Heritage Park Updates

Welcome to the official Heritage Park update page! Heritage Park is a 103 acre park located behind Village Hall at 14240 W. 151st Street. Heritage Park will host a variety of recreational opportunities, act as a central gathering space for the community and provide interactive access to a beautiful natural environment.

Construction is being completed in phases. This page will provide information on construction status, future plans, relevant meetings, and park events.

Future Phases of Heritage Park

In February 2020, the Village Board approved design and engineering services for the amenities listing below. Designs are expected to be completed in late summer 2020. At that time, the Village Board will decide which amenities will go out for construction.

Cul-de-sac parking lot extension: The plan for the cul-de-sac is to construct a road extension closer to the sled hill, east of the Active Core. The extension will include over 100 additional parking spots and will improve access to the north half of the park, as well as traffic flow for special events. This piece of the project will also include the addition of lighting to the sled hill.
Village Green & Amphitheater: The designs for this portion of the park include a stage, terraced seating lawn seating and additional walking paths. The plans for this area are roughly in the same location as Homer Fest in 2019.
Activity Area: At this time, the only amenities included in the activity area for design is an additional walking path behind Village Hall that will complete a full loop of paths.
Open Play: Construction of an open play area includes the grading of the park so that a high-school size soccer field could fit and drain properly. The designs also include a small arboretum to add trees near the field.
Veterans Memorial/Village Hall Area: The designs for this area include a veteran’s memorial immediately behind Village Hall, as well as site improvements behind the building.

Past Village Board Meetings on Heritage Park designs

On December 11, 2019 and January 22, 2020 the Village Board reviewed schematic design drawings and cost estimates provided by TRIA Architecture. The presentation can be viewed here. As part of the discussion, Finance Director John Sawyers presented an overview of financial options for the Village Board to consider. Please note that the amounts provided are the potential amounts available for park development and would require additional Board action. If you have any questions regarding the presentation or finance document please contact Assistant to the Village Manager Matt Walsh at mwalsh@homerglenil.org or call (708) 301-0632.

On September 25th, the Village Board voted to proceed forward with schematic design for future phases of Heritage Park. The phases that were schematically designed were the Village Green & Amphitheater, Activity Area, Sled Hill, Open Play Area, Village Hall area, Veteran’s Memorial and the Fishing Pond. To view the presentation from the September 25, 2019 Committee of the Whole Meeting, click here.

The Active Core is Open!

The Active Core contains a selection of active and passive features in the center of Heritage Park. The Active Core includes sand volleyball courts, tennis courts, pickleball courts, a nature based play area, fitness equipment, a challenge course and sensory garden.

Disc Golf Course - Open!

This summer, the Heritage Park Disc Golf Course opened to the public. Disc Golf is a fast-growing sport that is friendly for all ages. The fun course takes players throughout the park, with 18 holes (baskets) of challenging obstacles, distances and angles. The course begins immediately west of the Active Core, north of the Heritage Park parking lot.

Disc Golf Printable Map and Guidelines for Play

Phase I: Heritage Circle - Completed

The first phase of construction for Heritage Park is completed, and a majority of the park is open to the public. The first phase of construction included the Heritage Circle roadway, multipurpose walking and biking trail and expanded parking lots.

319 Grant Area

In May 2017, the Village of Homer Glen was awarded grant funding from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) for the Village's Section 319 application.

The Village received $521,704 in grant funding, covering 60% of the total project cost for water quality and drainage-related work on the Heritage Park site. This work will reduce stormwater volume and nonpoint source pollution discharged to Long Run Creek by converting two of the existing ponds into two expanded, large stormwater wetlands (totaling 26.7 acres) as well as the construction of a 950 foot long bio swale (approximately 4,750 square feet). Construction of the wetland basins and bio swale will include excavation and the installation of deep-rooted native vegetation and wetland plantings and will be designed to filter, retain, and infiltrate stormwater.

For more information about the multi-year process for the grant area, please view the documents below.

AES Ecological Restorations Summary

Village of Homer Glen 319 Grant Area Project

Heritage Park Strategy Map

Planning Process

Concept Plan Report

View the Heritage Park Concept Plan (PDF). (NOTE: Due to the size of the file, download may take take several minutes.) Many of the features included in the plan have yet to be approved by the Board and are subject to further discussion. Planning Resources Inc. provided the design services for the plan.

Naming Process

To ensure that public input was considered in the park naming, the Village’s Parks and Recreation Committee coordinated a naming contest with Homer Junior High and Oak Prairie Junior High. Students were asked to submit a name suggestion along with a brief explanation of the name. Name suggestions were also solicited from residents through the Village’s website and from members of the Parks and Recreation Committee. Ultimately, on June 8, 2016 the Village Board unanimously chose the name, "Heritage Park", which was submitted anonymously. View that was submitted for Heritage Park (PDF).

Stakeholder Meetings & Public Open Houses

Stakeholder meetings were held in August 2016 to gather input on the project. view summaries of the stakeholder group meetings (PDF).

The first public open house was held on September 20, 2016. View the presentation shown at the first public Open House (PDF).

A second public Open House was held on November 12, 2016. View the presentation shown at the second Open House (PDF).

A special Village Board meeting was held on December 19, 2016 for a workshop discussion regarding the final conceptual plans. View the presentation shown at the special Village Board meeting (PDF).