Arena where horse shows have been held at Palatine Stables. (JournalPhoto)
Palatine park board commissioners Monday, Jan. 13 approved the district’s 2025 budget, which includes an estimated $225,000 to demolish the former Palatine Stables, which closed for good at the end of November.
Parks Executive Director Ben Rea emphasized that the board must approve the demolition cost at a future date. “The 2025 Master Plan will drive what will happen with that property,” Rea said.
Commissioners voted 4-1 to approve the budget, with Commissioner Sue Gould the only one who voted against approval.
According to Rea, there is no timeline at this time on when the stables will be demolished. He said determining what to do with that property is part of the park district’s Comprehensive Master Plan called “Play On, Palatine.”
The Comprehensive Master Plan consists of five phases starting with the Analyze Phase, which identifies and assesses existing parks, facilities, programs, and amenities and compares Palatine Park District offerings to recreation benchmarks.
Next, the district will collect public opinion to understand how residents use the park district program offerings and to identify future needs in the Connect Phase.
The park district will have a random survey sent out by a firm likely in early February to a portion of the district’s community. There will also be a slightly different survey posted on the park district’s website for others to fill out. The surveys would ask people what they would like to see the park district provide as a whole in addition to what the stables property should entail.
During the Envision Phase, the project team will build on the needs of the park district for the next five years, developing preliminary strategies based on local and regional market characteristics; physical, cultural, and financial resources; and the expectations and needs of the community.
In the Prioritize Phase, the project team will refine the strategies developed in the Envision Phase and determine the order in which these strategies will be implemented to meet the district’s most pressing needs in the Action Plan. This Action Plan will show each strategy as a step-by-step project on a five-year calendar.
During the Implement Phase, the results of the Comprehensive Master Plan process, including the identified community needs, implementation strategies, and the five-year action plan, will be compiled into a comprehensive report. The report will also document the findings of the Analyze and Connect Phases, showing the complete picture of the Palatine Park District’s amenities and public perspective that will carry the park district for the next 5-7 years.
According to Rea, the park board should be presented with a final report by late August or early September. At that point, it will be up to the park board to decide what projects they want to pursue, including what should be developed on the stables property.
Rea does expect the stables property to be demolished sometime this year and grassed over until a formidable project comes to fruition.
In mid-August last year, following a second structural report, the Palatine Park District reaffirmed that Palatine Stables would close this past Nov. 30 due to structural issues and the high cost of repairs.
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