Dixon: The top stories to watch in 2025

DIXON - One major theme for Dixon in 2024 was economic development that will carry over into 2025 as the city continues to grow.

Here are the top developments to watch in 2025:

Project Rock: A pedestrian bridge over the Rock River

One significant project that the city will be starting in 2025 is the construction of a pedestrian bridge across the Rock River.

It’s the fourth - and final - phase, known as Project Rock, of the city’s riverfront development master plan. The plan is to extend the multi-use path that runs west of Heritage Crossing with a pedestrian bridge over the river using the old Illinois Central Railroad piers, construct an additional 2.8 miles of multi-use path and resurface just under a mile of Page Drive, which is maintained by the Dixon Park District.

It’s expected to be completed on Dec. 1, 2026, Public Works Director Matt Heckman said at a Dec. 16 city council meeting.

The project is being funded by an estimated $12 million grant through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity program. In June, the city agreed to contribute $788,000 of local infrastructure funds to its construction.

IDOT put the project out for bid in September and the Dixon City Council approved an engineering agreement Dec. 16 with the Dixon firm Willett Hofmann & Associates.

[ Dixon council OKs engineering agreement for construction of pedestrian bridge across Rock River ]

The actual work on the project is estimated to begin in late winter or early spring 2025, Heckman said in a June interview.

65-acre property to become commercial retail, housing

As that long-range riverfront plan is wrapping up, the city is keeping its momentum going with the purchase of a 65-acre property on Bloody Gulch Road behind Walmart on South Galena Avenue.

The idea is for it to be developed into additional commercial retail and housing in the future, but for now, it gives the city the opportunity to manage economic development and the ability to have land available for investors coming to the area.

On Oct. 21, the Dixon City Council approved the $1.5 million purchase.

“From an economic development perspective, I can’t stress enough how important it is when a developer comes to your community. One of the first things they ask is, ‘I need this amount of land, do you have it?’” Lee County Industrial Development Association President Tom Demmer said at that meeting.

The new land purchase echoes what the Gateway project and other developments along South Galena Avenue looked like two decades ago. Using a satellite image of that area from fall 2004, Demmer reminded the council of how that area – now filled with multiple restaurants, gas stations and hotels – was once empty fields and farm land.

Fortunately, Demmer noted, “we don’t have to cast about in the dark hoping that something comes our way. We have several discussions already underway.”

X-Site Real Estate – the developer for Gateway – is interested in the site, along with two senior housing developers and two workforce housing developers, City Manager Danny Langloss said at the council meeting.

Land donation to become Bloody Gulch Park

Another new project the city is planning for is the creation of Bloody Gulch Park.

The 40-acre property valued at $1.5 million was donated to the city by its owners, the Fulfs family.

What is now empty green space off Bloody Gulch Road, between the city’s Gateway development along South Galena Avenue and a neighborhood known as Overlook Gardens, will soon be a community gathering space complete with a multi-use path, retention pond, fishing piers and picnic areas.

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

As for funding, the city has been awarded a $2 million federal retention pond grant through U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Peoria, and submitted an application for a $3 million retention pond expansion grant in November, Langloss said at an Oct. 21 council meeting.

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

Like other developments, the park is 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.

Expanding multi-use pathways

The multi-use pathway that the city plans to construct at Bloody Gulch Park is “one more leg of the [city’s] overall bike path plan,” Heckman said at a Sept. 23 council meeting.

The section of pathways would start south of the railroad tracks at the corner of Nachusa Avenue and Broadway Street then continue south until it reaches Bloody Gulch Road, where it would swing east and tie into the Gateway development, 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, Heckman said.

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

The city was previously awarded grants from that program which allowed them to construct the multi-use path that extends east along River Road – referred to as “ITEP east” – and the multi-use path that runs west – referred to as “ITEP west.”

This section of multi-use path is referred to as “ITEP south,” Heckman said. “It’s a very segmented approach with an overall plan in mind that we’ve been working towards for many years.”