Big decisions loom for Arlington Heights park board

It took two years and $7 million to renovate Pioneer Park's community center in Arlington Heights.

But it didn't take a referendum.

Fixing the village's four other park community centers - at Camelot, Frontier, Recreation and Heritage parks - won't be so easy and may require a tax rate increase, said Steve Scholten, executive director of the Arlington Heights Park District.

"It could take between 25 and 30 years to do the remaining centers within our means," he said. "It would be like washing the windows on the (John) Hancock building a little at a time. By the time you're finished, you'd have to start all over again."

However, the park board is a long way from deciding how the four renovations should be funded. So far the board hasn't even decided what work needs to be done or which center to fix first, Scholten said.

FGM Architects - the same company who oversaw the building of the new Arlington Heights Village Hall - was recently hired to study all four centers. FGM will report to the park board later this month with some preliminary findings, Scholten said.

Community meetings on all four centers will also he held this winter, Scholten said.

If the board decides a tax rate increase is needed to fund the projects, the earliest residents would see a referendum is February 2010, Scholten said.

"A lot goes into these decisions and we have a lot of questions ahead of us," he said. "We want to make sure everyone is involved - people that use the centers and people who live in the neighborhoods."

Camelot, Frontier and Heritage were all built in the 1960s. Recreation Park dates back to 1937.

The existing community centers feature small classrooms for between 15 and 20 people, Scholten said.

"Today people want larger, multipurpose rooms," Scholten said. "Dance classes are popular; so are art classes. These all need larger classrooms."

The new Pioneer Park Community Center opened at 500 S. Fernandez Ave. in January. The one-story center is 22,450 square feet and includes an 8,910-square-foot gymnasium and five multipurpose rooms.

The existing community center and maintenance building were demolished to make room for the new one. Pioneer had the first pool to be completely renovated, in 1999.