Kane County building kayak launches in five locations on the Fox River
'We're excited to be bringing this to Kane County,' said Karen Miller, executive planner for the Kane County Development Department.
Work has already started on digging out the areas where the ramps will be built at Seba Park in South Elgin, near William C. Bartels Park in East Dundee and at Montgomery Park in Montgomery.
Work also is set to begin on a launch at the new riverside park being built in Carpentersville and in a couple weeks on the launch that will go in near Clark Island in Batavia, Miller said.
County spokeswoman Julie Mann said the $1.2 million, five-launch project is being funded with money from the federal American Rescue Plan Act. The Kane County Board in November approved a contract with Earthwerks Land Improvement and Development Corp. to do the work.
The county also has notified public land owners as to where the launches will be placed, Miller said.
East Dundee was chosen as a site because of the work it's doing to close off part of Water Street for the expansion of Bartels Park and the parking spaces it plans to build near to the launch location, she said. The park is about a block from the village's downtown district.
The launch in Carpentersville also will be part of a new park, a site that officials think will make it easy for kayakers to stop and visit the area, Miller said.
'Everything is on track for most of the park construction to be bid and completed this fall,' Carpentersville Village Manager Brad Stewart said. 'The first bid package goes out later this week, with the hope it will be awarded by Aug. 19 and construction started and completed on the parking lot and the non-vertical improvements later this year.'
The new launches will join a number that already exist on the Fox River in the Dundee and Carpentersville areas. Those include locations at Timothy R. McNamee Park in Carpentersville, near the footbridge across the Fox River in East Dundee and in the South End Park in West Dundee, which is part of the Dundee Township Park District.
The county's forest preserve district also has a launch in the Fox River Shores Forest Preserve off Williams Road in Carpentersville. And while a launch was removed when the Carpentersville dam was taken out last fall, it's still relatively easy to put a craft in the water along forest preserve land off of Lincoln Avenue in that area.
What sets the new structures apart from the others already there is their universal design, which Miller said is a step above those built to ADA specifications. The design will allow for easier use for people with disabilities, anyone who uses a wheelchair, adults with arthritis and other health issues, young children and novices boaters, she said.
As such, the launches are being custom built for each location by Pennsylvania-based BoardSafe, said Miller, who noted that 10-year-old SEBA Park in South Elgin also has a playground designed for children of all abilities.
The new launches also tie into Kane County's connection to the Fabulous Fox! National Water Trail, for which Miller is the co-chair. In June 2023, the U.S. Department of the Interior designated the trail as part of the National Water Trails System.
According to the its website, the trail encompasses the Fox River as it flows through Wisconsin and Illinois 'to enhance recreational opportunities for residents and visitors, while encouraging protection and sustainable stewardship of the Fox River system.'
Miller said Kane County will use about $200,000 of the COVID relief money to pay Gilmore Marketing Concepts Inc. in Elgin to promote the launches and trail.
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