Sycamore Park District will add to its recent actions on its long-range plan—ACTION 2020— with the expansion of its Airport Road Sports Complex.
Already this year, after adopting ACTION 2020, the district has:
- Adopted a budget and timeline for all the projects.
- Begun seeking volunteers for citizen committees to help with planning for six major projects.
- Organizing the first two citizen committees that will focus on the Dog Park project and the Splashpad.
- Kicking off its Fundraising Campaign to help pay for the projects in ACTION 2020.
Part of the long-range plans for the park district called for developing 89 acres on South Airport Road for expanded soccer fields and parking, as well as a natural wetland restoration project on the property closest to the river. “The soccer complex will not be in the floodplain!”, said Michelle Schulz, Board Vice President. “We need to start getting these facilities on higher ground because it is getting harder and harder for insurance and FEMA to pay for restoration after flood events.”
The soccer complex development will call for moving the soccer fields at the current Sports Complex on the north end of Airport Road to the new location closer to Bethany Road. “This will allow us, once those soccer fields are established, to then begin adding or moving baseball/softball diamonds at the current sports complex out of the floodplain to where the current soccer fields are located”, said Daniel Gibble, Executive Director of the Sycamore Park District. The park district also plans to work with youth football programs for space. “It’s kind of a domino effect. One thing needs to happen before another”, said Commissioner Daryl Graves.
This spring, the park district will complete and submit the first three of several grants they will apply for over the next five years. “Staff is working diligently to pull together all the engineering studies, budgets, and site plans necessary for the submittal of these grants”, explains Executive Director Daniel Gibble. Funding for all of these grants was not sacrificed in the recent compromise budget passed in Springfield and signed by Governor Rauner.
“One of these grants will help us complete the Sports Complex at the south end of Airport Road”, said Board President Ted Strack. “We can’t do all these projects just on the back of local property taxpayers, so we will begin fundraising and use grants to make all of this happen”, he said.
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Will there be a dog park?