Title
Approval of an Ordinance for the Property Conveyance and Donation Agreement of Real Property Located at 13901 LaGrange Road
History
The Orland Park Open Lands Commission along with the Open Lands Corporation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, was created with the goal of increasing the total amount of open space that is set aside to be permanently protected and preserved in the Village. To date, nearly 300 acres of open space throughout the Village have been permanently preserved. In 2012, the Orland Park Open Lands Commission purchased a 3.3-acre property located at 13951-13961 LaGrange Road (formerly Pebble Creek Landscape Nursery), bounded by Southwest Highway to the east and is directly across from FPDCC McGinnis Slough Preserve. The vision for the site is to restore and preserve the land for a Nature Center and eventually utilize the existing building on site. Additional public use features include trails, bird observation decks, and related amenities.
At the time of acquisition, the Pebble Creek Nursery site (Nature Center site) was in poor condition. In addition to construction debris, the site was largely vegetated by non-native invasive species, suffered from drainage issues, deteriorating retaining walls, and damaged curbs. In 2013, the Village received a $10,000 ComEd Region Grant to remove trash, debris, and dead plants left behind by the former user. In the interim, the Village cleaned out and replaced existing drains and stabilized a portion of the soil by adding an erosion control system and seeding the site with a prairie mix.
In March 2015, the Village Board of Trustees approved a conceptual master plan to guide the development of the Nature Center. The master plan was completed with input from the public, Village staff, a professional consultant (Planning Resources, Inc.), Orland Park Open Lands Commissioners, and elected officials. In early 2016, Upland Designs was hired in collaboration with Engineering Resources Associates to co...
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