Long before the decision to renovate Centennial Park was made, the Village of Antioch completed a Comprehensive Master Plan (CMP) for the Parks & Recreation Department. Comprehensive Master Plans provide the “blueprint” for elected officials and staff to implement the desired improvements and required upgrades. These plans are a “working document” and are intended to be evaluated and updated on a regular basis to accommodate external factors impacting feasibility.  CMP’s further outline an implementation timeline*.

*The timeline is “ideal” and does not account for funding or other potential resource deficiencies such as personnel, organizational and departmental responsibilities/priorities, or existing infrastructure suitability/capacity.

Beginning in January 2023, the Village of Antioch engaged Hitchcock Design Group to assess parks, facilities, and programs offered by the Parks & Recreation Department. The purpose of the assessment is to determine community opinion on services, parks, and facilities, identify needs, and create an action plan to meet those expectations and needs. The results of the findings create the “Comprehensive Master Plan.”

Our Master Planning process lasted approximately 18 months and was adopted by the Village Board on May 8, 2024. 

 The CMP process consists of 5 key phases: Analyze, Connect, Envision, Prioritize, and Implement. High-level information from the first four phases is listed below.   

Analyze:  Inventory and Analyze Phase  

This phase describes the existing conditions. The intention is to provide a basic understanding of assets and programs.

• The Village of Antioch maintains 250 acres of open space within the 8.6 square miles of village boundaries, including 18 park properties.
• The village owns and maintains 6 Mini parks, 4 Neighborhood Parks, and 2 Community Parks (as defined by the National Park and Recreation Association).
• The Village operates 1979 square feet of indoor recreation space.
• Antioch exceeds the level of service benchmarks, established by NRPA Park Metrics, by 45 acres for active recreation areas (developed parks) and by 54 acres for total Village owned open space. 
• 54% of residents are within 1 mile from a developed park owned by the Village. 

Connect:  Community Engagement & Needs Assessment Phase  

This phase collects input from Village residents and outlines national, state and local trends in the recreation industry. Information was collected using several methodologies: community meetings, workshops with village staff, discussions with key stakeholders, and an online engagement survey. 

Who Provided Feedback?

• Stakeholders included: School Districts 33, 34 and 117, Antioch Township, Chamber of Commerce, Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, Village trustees, Shop Antioch, Antioch Vikings, Junior Sequoit Lacrosse, Antioch Youth Flag Football, Antioch Baseball & Softball, Woods of Antioch HOA and Tiffany Farms HOA. 
• Community Meetings: Two community meetings were hosted at the Senior Center (817 Holbek). Approximately 20 individuals attended community meetings in April and May 2023 to provide input. 
• The online survey, available 24/7 for 4 weeks from April 8, 2023 – May 6, 2023, received 276 responses, of which 74% were Village residents. 

Envision & Prioritize Phases  

These phases outline the needs identified in the Analyze and Connect phases. They provide the background of those needs, synthesize results into justification, and deliver strategies to achieve them.   

The CMP process resulted in 7 goals:

1. Improve accessibility at Village Parks & Facilities
2. Expand and improve connectivity throughout the Village
3. Improve program offerings to align with community expectations
4. Improve existing park and amenity assets to align with community expectations
5. Expand/add offerings at existing parks to serve increasing community needs
6. Expand indoor space usage
7. Address underserved areas and demographics 

This goal was identified through:

• The number of amenities within the parks & recreation department is beyond their useful life. Think, playgrounds, shelters, ballfields, etc. 
• The desire of the community and stakeholders is to prioritize increased maintenance and safety at all parks.
• The feedback received from the community to improve structures and supporting features to improve use.
• The desire communicated in the online survey to update existing facilities and infrastructure to increase longevity. 
• To achieve this goal, an identified strategy is to develop a Playground Renovation Schedule. 
• While ALL village of Antioch’s playgrounds are beyond their useful life of 15 years (except for Sequoit Creek).  Centennial Park has been identified as the top priority because of its current condition and age; Centennial Park playground is the oldest with the last renovation being completed in 1992.   

After the CMP was finished and adopted, the Village Board directed staff to make a deeper dive into Centennial Park. Staff again engaged the expertise of a consultant to complete a Master Plan.

This process is like the CMP, but on a much smaller scale.  Our consultant conducted a Community Input Meeting and staff interviews to understand community needs and to gain an understanding of the unique history of the playground specifically and value it holds in the community.  During the Community Input Meeting on August 12, 2024, residents who attended were presented with conceptual renderings and were asked to share their thoughts on the project.

From there, updates and changes were identified based on age/useful life, community need (as identified in the CMP and Community Input Meeting), and feasibility. Then they were prioritized, creating a 2-part master plan. The two parts are referred to as Centennial Park Master Plan – Phase 1 and Centennial Park Master Plan – Phase 2. The renovation taking place in 2026 is Phase 1 of the Master Plan. 

Phase 1 includes the following: 

• Playground renovation
• New pavilion
• Renovated dual-use (tennis/pickleball) courts
• Fitness stations
• Bag toss
• Accessibility improvements 
• Internal trail loop (walking/biking)
• Game Table
• Site furnishings (benches, trash receptacles) 
• Native plantings with educational signage
• And various plant material

Potential Phase 2 improvements:

• Renovated parking lot
• New restrooms
• Ice rink & plaza space
• ball fields (upgraded fields plus dugouts and bleachers)
• Sensory nodes
• Splash pad
• Multi-use court with sports lighting, irrigation, and sound
• Field house/maintenance structure

Phase 1 is being funded in part by the Village of Antioch and in part by the State of Illinois. 

The Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development (OSLAD) grant that was awarded to the village provides matching financial support for the acquisition and/or development of land for public parks and open space. The maximum grant allowance is $600,000 for park development projects. 

The Village applied for the grant and was awarded the maximum of $600,000!  With the Village investing $600,000 and the OSLAD grant matching $600,000, the total project budget is $1.2 million.  Being awarded this grant was a major deciding factor in what would be included in Phase 1 and set the budget for the overall project. 

The project budget incorporates all the improvements, not just the playground. Here is some information that will give the cost and budget more context:

In 1992, when the current playground was purchased and installed, the money was raised by the community, and the labor to build the park was from thousands of volunteer residents. The current playground cost to the village was minimal. 

• The cost to purchase and install a similar playground today would cost $1 million+. 
• The playground equipment budget for Phase 1 was originally $110,000. That budget has since been increased to $165,000 (by reducing in other areas of the project). 

That would be ideal. Unfortunately, this is not possible. 

In Illinois, organizations building or renovating a public playground are mandated to follow the Handbook for Public Playground Safety, written and distributed by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). 

There are specific requirements for allowed materials, protective surfacing, fall zones, opening sizes to equipment and general safety requirements. The most recent updates to the handbook were in 2008. You can access the entire handbook here: https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/325.pdf  

Additionally, any new or altered playground must comply with the U.S. Access Board Guidelines for Play Areas. The U.S. Access Board developed these guidelines as a supplement to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The full document can be found here:  https://dnr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/dnr/grants/documents/us-access-board-summary-of-accessibility-guidelines-for-play-areas.pdf 

In short, these guidelines set standards for accessibility related to:  

• Play areas separated by age
• Play Components - Different Types/Number of Each
• Accessible Routes
• Accessible Ground Surface
• Clear Floor or Ground Space
• Maneuvering Space
• Entry Points and Seats
• Play Tables

In October, the Village asked for public input on the playground designs we received in response to our Request for Proposals (RFP). When you said “NO” to the designs presented, we heard you! 

We went back to the manufacturers and said, “Try again!” After receiving 3 new designs, the Village Board selected the final one.  Renderings of what the new playground will look like are HERE.

As of January 2026, the Phase 1 Project team is preparing to go out to bid and obtain necessary permits. We plan to get the bid out at the end of February. 

Here are the rest of the important and tentative dates:

• Mid-March - Bid opening 
• 3/25/26 Village Board Meeting - Recommendation and award construction contract 
• Mid-Late April - Groundbreaking
• September 2026 - Grand Opening 

 Katie Kotloski is the Director of Parks and Recreation; she can be reached at  kkotloski@antioch.il.gov or at the Parks & Recreation Administrative Offices, located at 806 Holbek Drive, at 847-395-2160.