Naperville's Knoch Park grand reopening set for Sept. 17
The community is invited to celebrate the grand reopening of Knoch Park at 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17.
The event will include remarks by representatives of Naperville Park District and Naperville Unit School District 203, followed by a ribbon cutting at Knoch Park, 724 S. West St.
Those planning to attend the event are asked to review the park district's outdoor events participation guidelines at napervilleparks.org/coronavirus.
Limited parking is available at Knoch Central Maintenance Facility, located at 427 W. Martin Ave., with additional on-street parking along Martin Avenue, at Naperville Central High School, and at the Knoch Park parking lot located south of Martin Avenue along West Street.
Over the past two years, the park district and District 203 worked together to plan and complete several improvements to the athletic fields and courts in the north section of Knoch Park, between Hillside Road and Martin Avenue.
In 2019 and early 2020, District 203 constructed a new girls' varsity softball field and a circle drive/drop-off lane at the Knoch Park Central Maintenance Facility parking lot.
An intergovernmental agreement between the park district and District 203 includes a 20-year lease for the school to construct, maintain and use the new girls' varsity softball field.
The agreement states that in addition to school use, the field will be made available for community use.
In 2020, the park district installed a multi-purpose synthetic turf field with sports lighting, 4 pickleball courts, walkways and landscaping.
These amenities replaced two softball fields that were located in this area of the park, with softball activities relocated to the new softball field and fields in south Knoch Park.
The intergovernmental agreement for the 2020 improvements includes cost sharing between the school district and park district for the synthetic turf field, and shared use during peak times with maintenance and scheduling of the field managed by the park district.
The synthetic turf field will expand field availability for soccer, lacrosse, football, rugby and other sports for the school district, park district and community organizations from seasonal use to year-round use if snow is not present, and will expand daily playing time to include evening hours with the sports lighting.
Additionally, the synthetic turf field will provide another location for drop-in use by small groups of residents, which is discouraged on natural turf fields due to wear and tear.
The new pickleball courts will help accommodate the community's strong interest in the sport at a convenient, central location.
The park district funded 100% of the cost of the pickleball courts with lighting and will manage their use.
Both the synthetic turf field and the pickleball courts are open and available for players to use during daylight hours. Sports lighting is planned to be operational in September.