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Batavia officials and the park district reviewed two early concept plans that would put a new recreation center and a new police station on the same 20-acre Mooseheart property across Main Street from the high school.
The groups met during a special park board meeting on July 21.
Both versions call for an 80,000-square-foot rec center with an indoor pool, 10 tennis courts, two multipurpose fields, and roughly five acres set aside for the police building.
Here's what to know:
The land promise: Moose International is scheduled to hand over the 20 acres to the Batavia Park District in 2031 based on a 2012 annexation deal tied to a farmland development plan that never materialized. The park district now wants early access to the site.
School amenities: Batavia High School has its eye on the new tennis courts and pool for potential student use.
Voter trends: Referendum requests to fund a rec center with a pool failed in both 2010 and 2020, so this shared-site approach is a new angle.
Funding for the police station : City officials say the current station, housed in a former factory shared with city offices that’s more than a century old, doesn't meet modern fire and exit code standards. A sales tax increase approved in December is expected to bring in about $2.8 million for the project, which is estimated at $50 million.
During a meeting on the subject in April, city officials suggested that Batavia could potentially compensate the park district for the land or offer a land swap.
Read more in this Daily Herald article.
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