Have a say in your play! The Waukegan Park District will be creating an updated strategic plan to guide the future planning for and management of parks, open space, trails, facilities, and recreation programming. Throughout the process, the community will have opportunities online and in-person to submit input that will help shape the future of the Waukegan Park District. The goal is to develop a strategic plan that reflects the priorities and aspirations of the community while addressing current and future needs.
An innovative online portal will allow the community to submit input through an interactive idea wall and prioritization list. A survey for non-users of the Waukegan Park District is intended to include the input of individuals who do not typically use parks, open space, trail, and facilities or participate in recreation programming. Submit your input on the innovative online portal!
The Waukegan Park District is looking for public input from the community to explore the potential future renovations at Roosevelt Park, located at 520 S. McAlister Avenue. With park improvements anticipated in the next few years, public input will assist in guiding the planning process.
The Waukegan Park District is undertaking a sediment removal project at the Bevier Pond, located at 2255 W. York House Road in Bevier Park. Sediment accumulation in the pond has led to a decrease in water depth, poor water quality, and disrupted habitats. To address this, the sediment will be vacuumed by scuba divers and pumped underneath McAree Road into Henry Pfau Callahan Park, located 2785 W. York House Road, where it will be stored and dried to be used as topsoil for a future pollinator prairie.
The project is planned for completion in fall 2024. In the interest of minimizing disruptions to park users, Bevier Park and Henry Pfau Callahan Park will remain open during the project. Future projects will include bank stabilization for the pond and northern stream to limit future erosion and sediment accumulation.
Learn More with the Infographic
Additional Resources
A Brief History of Powell Park & Bevier Park
Information on Pollinator Prairies
Open Houses
Join Waukegan Park District staff for the following educational open houses to learn more about the ongoing project (dates/time subject to change). Meet just outside the Bevier Nature Center:
October 21, 2024 | 5pm – 6:30pm
The Waukegan Park District was awarded a $400,000 Open Space Land Acquisition and Development (OSLAD) grant from the State of Illinois to assist in the renovation of Bevier Park, located at 2255 York House Road. Bevier Park is being transformed with a new nature-themed playground, a discovery dock, and an accessible kayak and canoe launch. In addition, the baseball field will be enhanced with new backstops, bleachers, and dugouts, the basketball courts will be resurfaced, and the disc golf course will be improved.
Powell Park was improved with a new playground! Located at 533 Grand Avenue, Powell Park now features playground structures for different age ranges and the Waukegan Park District’s very first Drop Zone Tower™. Children will be able to step onto the platform to safely “drop” down to the ground, where kids will jump off and watch it rise to its original “zone.”
With an expected completion in early 2024, the Waukegan Park District and the Waukegan Historical Society have been working together on the restoration and adaptive reuse of the former Carnegie Library to become the future Waukegan History Museum at the Carnegie with expanded history programming, archives, collections, exhibits, classrooms, and a research library.
Designated as a Waukegan Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Carnegie Library opened in 1903 with a donation from Andrew Carnegie, a steel magnate and philanthropist who commissioned the construction of 2,509 libraries.