New Addition to North Clyde Park (IL)

Cicero, IL, 6/24/05 – The Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national nonprofit conservation organization, announced today that it has purchased property adjacent to North Clyde Park in a deal that will allow the town of Cicero’s park district to complete a much-needed expansion to the small but vital park.

After acquiring the property, the land was conveyed immediately to the Clyde Park District of Cicero, which plans to demolish the home that is on the property now and expand the park’s green area northward.

North Clyde Park was built in 1932 near the Austin Avenue and Cermak Road intersection. It is squeezed into one of the Chicago area’s thickest urban settings. The home next to this 1/4 -acre green spot was used most recently to house developmentally disabled adults. The agency running group home – Seguin Services – is relocating and recently put the house on the market.

Once park district board members learned the home was on the market they partnered with TPL and officials from the town of Cicero. TPL moved quickly to secure the property, while Cicero leaders helped the park district secure an Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development (OSLAD) state grant, which the district needed to afford the lot. TPL’s involvement protected the land from private purchase and gave the park district the time it needed to apply for and receive the grant.

“This purchase demonstrates that urban parks too small to adequately serve their neighborhood’s recreational needs should never be written off solely because they’re landlocked,” said Jeffrey Greenspan, the senior project manager with TPL who secured the deal. “The expansion of North Clyde Park reveals how urban park growth can and should happen. Not just here. But in all of the Chicago area’s urban areas.”

Greenspan added that TPL – through its Parks for People program — is committed to ensuring more successes like the one seen in Cicero today are repeated throughout Chicagoland.

“We want to thank TPL and the town of Cicero for helping to make our desire to expand North Clyde Park a reality,” said Larry Banks, executive director of the Clyde Park District of Cicero. “Without the dedicated work of all involved, the house may have sold to someone else and this project may have never come to pass.”

The Trust for Public Land specializes in conservation real estate, applying its expertise in negotiations, public finance, and law, to protect land for people to enjoy as parks, greenways, community gardens, urban playgrounds, and wilderness. Other regional accomplishments include the expansion of Haas Park in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood, the protection of Plum Island near Starved Rock State Park in Illinois, the creation of a 224 acre regional park in Elgin, and the protection of various properties within the recently completed Hobart Marsh complex in Northwest Indiana. Nationwide, TPL has helped protect more than 2 million acres. To learn more visit www.tpl.org.