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| THERE IS A $5 fee to use the boat
launch at Rivals Lookout Park in Wesley Township, made official by park
rules approved by the Township Board. |
| | Rivals Lookout park rules | The Wesley Township Board approved the
following rules to govern usage of the Rivals Lookout park:
• A
permit and fee are required for exclusive use of the pavilion or the
entire park, for activities generally accepted as park like activities.
Activities that are not generally accepted as park like have to be
approved by the township board.
The pavilion rental fee is $30
for Wesley residents, $50 for nonresidents. The fee for exclusive use of
the park is $250 for residents and $500 for nonresidents. Exclusive use
will not be permitted on holiday weekends and does not apply to the
boat ramp.
• A permit and fee are required for camping, which
will be tent camping only, with a maximum of two weeks allowed. Wesley
residents will pay $7 per day or $35 per week, and nonresidents will pay
a $10 per day or $50 per week fee. Fees will increase when electric is
available to the camping area.
• The suggested donation for use
of the boat ramp is $5 per day. A yearly pass is $50 for residents and
$70 for nonresidents.
• No alcohol is permitted without a permit
and proof of insurance.
• Discharge of a firearm is not
allowed.
• Vehicles are restricted to designated roads and
parking areas only.
• Ground fires are allowed in designated
areas only.
• Removal of plants and disturbing animal habitat is
prohibited.
• No loud or unusual noises are allowed.
•
Glass beverage containers are prohibited.
• There is no
loitering with intentions that are not conducive to the park.
•
Vending and peddling are not permitted without permission from the
township board.
• Animal owners are required to clean up after
their animals.
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Wesley sets park rules
Taken from the Freepress
Pam Monson
Editor
The Wesley Township Board has approved rules
for the use of Rivals Lookout, a 10-acre plot once known as the
privately-owned Rivals Club campground.
Kankakee area
businessman Merlin Karlock donated the acreage with 900 feet of river
frontage to the township, to be used as a park, in September 2009.
Kathleen Kennedy, Barb Bertino, Gina Stachowiak, Dave Jay and Bob Rader
served on the ad hoc park committee and were tasked with developing
usage guidelines.
According to Wesley Township Supervisor Dan
Jay, the committee and township board had three issues to address when
determining how the park would be used: Renting the property, camping
and use of the boat ramp, which from the start township officials
consider a potential source of revenue that will help fund maintenance
of the park.
"Those were the three biggies, deciding if we were
going to allow those three things to happen, and at what cost," Jay
explained.
The intent of the boards when setting fees was to
give township residents an additional benefit, since their tax dollars
are paying the bill to maintain and improve the property.
"Everywhere there is a cost there is a minimal cost to Wesley
residents," Jay said.
The board members agreed long ago that
they would ask park visitors to pay $5 to launch or land their
watercraft. The daily fee works on the honor system - those using it put
their money in a lockbox near the ramp.
But there were people
interested in an annual permit to use the ramp, and township officials
settled in the middle of what they thought it might be worth and how
much they thought people would pay for the privilege of using the
facility. Instead of a proposed $100 permit fee, they settled on $50 for
residents and $70 for nonresidents. At least one resident has already
purchased an annual permit.
Residents can reserve the pavilion for $30 and have exclusive use of
the park for $250 per day. Nonresidents pay $50 and $500 for the same
access. In addition, the board decided that even if the park is reserved
for exclusive use, those using it would have to allow boaters access to
the boat ramp.
"That started out to be a large theoretical
problem, but ... even if a boat pulled up and somebody was using the
park exclusively, 99 out of 100 times they would talk and say, 'yeah, go
launch your boat.' It wouldn't be a problem," Jay said.
After
long discussions, the township board agreed to allow daily and weekly
tent camping, with a two-week maximum, for an appropriate fee. Possibly
in the future the facility will be further developed, and trailer
campers and motor homes will be permitted.
Although the
discharge of firearms is not permitted, duck hunters will be able to
cross to the boat ramp with firearms in their possession without issue.
Alcohol cannot be served at functions without a permit and proof of
insurance, and under no circumstances are glass beverage bottles
allowed.
The township purchased a used John Deere lawn mower
from the Forest Preserve District of Will County, and the grass at the
park is being mowed every two weeks. Extra attention will be given to
the property when events are scheduled or when the facility is rented.
Garbage is being collected and a portable toilet is on site.
Jay
hopes that this year's township budget will permit the purchase of
picnic tables, a volleyball net and gravel for the drive and
reinstallation of electric services.
"I hope in the next few
weeks for all that to be underway," Jay said.
A long-term vision
plan has not yet been developed, but township officials are looking at
grants to help fund development of amenities that support recreational
activities common to the site or adjacent property.
"By
automobile transportation, it seems it's out of the way, but by other
transportation it's in the center of everything," Jay said. The
Wauponsee Glacial Trail hiking-biking-equestrian path runs alongside it
and the Kankakee River with a canoe route is at its back.
"As
far as recreational transportation, we'd like it to service those
activities as much as it can," he added.
Individuals interested
in any of the currently permitted activities can contact Jay at
815-354-0709. |
|
| OAK STREET in Wesley Township is
at the center of a controversy among residents — the road is graveled
with asphalt millings, which residents believe is a health and
environmental hazard. |
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Wesley residents
opt for more product research
Taken from the Freepress
Pam Monson
Editor
At their annual town meeting last week,
Wesley Township residents opted to table discussion to collect more
information on the hot topic of the evening.
The annual town
meeting is always held on the second Tuesday on April. The town meeting
is a gathering of the citizens, it is not conducted by the township
board.
This year's agenda included a controversial proposal to
prohibit the use of "offensive substances" like asphalt millings,
grindings and coal slag/cinders on the roads in Resthaven, Lakewood
Shores and Alma Acres.
"They started out as lynch mobs in both
directions," commented Township Supervisor Dan Jay. "And I really felt
the crowd came to the middle and started having healthy discussion, and
for that reason continued it so more research could be done.
"Healthy discussion and argument leads to better answers, and a better
community," Jay said. "I felt the whole thing went where it needed to
go."
Asphalt millings are inexpensive, and widely accepted as a
road base product, however, opponents are concerned with the negative
health impacts of the Wesley Township Road District's use of them in
place of gravel. They maintain the dust raised by vehicles using a road
with exposed millings is hazardous to human health and the environment.
The dust contains compounds known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
(PAHs), which are specified as targeted pollutants by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA).
PAHs are present in
asphalt at much higher levels than the criteria established for general
use in a loose fashion on land - driving on asphalt millings generates
dust containing the compounds that easily find their way to surrounding
soils, water and winds.
Cinders are used in the place of road salt to ensure traction on icy
winter roads. They are an aggressive product when it comes to
cleanliness - they are carried from roads to vehicle tires to garage
floors, then to shoes and finally to interior floors.
"A lot of
the people in the subdivisions are just tired of the black mess," Jay
said. The residents are also doing research to determine whether the
product is environmentally friendly, or hazardous.
"I was really
impressed with the folks, even the people who came ... who wanted to
negate the proposal, ended up listening to this environmental stuff, and
I felt there were a lot of open minds sitting out there," he continued.
"The discussion went from just trying to get it over with to 'hey,
let's think about this.'"
Jay believes any restrictions on road
products need to be treated separately. Any restriction would be a
directive from the electors, to be enacted by the township board.
The town meeting was continued to Tuesday, May 11, at 6 p.m., one hour
before the regular May meeting. |
Wilmington hawk dies after rescueMarch 22, 2010 By MARY
BASKERVILLE For The Herald-News 
WILMINGTON--She was a grand and familiar sight along Route 102 in Wilmington -- a female Red-tailed hawk. Many would view the bird at the familiar bend in the road, just past Rivals Road
(Submitted/Kathleen
Kennedy)
This Red-tailed hawk, a familiar sight around Route 102 in Wilmington, was found disabled alongside the road and later had to be euthanized. The hawk was found by Kennedy, an avid nature photographer, along the road, near a roadkill raccoon. Kennedy noticed that the bird could not fly, that its leg seemed impaired. She contacted her friend Eaker and borrowed her cage and a pair of heavy leather gloves. Armed with the assistance of her friend, Pam Ridgely of Braidwood, Kennedy said she gathered the bird up and took it to Dr. Karen Becker at the Natural Pet Animal Hospital in Bourbonnais. The rescuers left a donation to help care for the bird. While it was the first time Kennedy had handled a bird, she said she felt compelled to help the wounded animal, armed with the information she had from Eaker: "I was more careful not to harm the bird." The bird was found to be suffering from a toxin that was paralyzing the legs. At first hopeful of a recovery, the rescue effort has failed. As the toxin spread, the bird could not eat and the hawk had to be euthanized. Eaker said the toxin went directly to the hawk's nervous system, incapacitating the legs. Poisoning is a "horrible thing to watch a raptor go through," she said, in part, because the toxins render the birds "hopeless on the ground." Both Eaker and her husband, Tim, are licensed falconers and Tanja does conservation education programs for children and adults at a variety of places, including the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie and at Pilcher Park in Joliet. The No. 1 goal of her talks with children is to "get them fascinated with the hawk." Once fascinated, she said, the students "want to love it--not hurt it." There are a lot of hawks in the area now because they are migrating back for the summer, she said. Her husband has a Harris hawk. While not native to Illinois, she uses the hawk when speaking to school children. "He's so great with the kids." Kestrel rescue As sad as the Red-tailed hawk's story is, both Eaker and Kennedy have been heartened by a happy tale of rescue. Eaker recently released an American Kestrel she rescued from a warehouse in January. The kestrel was starving because there was no food in the warehouse. Indigenous to Illinois, the kestrel is about the size of a cardinal and was ready for release, Eaker said. Anyone wishing more information about the educational programs may contact Eaker at hawkgrl222@comcast.net.
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