Groundbreaking today at Carol Stream’s McCaslin Park

Last year, Carol Stream Park District voters approved a $37 million referendum proposal to pay for park improvement projects throughout town.

Today, the district will begin work on the first major project to be funded with that money.

A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for 5:45 p.m. for planned renovations at McCaslin Park, a 28-acre facility near North Avenue and St. Charles Road.

The $3.5 million project calls for a rearranged sports field hub of four baseball/softball diamonds, which will face outward from a central building with concessions, bathrooms and storage space.

Lighting and synthetic turf infields also will be installed in an effort to increase the number of games played at McCaslin, while reducing the number of rainouts, officials say.

Other planned improvements include:

타 lighted pathways throughout the park;

타 connection of all fields with playgrounds, picnic shelters and parking lots;

타 installation of a new access road to Morton Road via Wheaton Bible Church;

타 and extension of the village’s water main by about 400 feet to the west, which officials say will serve future annexed properties to the village.

On Tuesday, the village board approved an amendment to an agreement that states the village will reimburse the park district for the cost of the extension.

A total of 46 temporary construction jobs will be created as a result of the project, which will be overseen by Camosy Construction.

The work is expected to be completed by next June — in time for baseball and softball season. Officials hope to relocate games to McCaslin that normally would have been played at Armstrong Park, which will undergo renovations of its own.

A $5 million county stormwater management project at Armstrong will include installation of water reservoirs and a pumping station. That project is expected to begin next summer.