Park Planning & the Rehabilitation of an Urban Lake
Crystal Lake Park dates back to the founding of the Urbana Park District in 1907. It is Urbana’s only public, recreational water body and an important resource for the community. Learn how the Crystal Lake Rehabilitation, Access & Management Plan took the lake from degraded to rehabilitated. This presentation will begin by reviewing park history, the planning process, community engagement, and grant funding. It will then take a brief look into green infrastructure basics and why the park district embraced green infrastructure implementation to solve water quality, erosion, flooding, and habitat degradation concerns at Crystal Lake.
Kara is Park Planner for the Urbana Park District. She graduated from the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), and a trained Green Infrastructure Practitioner (GIP) through the National Green Infrastructure Certification Program. Kara is also a Climate for Health Ambassador through EcoAmerica and holds her Commercial Drone License. Her planning work ranges from district-wide strategic and climate plans to park specific planning; she writes and administers grants, performs GIS work, and collaborates with community members on any new Urbana Park District projects or initiatives.
If you are unable to attend in person, you can register for Zoom information here.
This series is presented thanks in part to the generous support of the Louis B. Wetmore Endowment Fund, which provides resources to bring planning practitioners to our department where they interact with students and faculty.