THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2008
'Elevating' Campground Has Support
By TOM ROBB
Journal & Topics Reporter
Quoting Chicago visionary Daniel Burnham, Ray Hund of the Des Plaines Methodist Campground said, "Make no small plans."
Hund has spent the better part of the last month promoting an ambitious plan to raise campground cottages and buildings along with an elevated boardwalk at a cost of between $25 and $50 million.
Most of the historic campground, located next to the Des Plaines River and Algonquin Road, sits in a floodplain. Hund said FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) has mandated that the cottages be elevated. He said the camp must adapt if it wants to survive and since changes are needed he might as well think big.
Hund said, after recently receiving permission to offer the idea from the camp's board of trustees, he met with state and city officials and cottage owners to discuss the plan. He said his aim was to see if anyone could give him a reason not to move forward with the concept.
City engineers had some reservations but the camp board, cottage owners and local and state elected officials seem behind the idea.
Hund said he has received a lot of positive feedback since a story about the boardwalk ran in recent issues of the Journal & Topics Newspapers.
The boardwalk, which would sit on a concrete deck 2 to 6.5-ft. high that would help preserve the historic buildings---some that date back to 1867---from frequent flooding while keeping the campground's historic designation and creating a tourist destination.
Hund envisions a building at the campground that was a hotel 100 years ago, to re-open as a bed and breakfast. He said the camp could hold concerts on the lawn and possibly even re-open a Metra train stop on the weekends, similar to the Rivinia music venue in Highland Park.
Hund was expected to discuss the plan with the campground's board at their recent annual meeting. If the concept is embraced, campground leaders would seek an architecture firm to create design renderings. A fundraising campaign would be launched.
A large portion of the cottage elevations would be paid for through a FEMA grant that has already been filed. The boardwalk would be funded through additional grants written by the camp's full time grant writer, cottage owner's association fees and fundraising.
Hund said he plans to reach out to the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church for funding as well. The camp has not had a formal financial relationship with the conference for many decades. Hund said relations were strained with the conference until recently. Last year the new bishop of the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church Hee-Soo Jung visited the camp and participated in a worship service there.
Fifty of the 100 cottages on the site have been "red tagged" as unfit for occupancy.
Hund said many of the buildings would be elevated under the plan but some would have to be demolished.
The camp has recently agreed to submit to Des Plaines building and zoning rules. For many years the city's jurisdiction as a civic body over the camp was in dispute.
The camp recently filed for its first permit to elevate a cottage with the city. Many cottages were elevated in past years with no permits from the city.
Mayor Tony Arredia said he supports the idea of the boardwalk and wants to tie it in to the city's Riverwalk project currently under construction.