Changes Ahead for Frontier Park

Arlington Heights Park District’s master plan to renovate Frontier Park received village approval Monday, allowing the park district to move ahead with the project.

Phase I of the master plan, which will cost $3.2 million, will get underway this spring and should be completed by the fall, said Stephen Scholten, executive director of the Arlington Height Park District.

The park district has been working on its master plan for about two years, holding public hearings to get input from Frontier Park neighbors, Scholten said.

Neighbors were able to weigh in with their suggestions and the park district incorporated the ideas into the master plan, he said.

The plan is broken into three phases. The park district has funding from a $3 million grant from the Department of Natural Resources for the first phase and the rest of the cost will be covered by different park district funds, Scholten said.

There is no funding for other phases.

Phase I includes completing the earthwork for the athletic fields, storm water drainage systems, landscaping, sidewalks, pathways, moving the garden plots, basketball courts, tennis courts and new playground equipment, Scholten said.

John Dzarnowski, vice president of FGM Architects, said the master plan includes developing a community center close to the existing bathhouse entrance, demolishing a maintenance building, changing the parking configuration to maximize the parking and lighted athletic field complex.

The park district asked the village to approve the master plan because it is looking to start Phase I soon, Dzarnowski said at the Monday village board meeting. But in order to do that, the park district wanted to make sure the village would approve of the long-term plan, he said.

Arlington Heights Mayor Arlene Mulder asked if the park district planned to upgrade its other neighborhood parks.

The park district has been improving its neighborhood parks for a while, Scholten said.

“We are bringing Frontier to where all the other parks are at,”  Scholten said. “As funding becomes available, we will do the best we can to get all the parks.”