Naperville Park District voters say ‘yes’ to rec center with pools

For the Naperville Park District, election night went swimmingly.

The park district won voter approval to borrow $120 million for the construction of an activity center with three types of indoor pools. The district has long operated the landmark Centennial Beach, but it’s only open seasonally.

“We've seen that there were discussions dating back as early as the 1970s when indoor aquatics was being talked about in the community, as well as here at the park district,” Executive Director Brad Wilson said.

Supporters can now take a victory lap. Unofficial referendum results showed 15,960 voters in DuPage and Will counties, or nearly 56%, said “yes” to the district’s funding request, versus 12,587 against.

“This has been a community-driven process, and we look forward to delivering now these new amenities for the community,” Wilson said Wednesday.

The district laid the groundwork with various surveys, focus groups and open houses, culminating in a fall 2025 questionnaire sent to registered voter households.

The district floated a broader, $135 million funding plan for the new building in addition to improvements at other parks. Officials ultimately scaled back the proposal based on “residents' project priorities and tax sensitivities identified through the community survey,” Wilson wrote in a December memo to the park board.

“We listened to what residents told us last fall, through that survey and through the other feedback opportunities that we had,” Wilson said.

The district will borrow the funds by issuing bonds. As a result, the owner of a $500,000 home is expected to pay an estimated $117 a year more in property taxes to the district.

The bond proceeds will pay for the new building at the Frontier Sports Complex near Neuqua Valley High School. The recreation center will also house fitness and exercise rooms, gymnasiums, a walking-jogging track, an indoor playground and other amenities.

Fort Hill, the district’s first large-scale community activity center, opened a decade ago.

“This will likely ease and assist with some of the capacity challenges that we are seeing at Fort Hill Activity Center, with long wait lists for classes, as well as just difficulty with accessing some of the spaces at Fort Hill based upon the demand that we're seeing,” Wilson said.

The district sees the largest wait lists and highest demand within the youth gymnastics program, the youth basketball program, open gyms “often filled to capacity,” and in group fitness classes.

In an FAQ, the district explained why it could not build another facility and complete other improvements without going to the ballot, as it did for the Fort Hill project. When it was built, “construction costs were significantly lower, and non-referendum funds were available.”

“The non-referendum bonding authority that the park district has, we needed to continue to maintain that, those non-referendum funds, to be able to support our existing parks and facilities,” Wilson said.

Officials are looking to break ground sometime in 2027 on the facility in the south end of Naperville. It’s eyeing an opening in 2029.

“At this point, we have the conceptual designs. Now there's the work to actually develop, refine those designs, develop construction drawings and bid and permit it,” Wilson said.

The conceptual plan calls for a roughly 138,000-square-foot building that includes an eight-lane by 25-yard lap pool; an activity pool with a family-friendly water slide, play features and additional lap lanes; and a warm-water therapy pool.

Bond proceeds will also allow the district to acquire some land.