Pond Maintenance and Natural Area Management The Naperville Park District benefits from the City of Naperville’s Land Cash Dedication ordinance, where developers provide parkland, or the cash equivalent, to offset the burden of current taxpayers for future residential developments. Since the ordinance’s inception, many developments set aside and donated land that acted as both stormwater detention or retention areas to serve as park sites. If there is a pond in a park site, it was constructed to retain stormwater and known as a retention pond; if the open area is typically dry ground, which can collect water and then drain it within a day or two, the area is known as a detention basin. While the preservation of open space is significant for the organization and the community and stormwater management is critical to an urban area of this size, these sites often lack recreational programming space to offset other needs required by the District. Additionally, these sites add significant costs to the Park District budget, in both dollars and maintenance. Due to these reasons, the Park District enacted a policy that it would no longer accept retention and detention basins as a credit against land/cash donation obligations per the code. The Park District acquired 28 retention areas, or ponds, and 44 detention areas, or basins, over time — below is a
breakdown of what is contained in each Planning Area: PLANNING AREA 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Ponds 0 0 7 3 4 3 3 8 Basins 6 5 6 9 7 8 1 2 (This table does not include ponds at the golf courses.)
On top of owning retention areas, the Park District is responsible for several park sites abutting or surrounding rivers and streams. When totaled, this equates to many miles of shoreline requiring stabilization and maintenance. Given the amount of labor, hours, and money required to service these facilities, the Park District developed maintenance plans and implemented some creative solutions to keep the sites functional and beautiful for passive recreation while protecting the natural environment.
28 Naperville Park District | 2023 MASTER PLAN
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