Dundee Twp. parks look at options to build west side rec center

A federal program designed to kick start the economy may provide the funding the Dundee Township Park District needs to move ahead on a recreation center on the west side of the township.

The park district is exploring the use of Build America bonds available to local and state governments to pursue capital projects like public buildings, schools, court houses and public utilities. The bond program provides a federal subsidy for up to 35 percent of the interest paid over the life a loan.

Those terms and a longer repayment schedule could provide the park district funds to build an additional recreation center sooner than anticipated, and without affecting tax rates.

"In 2015 we will be in a position to sell enough bonds, to reduce our debt payments enough, to do a project like a recreation center on the west side," park district Executive Director Tom Mammoser said. "But with the 35 percent interest rebate on the Build America bonds and a new law that allows for bonds to be repaid over 25 years instead of 20, we may have the opportunity to move ahead with the project in 2011."

Mammoser said the park district would spend the next six months collecting resident feedback through community open houses and determining its ability to maintain a second recreation center.

"This will be driven by what we can afford, and we certainly cannot afford everything we want," he said. "In all likelihood this will not buy us a facility that is similar to the one of the east side, but this will give us a start and over time we will phase in other elements."

The proposed recreation center located on park district land adjacent to Randall Oaks Park would initially include fitness space, a gymnasium and classrooms. A swimming pool and day care would be added, Mammoser said.

A recreation center on the west side of the Fox River was rated one of the highest needs in a park district survey of residents. The survey, conducted last year by St. Francis University's Solutions Resource Center, found that more than 70 percent of residents on the west side consider a recreation center in their part of the district a priority, Mammoser said.

The park district's recreation facility at 665 Barrington Ave. in Carpentersville was built in 1989 when the district served 39,000 residents. Today, the population is closer to 55,000, with much of the growth west of the Fox River.