10/16/2007

To All Citizens and Business Owners of Catlin:

If you have spent any time at the Catlin Park lately you may have noticed that it is in need of updating.  A group of citizens of Catlin have approached the Village Board and asked that improvements be made.  We want to make our park a better place for our children to play.  The response from the village was to have a committee formed to decide what improvements are needed and to see if there is community support for this project.  A group has gotten together to form this committee but we want to invite any and all concerned citizens to join in our cause.

The Catlin Park Committee knows that the Village does not have the funds available to do everything that is needed, so we are beginning by looking into any available grants and more importantly the financial backing of the community.  It is going to take a group effort of personal donations from the citizens, as well as from business’s and funds from the Village Board and hopefully money from state and federal funding.  As you can see this is in the beginning stages but before we approach the Village Board with our requests, we would like to know if we can count on you for financial support.

As was mentioned earlier this committee is in the early stages of this project and we really don’t have any idea of the cost for the upgrades.  We do know that it will be quite costly to accomplish all of the goals mentioned on the attached list.

As you can tell we are looking at very extensive remodeling of the park.  As we mentioned before a safe place for children of this community to play is our priority.  But we also feel that if we want Catlin to grow the park is one way to attract new families to build here. Catlin has new subdivisions that have not taken off as expected.  We must realize that the park may be one of the reasons that Catlin is not attracting new families.

Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter and we hope that you will agree that this is a vital issue that needs to be addressed in order for our community to grow.

1.    Remove all sand from the Park. –The sand is full of garbage and without being too gross it has become  a bathroom for animals. Children can not resist playing in the sand and it takes only seconds of playing to require a bath immediately after.

2.    Remove Wooden Play Set- Structure is in poor condition, and is not safe. 

3.    Remove High Metal Slide –Slides are being replaced nationally because of the dangers of falling off the sides. The school district recently did this after a young girl fell off and broke her arm.

4.    Remove the Climbing Structure in the center of Park- Safety Concern

5.    Remove Little Kids Play Equipment and Replace and Move. –Concerns even though it is fenced in to have it so close to Vermilion St.

6.    Add new Handicap Accessible Play structure- Smaller scale but similar to Winter Park equipment.

7.    Replace all safety material under play equipment with rubberized material. This is a goal but mulch would be an considered an alternative.

8.    Adding a Water Feature to the Park - This feature that many Community Parks have added makes a great addition to a nice park.

9.    General Beautification of Park –Adding a walking track inside Park, Adding flowers, improvements to pavilion and bathroom, and updating basketball and tennis courts.

    10. Add a fence around the entire park for safety.