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World's Fair project- By David Kenney Late in June, as its session was nearing a close, the Illinois General Assembly approved a "World's Fair Package" which authorized a program of funding preparations for the proposed 1992 Chicago World's Fair. Among other projects, the General Assembly wished to make State parks as complete as possible for receiving World's Fair visitors. That is a commendable goal, especially since the improvements which are contemplated will also be available for public use before the Fair begins and long after it has ended. Basically, the parks program which the General Assembly authorized comprised annual funding of $10 million until 1992. These monies will come from a tourism fund derived from the hotel/motel tax and sales tax upon soft drinks plus $21 million for the improvement of park and park access roads funded from the gasoline tax. The first annual appropriation of $10 million was enacted for expenditure during the current fiscal year which will end next June 30.
On Sept. 27, Gov. James R. Thompson flew about the State from Chicago, making stops at Rockford, Peoria, Giant City State Park and Cahokia Mounds Historic Site, to announce details of the parks improvement package. The Governor was involved in the initial discussions when the concept of the package was developed. He has continued to be a strong supporter of the concept, approving a plan to allow the program to be initiated upon a broad front. Rather than to initiate projects only at an annual rate of $10 million, Thompson has given his approval to the use of $20 million in bond funds in this fiscal year and another $20 million during the next. This is in addition to the current appropriation of $10 million and an expected appropriation of a like amount for the next fiscal year. Thereafter, a portion of the annual $10 million would be expended for the retirement of the $40 million dollars in bond funds which will be obligated during the first two years of the program. With that plan, the broadest possible start can be made, even though some of the larger projects may require two to three years for completion. The $80 million for park and conservation area improvements, aside from road projects, has been divided
Illinois Parks and Recreation 12 November/December 1984 into several broad categories:
• lodge improvements and new lodges, $30.7 million, Improvements are planned for each of the existing State park lodges, with the most ambitious undertaking at Pere Marquette. There planning and design are already under way. Giant City, Starved Rock, White Pines and Illinois Beach lodges will also be modernized and, in some cases, enlarged. Such amenities as swimming pools and conference and banquet rooms will be added.
It is hoped that new resort complexes can be built at Rock Cut State Park and at one of the two parks at Shelbyville Lake. Lodge facilities are planned at Lincoln's New Salem. At these locations it is hoped that significant amounts of private investment can be secured. Golf courses are a possibility at Rock Cut and Shelbyville Lake. The accessibility of private investment will have much to do with final plans at those locations. The addition of cottages at Cave-In-Rock State Park is also within the plan. The improvement of cultural resources in park settings is most dramatically represented by planning for a new museum at Cahokia Mounds, now a World Heritage site, near East St. Louis. Planned improvements for the Illinois-Michigan Canal complement recent legislation signed by President Reagan creating the I & M Canal National Heritage Corridor. The Hennepin Canal is also scheduled for significant rehabilitation. Major additions to the restoration of the Fort de Chartres wall at the noted historic site near Prairie du Rocher, and a museum at Bishop Hill, are also included among improvements to cultural resources.
Improvements in major outdoor recreation sites include work at Ferne Clyffe, Wayne Fitzgerrell and Red Hills State Parks; rehabilitation of the swimming pool at Dixon Springs, and a new water park at Fort Massac State Park. At Golconda in Pope County, on the relatively new Smithland Pool of the Ohio River, the State will join the Corps of Engineers in constructing a much needed marina. Other sites scheduled for significant recreational improvements include Frank Holten and Jubilee College State Parks, and William Powers Conservation Area in Chicago, a heavily used facility on Wolf Lake which will be quite near the World's Fair site itself. Major campground improvement is planned for the heavily-used Illinois Beach, Rock Cut and Starved Rock State Parks. Totally new Class A campgrounds are envisioned for Shabbona and Silver Springs State Parks. Improvements in the State's propagation systems will have as their goal the expanded production of plant stock, fish for stocking private and public waters, and gamebirds for utilization in the State's public hunting and field trial programs. The cooperative rearing of birds by sportsmen's clubs for eventual release prior to hunting season is also a goal. General facility improvements will comprise a large number of projects of low to moderate cost. In the current fiscal year alone, for example, $1 million will be devoted to 43 projects ranging from $3,000 for improvement of the water supply at Trail of Tears State Forest, to $186,000 for levee and other improvements at the Sanganois Fish and Wildlife Area. While the first year of the park and conservation improvement program has been funded with an appropriation of $10 million, certain legislative enactments must be made, either in November or early in the next legislative year, if the program is to move forward. Chief among these is the authorization of $40 million in bond funds. Other minor enactments of a technical nature are also needed. With this program, the State of Illinois has the opportunity to advance its system of parks and other conservation areas to a remarkable degree within a short period of time. Just as it was said that the Civilian Conservation Corps of the '30s advanced the State park program in Illinois a full decade, it can reasonably be held that the current program has the potential to advance that system by two decades within a span of four years. With that thought, one might also recall that a principal funding source is a sales tax on soft drinks.
All those concerned with the importance of outdoor recreation, cultural preservation, and the improvement of fish and gamebird stocks, and habitat within the State are urged to give this program, now and in the years to come, their fullest support. With success, there is no reason why it cannot be extended far beyond 1992. Illinois Parks and Recreation 13 November/December 1984 |
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