates on this page.
WHY ADVOCATE ON BEHALF OF WHEATON PARKS?
(PART II)
Our Position:
As former Wheaton Park District, CUSD 200, and Wheaton City Government elected officials, we appreciate collaboration between units of local government. We believe the taxpayers are better served when the various government entities cooperate, rather than when they are at each other’s throats. It also pays to partner with community non-government organizations. In our opinion, the Wheaton Park District excels at both. Some examples are:
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The WPD and DuPage County partner in maintaining the DuPage Historical Museum. The county owns the building, while the park district operates it. The two entities created an Inter-governmental Agreement that calls for cost splitting and the creation of a foundation to raise money to cover expenses. The WPD and county each appoint members to the foundation board. This joint venture has saved DuPage history for future generations to explore.
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The WPD and DuPage County Forest Preserve worked to reclaim wetlands that had been neglected and to save them from development. This multi-year project resulted in the creation of Lincoln Marsh, 150 acres of wetlands that play a vital role in stormwater retention and contribute to a healthier ecology
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Just up the road, at Cosley Zoo, the park district and forest preserve also partner in the restoration of Blandings turtles. This native Illinois species is endangered. At the Zoo, staff raise the turtles from hatchlings until they are ready to be introduced in the wild. Each turtle has a chip implanted so that biologists may keep track of it in the wild. When the turtles are ready, forest preserve staff releases them in their natural habitat throughout the county.
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For more than a decade, the WPD and the City of Wheaton have partnered in our Fourth of July festivities, including the July 3 fireworks and the July 4 parade. Park district staff plan and execute the various events, while the city provides funding.
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The park district plays host to the City of Wheaton Municipal Band at Memorial Park for their summer concert series. The new bandshell was designed to provide the band with permanent storage space, and they perform there with no rental expense.
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Community Unit School District 200 also has an Inter-governmental Agreement with WPD. The agreement allows the park district to use school property in off hours to provide space for some of its programming and athletics. In exchange, the park district provides maintenance for some of the school grounds near parks. CUSD 200 student golf teams and their opponents enjoy the use of Arrowhead Golf Course for home matches, at no cost.
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Since 2012, WPD has collaborated with the Wheaton Lions Club to put on the Reindeer Run, a 5k race held the first Saturday in December each year. The event brings more than 1,000 participants to Downtown Wheaton and helps to fill shops and restaurants both before and after the race. Through entry fees and the solicitation of sponsorships, the event raises tens of thousands of dollars every year for the support of local charities.
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The park district partners with Wheaton AM Rotary on the annual Superhero Fun Run (formerly the Color Run.). Again, the race raises money for local charities.
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By hosting the annual Brew Fest in Memorial Park, WPD collaborated with CASA of DuPage, a nonprofit that trains advocates for abused children who have become participants in the DuPage court system. The proceeds of the event helped to fund training of child advocates.
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The Wheaton Chamber of Commerce and park district jointly operate the annual Cream of Wheaton, a four-day festival of carnival rides, food, beer garden, and live music. The event represents the largest fundraiser for the chamber and helps to support the Wheaton business community.
These collaborations result in a better quality of life for residents, financial support for nonprofits engaged in noble work, and help to foster a sense of community spirit throughout the city and park district. We support these efforts, and will advocate for Park Commissioner candidates who do, as well.
WHY ADVOCATE ON BEHALF OF WHEATON PARKS?(PART I)
Our Position:
The Wheaton Park District is, in our opinion, the best park district in DuPage County. It offers the most variety of programming, best-in-class facilities, and 54 parks covering 829 acres. For $0.08 of your tax bill dollar, the Wheaton Park District delivers value.
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Various studies show parks adding anywhere from 1.5% to as much as 20% to your home’s value.
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A robust park district, with a variety of programming and activities enhances a community’s attractiveness to potential home buyers.
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The Wheaton Park District is home to Wheaton Rams’ Football, soccer, lacrosse, baseball, cheerleading, Safety City, theater at the Community Center, art classes, golf, summer camps, pre-school, two swimming pools, a zoo, and so much more. Young couples forming families seek out communities that offer what we have here.
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Wheaton Parks are designed to aid in storm water retention, most notably North Side Park, Lincoln Marsh, and Dorset Park. Our park system reduces flooding!
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A 2018 Money Magazine article named Wheaton as the top city in which to live in Illinois. What were two of the main reasons cited in the article? DuPage Historical Museum and Cosley Zoo, both park district facilities.
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With the number of activities offered by the park district, it hires hundreds of part-time workers throughout the year, most particularly during the summer. Lifeguards, concession stand workers, golf cart attendants, hostesses, bus boys, camp counselors, etc. The Wheaton Park District is the FIRST employer of many area youths just entering the work force, meaning our tax dollars are invested back in the community.
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Central Athletic Complex hosts not only gyms and baseball/softball fields, but from Thanksgiving until February, two sheets of chilled outdoor ice, which can stay frozen even when the temperature gets above freezing.
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Arrowhead Golf Course is a best-in-class golf course. Golfpass.com gives the course a rating of 4.7 stars out of 5. The bar, restaurant, and banquet facilities on site are all top notch as well.
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The Community Center offers a theater, meeting rooms, pre-school, an indoor track, and newly renovated Parks Plus Fitness and locker rooms.
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Come summertime, the pools at Rice Lake and North Side Park are full of happy families enjoying the sun and water.
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Memorial Park, the park district’s oldest park, was renovated in 2020. The war memorial and doughboy statue are proudly displayed and are the site of annual September 11 and Veteran’s Day ceremonies. The brand new bandshell is an amazing facility and helps to attract performers for the summer concert series. Concerts regularly draw more than 1,000 music aficionados. The bandshell was designed to provide permanent storage space for the Wheaton Municipal Band, which uses the facility free of rent for their Thursday night summer concerts.
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Cosley Zoo, on the city’s north side, is an Association of Zoos & Aquariums accredited zoo, putting it in the top ten percent of similar facilities. The zoo drew 157,000 visitors in 2023 and has only become more popular as the zoo has improved. There are no other AZA accredited zoos in DuPage County.
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DuPage Historical Museum is a collaboration between the Wheaton Park District and the County of DuPage. The museum holds thousands of artifacts representing the history of our county going back more than 150 years. The model train display and miniature buildings have been delighting visitors for years.
Again, all this for $0.08 of your tax bill dollar. Value delivered for Wheaton Park District residents, and we believe it is well worth advocation for.
ADVISORY REFERENDUM REGARDING COSLEY PARKING LOT
Update: The Wheaton City Council voted on July 15, 2024 to approve the Special Use Permit for the Wheaton Park District to build a 93-space parking lot on the east side of Gary Avenue across from Cosley Zoo.
Our Position:
While out and about in town, we have had many conversations with community members about the advisory referendum regarding the Cosley Zoo parking lot. We have encountered a wide variety of opinions, but one thing is clear: the referendum petition drive has created much confusion.
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Where do we stand?
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First, and some people have been confused by this, instead of a government sponsored referendum, this one has been driven by the parking lot objectors. (See our position paper on the parking lot project.) The objectors hope to deny the Park District and the public the use of property that was purchased with taxpayer and Cosley donor money to build a parking lot.
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Second, some of the confusion goes back to the language of the referendum. It reads as follows:
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“Should the Wheaton City Council allow the Wheaton Park District to build a new parking lot across the street from the Cosley Zoo (east side of Gary Avenue), which was originally proposed as part of the Park Districts $49.4 million (in 2015 dollars) 2017 Master Plan to expand the Zoo to accommodate over 300,000 visitors per year?”
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The Cosley Zoo Master Plan was a document prepared by Zoo staff, Park District staff, and members of the Cosley Zoo Foundation. It contained a plethora of ideas, some of them intriguing, and others that were a stretch. The Foundation hoped to raise funds to pursue some of the ideas. In February, 2024, the Park Board (in our opinion, wisely) rescinded the Master Plan. In the resolution rescinding it, the Park Board stated that among the reasons for doing so was that an appraisal of the Foundation’s fundraising capacity determined that the goals laid out in the Plan were not realistic.
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So if the Park Board rescinded the Master Plan in February, well before the petition drive began, why is it referenced in the referendum language? It seems to us, the referendum is carefully worded to imply that the parking lot is part of a large expansion of the Zoo, which would cost taxpayers $49.4 million, without quite saying that. The hope, of course, is to alarm voters and achieve the desired “no” vote.
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However carefully worded, the referendum runs afoul of the facts when it reads “…to build a new parking lot across from the Cosley Zoo (east side of Gary Avenue), which was originally proposed as part of the Park District…2017 Master Plan…” (Italics and ellipses added.)
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That is not so. The Master Plan design called for a 340 space parking lot, with a pedestrian tunnel, on the east side of Gary, to allow for the Zoo’s footprint to expand into the west side parking lot by building new exhibits there. This does not resemble the project that is currently awaiting City approval. The pending project, which will replace the current 30 space employee lot on the east side, offers a net gain of 63 spaces, with pedestrian crossing at a new stoplight at Prairie & Gary. The conditions set forth via the Planning and Zoning Board, require that Zoo employees park in the new lot, as well as Park District Prairie Avenue Building employees during the Zoo’s busiest months. By design, the new lot cannot replace the west parking lot. In fact, it opens more public parking on the west side, in the Prairie Avenue lot. The current project is a much more modest expansion of parking, with nothing of the size, scope & expense of the Master Plan proposal.
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Third, the rest of the confusion can be tied back to the rhetoric of those collecting signatures for the referendum petition. The feedback we have received from people is that they were told that the parking project would lead to a (nonexistent) expensive taxpayer funded expansion of the Zoo, that the lot cost more than double what it will while only adding a handful of parking spaces, and that somehow, a lot constructed with Cosley Foundation donor money will cause taxes to rise.
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There is a rhetorical gambit called a “parade of horribles.” It is employed when a speaker argues against a particular action by listing a parade of horrible events that will follow. This rhetoric is meant to evoke an emotional response from the listener, rather than a reasoned response that would judge the events as low probability, or even non-existent. In our opinion, that is what has been encountered here, and we reject the fallacy.
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There is no way to tell just how many signatures were gathered from citizens who were lead to believe things that just aren’t so.
On May 29, just prior to the Planning & Zoning Board voting 5-0 to recommend approval of the special use permit for the new parking lot, Mr. Tebrugge, the Wheaton City Engineer, said due to the construction mess, “having the two projects (Gary Avenue widening and Cosley Zoo Employee/Overflow Parking Lot) constructed at the same time would be a public benefit.” We concur. On July 1, the City Council voted 5-1 to direct the City Attorney to draft a special use permit to be voted on July 15. Our position is that the City should approve it without delay, and the Park District should undertake construction of the new parking lot as immediately as possible. This will render the referendum moot. But then again, it rendered itself moot by describing a project that the objectors would prefer to argue against, rather than the project that exists.
COSLEY EMPLOYEE/OVERFLOW PARKING LOT PROJECT
Update: The Wheaton City Council voted on July 15, 2024 to approve the Special Use Permit for the Wheaton Park District to build a 93-space parking lot on the east side of Gary Avenue across from Cosley Zoo.
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Our position:
Should the Wheaton City Council approve a special use permit for the Wheaton Park District to construct a 93 space employee/overflow parking lot on the east side of Gary Avenue? Let us address the issue.
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First, Cosley Zoo needs more parking. Of that, there is little doubt. Set aside the fact that Zoo personnel have kept a record for the past 8 years and have documented that the parking lot fills up over 100 days per year. Let’s examine this with our own eyes.
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If Cosley does indeed suffer from too little parking, we would expect to see a pattern over time of the Park District attempting to solve the problem. And indeed we have. The record:
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In 2000, the Park Board approved the construction of a 30 space employee parking lot on the east side of Gary. The approval came over the strenuous objection of neighbors. Keep in mind, the Park Board that approved the project was an entirely different group of individuals than the current board, and this was two Executive Directors ago. Attendance at the Zoo in 2000 was 100,000.
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In 2009, the Park Board approved the construction of additional parking on the west side of Gary, what we will call the South Annex to the old lot. This added 25 spaces on the west side to the already existing 55 spaces.
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In 2012, the Park District acquired the Prairie Avenue Building directly south of the Zoo. In addition to providing the District with office space for Finance, HR, IT, and Zoo employees, the building’s parking lot was reconfigured to allow for Zoo parking on weekends when there are no employees in the building.
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In 2015, the Park District began condemnation of the Williams property on the east side of Gary. The stated reason for acquiring the property was to make way for a parking lot at some future date.
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In 2024, the Park Board submitted a request for zoning relief (special use permit) to the City of Wheaton to construct a 93 space lot on the east side of Gary, which will constitute a gain of 63 spaces, as the new lot will replace the 30 space employee lot. This new employee/overflow lot will not only park Zoo employees, but also the Prairie Building Park District employees during the Zoo’s busiest times of the year. In 2023, the number of annual Zoo visitors had risen to 157,000.
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On May 29, 2024, after 5 meetings and 20 hours of testimony, much of it by neighbors opposing the parking lot project, the Planning & Zoning Board advised the City of Wheaton to approve the special use permit by a 5-0 vote. The issue goes before the City Council in July for a final decision.
This is a clear, consistent pattern over more than two decades of the Park District incrementally addressing a chronic parking problem. A Park District that has, by the way, entirely turned over the members of the Park Board and Executive leadership during that timeframe. Different people, different projects, but the same parking problem.
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Second, the proposed project provides a safe way to use the employee/overflow lot. Much of the Planning & Zoning objector testimony centered on the safety of crossing Gary Avenue at a new stoplight at Prairie & Gary. Objectors testified that Cosley Zoo’s since-rescinded Master Plan called for a pedestrian underpass or bridge out of safety concerns, but the Park District decided to ignore the concerns for monetary reasons. This claim is ahistorical. At the time the Master Plan was compiled, Park District Staff consulted with the City of Wheaton as to whether a stoplight could be put in at the Zoo’s entrance. The City said no, and pedestrians could not cross Gary without a light. Hence the Master Plan illustrating either a tunnel or overpass. Only after the Master Plan’s completion did the City make plans to widen Gary Avenue and put a stoplight and crosswalk at Prairie & Gary. This project is meant to improve bicycle and pedestrian access to the Wheaton Sport Center, as well as the neighborhoods around the Zoo, and it is being completed whether or not the new parking lot is built. Furthermore, the Park District does not set the safety standard for pedestrian crosswalks – IDOT does! These signalized crosswalks are deemed safe, and indeed, anyone reading this has used such a crosswalk more times than they can count. Since the current 30 space employee lot is directly across Gary from the Zoo entrance, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, and human nature being what it is, employees habitually cross Gary midstream. The new, fenced parking lot will funnel employees and visitors alike to a signalized crosswalk and therefore, in our opinion, represents an improvement to life safety.
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Third, and finally, Cosley Zoo is blessed to have the wonderful volunteers of the Cosley Foundation, who give freely of their time, talent and treasure. Through diligent fundraising, the Foundation has secured enough in donations targeted to a new parking lot, that the entire cost of construction will be paid for with private funds. Claims by the objectors that the parking lot project will cause a rise in taxes are unfounded.
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In conclusion, we believe that Cosley Zoo needs more parking, that the signalized crosswalk at Prairie & Gary makes the east side location ideal, and that the Park District can fund the construction of the new lot without the use of tax money. On May 29, the Wheaton Planning & Zoning Board voted 5-0 to recommend approval of the special use permit, and on July 1, the City Council voted 5-1 to direct the City Attorney to draw up an ordinance granting the special use. A vote on the ordinance will be held July 15. We support the employee/overflow parking lot project, and we urge the City Council to approve the special use permit.