The Palatine Park District voted last month to close its Palatine Stables. Now, after public outcry, it is having an engineering firm take a broader look at the conditions of the facility. | Courtesy of the Palatine Park District
By Steve Zalusky | Daily Herald
In the wake of public outcry over the impending closure of its Palatine Stables, the Palatine Park District is expanding its initial review of the facility’s conditions.
However, park district Executive Director Ben Rea said that does not mean officials are changing their decision to close the stables at the end of the summer.
Instead, the district is having the structural engineering firm that conducted an earlier assessment of the facility’s arenas and horse pens perform a broader examination.
Initially, Wheaton-based Johnson Wilbur Adams inspected a random selection of 30 posts and found 13 of them to be either completely rotten or almost rotted through, Rea said. Now the firm will examine all 313 support posts in two barns on the site.
“We appreciated the public comment that we heard, and in the interest of just listening to the crowd that was there and respecting them, we felt this was in the best interest to have this additional inspection done,” Rea said.
The inspection may take a few weeks to complete to minimize disruption of stable operations. A report will be shared on the district’s website.
Read more here.
Related: “Citing ‘unfortunate reality,’ park district closing Palatine Stables this fall”
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