Open Space (3000 Series)

Table of Contents

NOTE 1: A large water body is coded the same as part of the surrounding open space unless it is a huge water body like Fox Lake and is a separate parcel.

NOTE 2: Most frequently 3100 Open Space Recreation will be owned by a municipality or a park district and 3300 Open Space Conservation will be owned by a forest preserve district or the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR). One notable exception to this in the City of Chicago are small parcels mostly in residential neighborhoods which are owned by NeighborSpace”. This is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to acquire and preserve the community-based management of small parks, gardens, natural areas, river edges, and scenic landscapes in Chicago. These should be coded 3100 with a private owner except for those that are very obviously conservation-focused, such as along a waterway with no sign of a recreation function that would be coded 3300 with private owner.

Open Space, Primarily Recreation (3100)

Definition: Recreational open space with greater than 50% combined impervious surface and manicured turf. Botanical gardens such as Chicago Botanic Gardens and conservatories such as Garfield Park Conservatory and Lincoln Park Conservatory are included in this category. Beaches are also included in this category. Includes code for management agency type such as municipality, county, state, etc.

Discussion: Typically 3100 Open Space Recreation parcels will be owned by a municipality or park district. However, many local communities have very active conservation programs, and will have a number of parcels that qualify instead as 3300 (OS Conservation). Things to consider when determining whether a parcel owned by a local agency qualifies as 3100, 3300 or something else:

  • Is the intended use of the site more “active” (picnic, ball field, open lawn, boating, fishing; all 3100-style activities) or “passive” (hiking, nature study)?
  • Check to see if the property includes a dedicated nature preserve (automatic 3300).
  • Some communities have a Park District (a separate taxing body, so they will be identified differently in the TAXNAME field than the city/village); other communities just have a “Parks and Recreation Department” that is a part of the village, so parks in those situations are village-owned and not park district-owned. For those towns that have park districts, it’s much easier to identify “natural-state” properties and assign the 3300 OS Conservation code. In either case, look on the town website or park district website for information telling you this is a designated conservation area to code it as Open Space Conservation.
  • When there is no park district and you are looking at a natural-state parcel that is owned by the municipality, then it is possible that the land is just vacant or set aside for flood control. Check the village website for a “parks and recreation” department and see if they identify parks; if there is a listing of a park for that property, then you can code it open space. Otherwise, it could be coded:
    • 1151 Residential Common, if it appears to serve as stormwater management in a residential setting
    • 1565 Stormwater Management, if it appears to serve as stormwater management/flood control in a non-residential setting
    • 4140 Vacant Other, if there is no apparent function

Examples:

Q&A:

  • Q: How do I code horse stables or what may be called an equestrian center owned by a forest preserve district or owned by a park district?
    • A: In such a case, we will maintain the original rule of the default code based on owner. So such a facility owned by a forest preserve district would have the 3300 code and if owned by a park district, the 3100 code.
  • Q: How do I code a recreation building with tennis courts and/or outdoor pool that is in a separate parcel and owned by a homeowners association?
    • A: Since this is owned by an HOA, code it 1151 Common Open Space.
  • Q: How do I code a parcel owned by a park district that only has a building on it that is a fitness center along with parking. There is no grass, park, tennis courts, etc. on this parcel.
    • A: Since there is only a building for indoor fitness activities and parking in this parcel and no “open space”, code it 1240 Cultural/Entertainment.
  • Q: I know that a forest preserve district owner typically means that a parcel will be coded 3300 Open Space Conservation, but what about a parcel with such an owner that ONLY has a baseball field on it?
    • A: You’re right in that if you have an owner that is a forest preserve district you will almost always code the parcel as 3300 Open Space Conservation. You must build a strong case to code that parcel something other than this. In a case where the parcel ONLY has a definite recreational activity on it, you may code it 3100 Open Space Recreation. Be sure to also identify “county” in the OS_MGMT field.
  • Q: How do I code a parcel owned by a park district that has a building with park district offices and/or maintenance facilities? No recreation areas or facilities are in this parcel.
    • A: Since no recreation is happening on this parcel and the owner is a government entity, code it 1330 Government Administration and Services.
  • Q: How do I code a small parcel in a downtown area owned by a municipality that does not have turf, but instead has a fountain, sidewalks, benches, flowers/bushes and is intended for people to relax and enjoy that area?
    • A: Code this 3100 Open Space, Recreation.
  • Q: How do I code a community garden where people can rent a plot and have a garden for themselves?
    • A: Code this 3100 Open Space Recreation and instead of Agriculture because people are doing this more as a “hobby” and not as their main livelihood as would more often be the case with the Agriculture code.
  • Q: Where do we draw the line between Common Open Space in a Residential Development (1151) and Open Space, Primarily Recreation (3100)? Grande Park is a massive residential development surrounding a very large park and school in Plainfield. I’ve coded the school as K-12 Educational Facilities, but am wondering what to do about the park land. It’s all owned by the local park district; should the park be regular recreational open space, or should it be common open space since it’s technically within a residential development? What about the trail system (also in parcels owned by the park district)?
    • A: The rule of thumb is to follow the parcel owner. Even though land is by a housing development, if it’s owned by a park district and looks like it could be used for recreation as open space then code it 3100 Open Opace Recreation. This applies to the trail system parcels owned by the park district as well.
  • Q: How do I code parcels owned by Chicago Park District that are currently wooded? Information from the park district is that there is a park planned here but not yet built.
    • A: Since there is no park here yet, code this 4140 Vacant Other.
  • Q: The photo below is a small portion of two large mostly wooded areas on both sides of W Francis Rd that make up one parcel owned by the Joliet Park District. On the land to the south of the road are buildings for Trinity Services. Research shows that this organization provides services for people with disabilities, that the buildings include a school, and also include a long-term care facility. Census block data says the Total Population is 46; Pop_GQ (Group Quarters population) is 46 and the I_NURS (Nursing Home population) is 46. How do I code this since it is on park district owned land and there’s a school and a long-term care facility?

    • A: We’re going to use the concept of coding to the more active land use. Even though this parcel is owned by a park district, the more active land use in this case is that of Trinity Services which appears to be a school AND a long-term care facility. Because of this, let’s use the code 1370 Other Institutional.

Golf Course (3200)

Definition: Public golf courses, country clubs and driving ranges; including associated buildings and parking. Includes code for management agency type.

Discussion:

Examples:

Q&A:

  • Q: How do I code a 9-hole putting green owned by a homeowners association and in a separate parcel?
    • A: Code this as 1151 Common Open Space. This is because it is owned by an HOA. In order to better automate parcel-based landuse in the future, we are putting more emphasis than before on owner.

Open Space, Primarily Conservation (3300)

Definition: Open space in a natural state (less than 50% combined impervious surface/manicured turf); includes public land (federal and state parks and conservation areas, county forest preserves, as well as local parks that are primarily in a natural state), state-dedicated nature preserves (regardless of ownership status), and privately-run conservation facilities. Campgrounds within these facilities are included as part of the preserve. Includes code for management agency type.

Discussion: See the Discussion section under 3100 Open Space, Recreation regarding “natural-state” properties owned by municipalities and local park districts.

Sometimes parts of a forest preserve will have parking lots, picnic areas, trails for hiking, biking and/or cross country skiing, and even a small marina if it is on a large lake or river. Even though these could be considered recreational activities, continue to code these parcels as 3300 because they are owned by a forest preserve district. A parcel owned by the forest preserve district with ONLY a ball field on it, for example, could be coded as 3100.

Examples:

Forest Preserve may have trails on them. Below is Hadley Valley Preserve in Will County. Even though this forest preserve does have a trail circling it, code it 3300 because it is owned by a forest preserve district and is a large natural area that may include forest, wetlands, and/or prairie. Save the Trail code for true linear parcels that contain a trail.

Q&A:

  • Q: How do I code horse stables or what may be called an equestrian center owned by a forest preserve district or owned by a park district?
    • A: In such a case, we will maintain the original rule of the default code based on owner. So such a facility owned by a forest preserve district would have the 3300 code and if owned by a park district, the 3100 code.
  • Q: How do I code a parcel owned by a forest preserve district or the IDNR that appears to be a cultivated farm field?
    • A: Code this as 3300 Open space, conservation.
  • Q: I have found a few parcels that are owned by a park district or municipality and from all that I’ve been able to see on the aerial and learn about this area from the Internet, it is solely conservation open space with no recreation areas in the parcel. May I code it as 3300 Open Space Conservation even though usually such an owner would mean that it would be coded 3100 Open Space Recreation?
    • A: You are right to assume the code 3100 Open Space Recreation if open space land is owned by a park district or municipality. However, some municipalities and park districts do own limited areas of conservation open space. If you have found strong evidence that this is the case, then you may code the parcel as 3300 Open Space Conservation. Be sure to fill in the OS_MGMT field.
  • Q: I have found several parcels owned by a municipality that appear to be wetlands and a stream corridor near and between housing developments. How do I code these parcels?
    • A: This does sound like a conservation use of the land. In this case it is important to determine if the municipality that owns the parcels also has a park district. If the county says that the park district of the municipality is the owner, then see what it says on their web site and most likely this will be coded 3300. If the municipality has a park district but there is NO mention of this area on their website, then code the parcels residential common because that wetlands and stream corridor is there essentially as part of that housing development. If the municipality does NOT have a park district and that function of open space recreation and/or conservation is solely a department within the municipality rather than a separate park district, then you could build a case for coding it 3300.
  • Q: I have found a parcel in DuPage with a house on it and a person as owner. The county use code is open space. There are adjoining parcels with the same owner and zero land use value and no structures on them that are also coded by the county as land use open space. How do I code these parcels?
    • A: Most likely this individual has negotiated a conservation easement with the county or made arrangements to deed the property to the county after their death to be used for conservation purposes. Code the parcel with the house on it as Residential, Single Family with one detached house on it. Code the other parcels as 3300 Conservation Open Space with a private owner.
  • Q: The photo below is of Events at Independence Grove, owned by Lake County Forest Preserve District. The parcels include venues which can be rented for special events and weddings, a cafe, beach, native garden, trails, etc. How should this be coded?

    • A: If the “event” spaces were in their own isolated parcel, then Cultural/Entertainment might be an appropriate alternative code, but besides the event venues, the same parcel also contains water, woods, and trails which are more associated with the conservation function of a forest preserve. We want to keep forest preserve district owned land intact under 3300 unless there is a compelling reason to assign a different code. In this case, there is not so code it 3300.

  • Q: The Calumet Memorial Park District in Calumet City and the Cook County Forest Preserve District own an intermingled set of parcels north east of Sand Ridge Nature Preserve and just north of Thornton Fractional North High School. There are no recreational facilities on this land; it is a mixture of trees and prairie. The photo below shows the Forest Preserve parcels in purple and the Park District parcels in yellow. There is no mention of this land on the park district website, nor can I find anything on the forest preserve district site. How should these be coded?

    • A: Since this appears to be conservation land, code all parcels 3300. Despite these parcels being intermingled, stick with the owner type to dictate the OS OWNER field so those owned by the FPD would get a CNTY owner type and those owned by the park district would get a MUNI owner type. Any other parcels, not owned by either, could be coded vacant.

Non-Public Open Space (3400)

Definition: Generally, this category is reserved for those activities which are considered “low-impact” outdoor recreation occurring on land that is mostly in a natural state, but is not protected through public ownership nor dedication as a Nature Preserve. Including but not limited to hunting clubs, scout camps, and private campgrounds.

Discussion:

Examples: Aside from the short list in the definition, other types of places that can fall in this category include:

  • A “not-for-profit organization which provides therapeutic horseback riding to children and adults with disabilities,” where the land is virtually all open space. A little over half is forested, while the other half is more manicured for equestrian activities.
  • A paintball facility whose setting is mostly natural.

Q&A:

  • Q: In Northbrook on the Allstate Corporate Campus are a couple of parcels that contain 2 baseball fields, a network of walking paths and a pond. Would this be considered Non-Public Open Space?
    • A: No, since this is part of the Allstate Corporate Campus, code it 1220 Office as you do the rest of that corporate campus. This does meet the definition for 3400.

Trail or Greenway (3500)

Definition: Right-of-way maintained for the purposes of recreational activities. Do not include code for management agency type.

Discussion: Because of the way the coding models are set up, a management agency code will get written into the parcel. Don’t worry about this, as they’ll get erased during post-processing. Typically these will be linear parcels that contain a trail. A large park or forest preserve parcel that happens to also contain a trail should be coded for the park or preserve, not for the trail. See Example with photo above under 3300.

Examples:

Q&A:

  • Q: How about a situation in which a utility ROW also has a bicycle path on it? Which do I code, for the utility ROW or for the bike path?
    • A: The parcel owner sways how the parcel will be coded. In this situation, code 1561 Utility Right-of-Way even though there is also a bike path on the parcel.
  • Q: Below is a photo of parking owned by City of Joliet. The only other city-owned parcels nearby are for Old Plank Road Trail. It appears this is parking for those you want to use the trail. May I also code it 3500 even though it is not a linear parcel?

    • A: Yes, definitely. Although the parcel is not linear, the sole function is to provide parking for people who want to make use of the trail and need to drive to access it. Also code it 3500 Trail or Greenway.