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LOCAL GOVERNMENTAL RESOURCES Local governmental resources for recreation and open space in Illinois are administered by cities and villages and by park districts. In slightly more than two thousand incorporated places, there are 250 cities and villages and 320 park districts that collect taxes for specific recreation functions. It is possible that a large additional number of cities and villages make expenditures for this purpose from general corporate funds without levying the tax. However, there are no statistics available to determine how many. The park districts, which in the past five years have increased at a rate exceeding one-a-month, are unique institutions. There are park districts in other states but the law is either relatively new or (with exception of North Dakota) the law has not been fully put to use. According to the 1972 yearbook of the National Parks and Recreation Association the distribution is as shown in a following table. It should also be pointed out that while the name indicates a degree of autonomy and specialization to perform the recreation and open space functions, this degree is variable from state to state. Therefore, to clearly define a park district in Illinois the following historical and descriptive account is presented. The historical account shows how the functions of the park district in Illinois have evolved over the past century to include: 1. The acquisition of open space for urban beautification, conservation and recreation (The original acts creating Lincoln, West and South Park Commission in Chicago) 2. The acquisition and development of rights-of-way to connect open space areas, or parks, with malls, scenic drives, or boulevards (The Pleasure Driveway and Park District Act, with the creation of Peoria, Springfield and a number of similar districts.) 3. The acquisition of riparian rights, the title to submerged lands led to the conservation, preservation and improvement of shorelines of lakes and rivers for scenic beauty and recreation values (The Submerged Land Park Districts) 4. The provision of recreation facilities, and the supervision of the use of such resources (The codification of all park district acts and the creation of the General Park District) The genesis of Lincoln Park in Chicago, and ultimately the park district legislation in the State of Illinois, was a small cemetery on the shores of Lake Michigan. Almost all of the site was originally sand dunes attractive to thousands of children who enjoyed bathing and picnics during the summer. The site was federal property from the days of the Revolution until it was ceded by Congress to the State of Illinois in 1828 as part of a grant of 282,000 acres made to aid the construction of the Illinois and Michigan canal. On February 10, 1837, the legislature of Illinois passed an act permitting the town of North Chicago to use a tract of "Canal land" for a burial ground. Under this act the city of Chicago, which was incorporated a few months later, took possession of the site at Asylum Place (now Webster Avenue) Lake Michigan, North Avenue, and Clark-LaSalle Streets. The site was laid out as cemetery lots and acquired by the city for which it paid in 1842 the sum of $8,000. The 553 burial lots remained for ten years and as the physicians warned of contagion with further interments, the City Council ordered that sale of lots and the interments cease. However, the attractiveness of the North Side for residential development produced greater demands by real estate and street railway operators. Although in 1868 the city spent in excess of $20,000 on the park now known as Lake Park, the "agitation continued" and advocates for park improvements pressured the Illinois Legislature to pass the first park district act on February 8, 1869, setting forth powers and duties that are landmarks of The Park District Code as it is presently drawn. Almost simultaneously, legal and legislative battles were being fought over various rights to the lake—the shores as well as so-called submerged lands. These battles along with the new park legislation assured Chicago the marvelous lakefront it now enjoys, and later creating another form of park districts known as "Submerged Land Park Districts." The laws of 1869 held such appeal to the general citizen of the booming city of Chicago, that "over bitter opposition of the heavy taxpayers" the West Chicago Park Commission was organized on February 27 of this year. The record is interesting in pointing out that the "westsiders" wanted the Illinois Parks and Recreation 18 July/August, 1974
*/ Forest Preserve Districts city to have a single park district to make overall planning more effective, but the "south-siders" were opposed because their district had the advantage of encompassing the "loop" or downtown shopping district. The Chicago Fire of 1871 and the Depression of 1873 checked much of the progress of the recently organized park district. Plans for the South Park Commission drawn by Olmstead and Vaux were burned in the fire but a new set connecting all three districts with driveways was drawn in 1875. Yet resistance to close planning and coordination persisted although a series of drives were dedicated which today still serve as boulevards. There was no general act permitting the formation of park districts until 1893, when the legislature passed an act entitled "An Act to provide for the creation of Pleasure Driveway and Park Districts," approved June 19, 1893. Shortly after the passage of this act the Peoria Park District was organized and in 1900 the Springfield Park District. In 1895 the legislature passed another general act entitled "An Act to provide for the organization of park districts and the transfer of submerged lands to those bordering on navigable bodies of water" approved June 24, 1895. The purpose of this act was to permit the formation of the districts and particularly to enable such districts bordering on Lake Michigan to reclaim lands on the lake front. Some nineteen were formed in the City of Chicago, and many other districts elsewhere. In 1919, Jens Jensen a famous landscape architect and superintendent for the West Parks again advocated and designed an overall "integrated park system" for Chicago. Of course, his plan was not implemented, but it made him famous as a forward-looking park planner and his plan attracted enough attention to suggest a direction for the formation of the Chicago Park District in 1934. Prior to 1947, there were three separate acts under which a park district could be formed in cities with a population under 500,000. While the purpose of each act was the same, the provisions varied considerably and in 1947 the legislature enacted "The General Park District Code" advocated by the Illinois Association of Park Districts. A park district is a municipal corporation, created for the purpose of acquiring and maintaining parks and is separate and distinct from the city, county or any other body politic. It is an agency through which in part the people of the State carry on government. It is not purely local in function, for the Courts have held that the park property is held in trust for the use of the people of the State at large, and not for the exclusive use of the people of the district. (Quinn V. Irving Park District, 207 Ill. App. 449). A park district is purely a creation of the legislature, and has no inherent powers, but only such powers as have been granted it by the legislature or as are necessarily implied to give effect to the powers specifically granted. The law provides that the board shall have the power "to pass all necessary ordinances, rules and regulations for the proper management and control of the business of the board and district and to establish by ordinance all needful rules and regulations for the government and protection of parks, boulevards and driveways and other property under its jurisdiction, and to effect the objects for which such districts are formed." The general powers granted every district are: (a) To adopt a corporate seal and alter the same at pleasure; to sue and be sued; to contract in furtherance of its purposes. (b) To acquire by gift, purchase or by condemnation such real estate, as the board deems Illinois Parks and Recreation 19 July/August, 1974 LOCAL GOVERNMENT RESOURCES Continued from Page 19 necessary for building, extending or improving parks, boulevards and driveways, whether such lands shall be located within or without such park district. However, land outside the district cannot be acquired by condemnation. (c) To acquire by gift or purchase any personal property necessary for its corporate purposes. (d) To pass all necessary ordinances, rules and regulations for the proper management and conduct of the business of the board, and for the government and protection of its parks, boulevards and other property. (e) To prescribe fines and penalties for the violation of such ordinances, not exceeding $200 for any one offense such fines to be recovered by suit in the name of the park district before any justice of the peace in the county in which the violation occurred. (f) To manage and control all offices and property of such district. All park districts shall have power to plan, establish and maintain recreational programs, provide musical concerts, to construct, equip and maintain airports, landing fields for aircraft, armories, field houses, gymnasiums, assembly rooms, comfort stations, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, wading pools, bathing beaches, bath houses, locker room, boating basins, boat houses, lagoons, skating rinks, piers, conservatories for the propagation of flowers, shrubs, and other plants, animal and bird houses and enclosures, athletic fields with seating stands, golf, tennis and other courses, courts and grounds and the power to make and enforce reasonable rules, regulations and charges therefor. The revenues which a park district is entitled to receive are, license and permit fees, such as from golf, swimming and concessionaires; fines; and taxes. The following taxes may be levied on the taxable property within the district: (a) All park districts may levy a general or corporate tax at the rate of .10 percent of the full, fair cash value. (b) Any park district may levy an additional recreation tax of not to exceed .075 percent of the full, fair cash value. (c) Any park district may levy an additional corporate or recreational tax of not to exceed .05 percent of the full, fair cash value, provided the question of levying said tax has been presented to and approved by the voters of the district at an election. All park districts may issue general obligation bonds, payable from taxes levied specially for the purpose, for the payment of land condemned or purchased for parks or boulevards, for the building, maintaining, improving and protecting the same. Such bonds can be issued to an amount not to exceed 2 1/2% of the total assessed value of all taxable property in the district, except upon referendum the authorized indebtedness can be increased but not to exceed 5%. Such bonds require a referendum vote, except that the issue of bonds shall be authorized by ordinance with an outstanding unpaid balance not to exceed 0.5% of the total assessed valuation. Park districts may issue revenue bonds for purchase of swimming pools, ice rinks, airports, harbors and golf courses. Illinois Parks and Recreation 20 July/August, 1974 |
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