The Naperville Park District’s plan to build a new activity center won’t be held up by suspension of state funding announced Wednesday by Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner’s office, officials said.
The agency, along with the Fox Valley and West Chicago park districts, received $7 million in state funds as part of a $26 million statewide round of Park and Recreation Construction grants announced last July by then-Gov. Pat Quinn. Naperville had earmarked its $2.5 million gift for the activity center the agency already was planning to build at Quincy Avenue and Fort Hill Drive.
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Rauner this week suspended indefinitely the park construction grants. According to Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly, the governor’s office “is taking actions necessary to address the fiscal crisis that the governor inherited.” Democrats in the General Assembly made an attempt to build revenue through a renewal of the temporary state income tax, but the initiative fell short and the increase lapsed Jan. 1.
Ray McGury, the Park District’s executive director, said in a prepared statement that work toward the 80,000-square-foot, $23 million activity center will proceed despite the loss of state support. The Board of Commissioners approved the plans, including arrangements for financing the project, in 2013.
“While we greatly appreciated being a recipient of the PARC grant, our project never hinged on it,” McGury said in the statement. “The Activity Center initiative started well before the PARC grant application process was announced. Furthermore, the Park District has adequate financial reserves and flexibility to move other projects to accommodate the potential loss of the grant.”
McGury has said that the Park District, which currently has just 8,000 square feet of indoor recreation space, applies for the state construction money every year and was not expecting the award announcement last summer.
The Park Board was scheduled to discuss the project’s funding at its Thursday night meeting.
Associated Press contributed to this story