The Wilmette Park District announced a new sustainability initiative meant to guide a new chapter of green sustainable practices to address climate change on a local level and to act as stewards of green and park spaces.
Lucy Mellen, who began in her position as sustainability coordinator for the Village of Wilmette in March, says the time was right to develop a sustainable community plan.
“Streamlining individual efforts across the region into one formal plan really made sense at this point,” Mellen said.
With a target completion of early 2024, the plan will combine feedback and direction from an internal steering committee, Park District staff and the Wilmette community.
Mellen says the primary objective of the plan will be to strengthen existing sustainable practices within the Wilmette Park District while providing a road map for achieving greater sustainability goals in the future.
The first step in the planning process began in June to establish a steering committee of members from across the agency. The committee then came together for the first time to talk about goals and to develop of timeline for the project.
Despite a Chicago Tribune story in April 2022 citing Landmarks Illinois naming of Gillson Park as one of the most endangered historic sites in Illinois, Wilmette Park District Executive Director Steve Wilson said the report didn’t influence their plans for a sustainability initiative and their efforts will be based on a universal plan to be applied equally to all parks across the district.
“What’s new this summer is that we are inviting residents and park patrons to get involved by participating in a brief two-minute survey online,” Mellen said. “The survey will help us take the temperature of the current views of the parks and gain community perspectives so that we may incorporate this feedback into our planning process.”
Mellen says the first round surveys opened on July 10 and are scheduled to close August 10.
Surveys will then be followed up by the first round of open house events inviting residents to engage in person and learn more about what sustainability actually means.
“What’s most exciting now is that although our goals are still being defined, we have had over 400 resident responses to the survey thus far, and feel encouraged that the community sees the need to address sustainability now for our future generations, Mellen said.
Gina Grillo is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.
![Claudia Perez’s children could count on one hand the number of times they had seen their father cry. The day their mother left was one of them. Perez had worked her whole life for a dream that did not come true: Save enough money to take her family back to Mexico and live together in the town where they were all born. Instead, on a cold February day, she stepped onto a bus in Brighton Park and said goodbye, making the difficult choice between her loved ones in Mexico and her family in Chicago. “Don’t leave my love. No te […]](https://www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/ctc-VHR5442_183545767.jpg?w=525 "Claudia Perez’s children could count on one hand the number of times they had seen their father cry. The day their mother left was one of them. Perez had worked her whole life for a dream that did not come true: Save enough money to take her family back to Mexico and live together in the town where they were all born. Instead, on a cold February day, she stepped onto a bus in Brighton Park and said goodbye, making the difficult choice between her loved ones in Mexico and her family in Chicago. “Don’t leave my love. No te […]")
