Dixon City Council accepts 40-acre, $1.5M property donation, will become Bloody Gulch Park

DIXON – As Dixon’s economic development plans continue to grow, a 40-acre property valued at $1.5 million is being donated to the city, which will turn it into Bloody Gulch Park.

The Dixon City Council on Monday approved an ordinance to accept the donation agreement from the owners of the property, the Fulfs family. What is now empty green space off Bloody Gulch Road, between the city’s Gateway development along South Galena Avenue near Interstate 88 and a neighborhood known as Overlook Gardens, will soon be a community gathering space complete with a multi-use path, fishing piers and picnic areas.

The site also sits next to a 17-acre property that was given to the city through a deal with Ted Hvarre, a local real estate broker. Hvarre traded the property with the city in order to construct his 18-acre rental development off Taylor Court, known as Pirups Landing.

“We’ve obtained 57 acres that we would’ve had to purchase as a municipality at zero cost to the city,” City Manager Danny Langloss said.

At the park, along with other basic amenities, the city plans to construct a multi-use pathway which will start at the corner of Nachusa Avenue and Broadway Street south of the railroad tracks, run through Pirups Landing and the new park all the way to Bloody Gulch Road, he said.

Eventually, the city hopes to connect that starting point with its other multi-use paths, which run east along River Road from Galena Avenue toward Raynor Garage Doors and west along the river with a ramp to the viaducts ending at Seventh Street, Matt Heckman, public works director, said during a Sept. 23 council meeting.

The path would be funded by a $3 million grant through the Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program. The city submitted its application in September.

Also, the city plans to construct a retention pond at the park that will “not only serve the Fargo Creek area but will also help with the Gateway property,” Mayor Glen Hughes said.

More than eight years ago, the city engaged in a study that identified the top two areas where water detention or retention was needed. One of those is within the 17-acre property and the new 40-acre park, Langloss said.

In these areas detention and/or retention ponds are used to collect stormwater and release it gradually, which prevents flooding, erosion and water contamination, according to stormwater.com.

The retention pond would start behind Pirups Landing and run parallel to the multi-use path through the 17-acre property into Bloody Gulch Park. In the park, the city is planning to include fishing piers and a picnic area around the pond.

The pond will also free up land in the 65-acre property on Bloody Gulch Road behind Walmart on South Galena Avenue, Hughes said. Earlier in the meeting Monday, the council approved an ordinance to purchase that property for $1.5 million; it also is owned by the Fulfs family. It is planned to be developed for additional commercial retail and housing and will also temporarily feature a detention pond.

As for funding, the city has been awarded a $2 million federal retention pond grant through U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Peoria, and is planning to submit an application for a $3 million retention pond expansion grant in November, Langloss said.

All three grants – for the pond and the multi-use path – require recipients to match the awarded amount with local funds.

The park resides in the Fargo Creek tax increment financing district. A TIF is an economic development tool that allows municipalities to set aside property tax revenue created by new property value in the district’s boundaries and use it to fund other economic projects. The funds generated in the TIF will be used to pay for the match requirements and any other needed expenses for the park, Langloss said.