There were 27 members present and we had one guest, John Muno, from the Winnetka Park District. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Heidi Sibert again reminded everyone about the Kids Against Hunger event this coming Saturday. She thanked all those Rotarians who have volunteered for the event and gave special thanks to the WCH for all its work and support of the program. She said over 400 volunteers have worked on this event. We were reminded that the March 30th regular Rotary meeting will be held at New Trier High School so we can be shown how the new construction is progressing. Tom Nash also reminded us that the joint Rotary meeting of Wilmette, Glencoe and our Club is set for the evening of April 5 and that we will not have a Thursday meeting on April 6th. Rich Lalley said that the Rotary night at the Brewers Park featuring the Cubs and the Brewers will be held July 29th and that tickets need to be purchased by the end of this month in order to qualify for the discount price.
SPEAKER: Costa Kutulas is the Superintendent of the Winnetka Park District and he gave an updated report on the Dwyer Park project in Winnetka. The Park was last worked on 19 years ago and considerable thought and planning has gone into the proposed improvements scheduled for early this year. It is going to be enlarged and will cover the entire west part of its lot from Elm to Oak streets. Major issues have been adding a gazebo, lighting, event programming, tree removal and drainage. There were many meetings, especially over the last year, and the current park design is close to receiving final approval from the Village There will be an enlarged Butterfly Garden and playground area with a see-through gazebo which can accommodate small performance groups. Also added is an outdoor ping pong table and a meditation garden on the south end of the property. The Village has applied the same standards of planning and construction as used for the Hubbard Woods Park renovation. There is no net loss of trees (6 had to be removed, but 7 were added) and the estimated project cost of $800,000 is in the Village’s current budget. If final approvals are received in a timely fashion, Costa said the project would be done and completed between April 3rd and June 22nd of this year. (If anyone wants to view Costa’s power point and drawings/pictures, email your request to ckutulas@winpark.org.).
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