Construction on Dixon Park District building begins this fall

DIXON — The Dixon Park District will break ground on a new building come October in the Meadows.

The $2.9 million facility that will be built next to Water Wonderland will include the district’s administrative offices, a community room with outdoor patio space, two full courts for indoor activities, a lobby/viewing area, and a 25-space parking lot.

The courts will include eight automated basketball hoops, two volleyball nets and two batting cages. The goal is to expand programming and also use the space for family nights, movie nights, family fun days with bouncy houses, SPARK camp and other activities.

The 20-by-20-foot community room will include tables, chairs, and TVs, as well as an outdoor patio with tables, chairs, grill, and cornhole game for rentals. It will be available to rent for business meetings, birthday parties, bridal showers, baby showers and other similar events.

The district had planned on constructing the building in the spring but instead went out to bid for the project in July because of the increasing cost of building materials. Work could start as soon as Oct. 11.

The Dixon Park Board approved the project Wednesday, and Cherry Valley-based Ringland Johnson Construction, which built the new Lee County Law Enforcement Center, is designing and building the facility.

Different community organizations have tried to build a community center, sports complex or recreation center in Dixon for many years, but failed to lock-in tax increases to do so.

“We needed a facility for the Dixon Park District to grow our youth programming as soon as possible,” district executive director Duane Long said.

The district was originally going to pursue a larger center with a referendum to expand its tax boundaries to the school district limits to bring in an extra $1 million a year in revenue, but decided to postpone the referendum in January 2020.

The “Phase 1″ facility will have room for future expansion in the coming years, when the district is ready to put another referendum on the ballot.

“The Phase 1 facility is just the beginning. This facility will meet the park district’s basic needs, but future phases will meet the entire community’s needs,” he said.

The district is financing the bulk of the project through $1.8 million in bonds from Sauk Valley Bank, with a 1.77% interest rate in exchange for naming rights of the two courts. The city also agreed to donate $700,000 earlier this year.

Trinity Financial owner Brett Nicklaus bought the naming rights to the community room for $35,000 for 25 years.