Batavia park, police station or both? City also interested in Mooseheart land

The Batavia Park District is supposed to receive 20 acres from Mooseheart in a few years. However, the city of Batavia now wants some of that land for a new police station.

During a special park board meeting on Monday, city officials told park commissioners that they have identified the site off Main Street and Millview Drive as the best place for a new station. The city envisions using at least 5 acres located next to the West Side Fire Station, according to Assistant City Administrator Max Weiss.

And the city is willing to pay the park district for the acreage or swap land for it, Weiss said. The city could offer to swap an 11-acre site it owns along Main, north of Grace McWayne Elementary School, he said.

Monday night’s discussion came after the park board hired a consultant to plan what to do with the Mooseheart land, which the park district will get in 2031. All the park commissioners, four aldermen, and Mayor Jeff Schielke attended the meeting.

The city, however, is farther along in planning for a new police station, having started about two years ago, according to Weiss. Officials say the current station on North Island Avenue is too small and not compliant with building codes regarding exits, fire suppression and building systems. It is located, along with city offices, in a former factory built more than 120 years ago.

City officials don’t want to wait much longer.

Architects have estimated the cost of a new station at roughly $50 million, and city officials fear inflation could add $3 million to $4 million a year to that cost, Weiss said.

The police station would be near Batavia High School.

Allison Niemela, the park district’s executive director, said the district asked Mooseheart in 2019 if it could have the land early, so it could build a recreation center on it. Mooseheart refused. The district then chose another site for a recreation center, but voters rejected that plan.

Niemela said surveys of district residents, including in 2022 and 2025, consistently list an indoor pool and fitness center as top needs. The park district also wants to speak to the Batavia school district to see if it’s interested in cooperative uses for the site.

Park board President John Tilmon said he understood the city’s position, but is hesitant until the district completes its own planning.

“I think it would be premature for us to say we would only need 15 or 10 acres,” Tilmon said.

Tilmon promised the district will move expeditiously. He suggested that the city and park officials have a status meeting in three months.

The Mooseheart donation is part of a 2012 annexation agreement, when Moose International proposed transforming 470 acres of farmland into a development with stores, offices, a hotel, a movie theater and housing.

The city council increased the local sales tax on general merchandise by a half-percentage point in December to begin collecting roughly $2.8 million a year to pay for the station. It also anticipates borrowing money for the project.