Indoor Rec Center

[momthreekids]

Just curious as to what people think about the Park District's proposal for the rec center?? Sounds like they want to put in a 50 meter pool.

[bob]

As long as we get a zero depth pool for the kids. After studying the issue, I think the 50m pool is a good not great idea.

[momof3]

I am pro, but I would like to see space for young children, too.
It seems all of the other park districts have nice indoor space that you can rent for b-day parties, etc.
I think they could make money on an indoor tennis facility, my kids had to take lessons through Fox Valley because we (NPD) don't have any indoor tennis. (BTW - I went to Fox Valley's indoor facility by WV to sign my kids up for tennis and was blown away by how nice that facility is. They have an indoor play area - think McDonalds playplace - that has open time during the week for residents to use.)
I also hope that the 'north' facility they casually mentioned happens sooner rather than later, and I have two words for the location: Sportmen's Park! Seriously, that huge chunk of extremely valuable land gets used twice a week by about 5 people.
Or, if Naperville Central needs to be rebuilt, the park district could trade the Central site for that site and the new school could be built without sacrificing sports for however long that takes. Then they could have the Naperville Central site for the rec center. I don't even know if that's feasible, but we can dream!

ETA - I noticed the Park District is having the "Bottomfeeder Ball" tomorrow night to raise money for a new slide at Centennial Beach. I am all for improving CB, and I am all for having fundraisers and corporate sponsorship of the park district, but it made me wonder - if we have an extra 25 mil laying around, why do we need a fundraiser for a new slide?

[momthreekids]

I too think the rec center is a great idea. If it is built I hope they build it so that many can benefit from it, not just the swim team people. Zero depth is a great idea! I have always thought it was a shame that Naperville does not have such a facility. My in-laws like to tease us that we live in kid friendly Naperville, but do not have a rec center. Over spring break I took the kids to Schaumburg to swim with their cousins and kept thinking how nice it would to have this in Naperville.

Just wondering why all this negative press?

[notconvinced]

I also think we need more indoor recreation space in Naperville. I hadn't thought of a zero depth pool but that does sound like a great idea with all the young families here. It seems to me like much of the negative press comes from the perception that the NPD is being railroaded by a special interest group (competitve swimmers and parents of competitive swimmers) to use the rec center proposal as a means to create their dream swim center with the 50 meter pool. I admit to not being involved in swimming except for Park District Recreational Swim team in the summer with my kids. From what I'm reading the type of 50 meter swim facility that is being promoted would be one of only a few in the Chicago area. It may be being percieved again as needing to build the 'best of the best' because it's Naperville when maybe the 50 meter facility is only going to serve a fairly small subset of the community. That seems to be what some of the debate is about.

[EagleDad]

As a former competitive swimmer (14 years), I can say...

Let em do flip turns, put something in it for the little ones instead.

[chicoryowl]

I live in Aurora and we frequently use the Eola Center. My wife and I work out at the Rec Center there, my kids take classes there, and we even had 2 birthday parties in the Play Area. We also lived in Schaumburg for a couple of years in the mid-90s and they had some very nice rec centers with pool and workout facilities.

I lived in Naperville before moving to Aurora and I was always shocked that Naperville didn't have any similar indoor rec center space. Not even a matter of being best of the best. Just nothing as far as pools or workout facilities.

[notconvinced]

eagledad said:

Let em do flip turns, put something in it for the little ones instead.

I like that! Nothing wrong with a flip turn! I agree with owl that a town the size of Naperville with a family friendly reputation should have a decent indoor recreation area. What facilities are included will be the focus of some debate.

[title1parent]

I wish we had a swimming pool at the Eola Center. I have been to the Vaughn Center on the other side of Aurora. Very nice facility. We also have Rush Copley's Rec Center with pool.
Another thing that will be nice when the NHS opens is that there will be another school pool for swimming lessons to be taught during the summer. My son took swimming lessons at WV and they were great there.

[Avenging Eagle]

momof3 said:

I think they could make money on an indoor tennis facility, my kids had to take lessons through Fox Valley because we (NPD) don't have any indoor tennis. (BTW - I went to Fox Valley's indoor facility by WV to sign my kids up for tennis and was blown away by how nice that facility is. They have an indoor play area - think McDonalds playplace - that has open time during the week for residents to use.)

Some people from the tennis community are hoping for this to happen also. I think its time for a letter writing campaign.

A resident wrote an email to Brad Wilson, the Director of Recreation for the Naperville Park District.
(email address:[e-mail])

Dear Brad,

This letter is in reference to the possibility of having tennis courts in
Naperville. As you know Aurora Park district has a state of the art
facility on Indian Trail. In addition there is a private facility called
Rush Copley Healthpex, also in Aurora. Rush is charging each member nearly
$80 a month to walk in the door. The tennis can be an additional $12-18 an
hour per court. Lesson with pro’s can cost between 45-65 per hour. Most of
members find that incredibly expensive. We also feel that Rush is taking
advantage of the situation that the town has only one small tennis facility
on the north east side of town, that is only open 9 months out of the year.

I live in Aero Estates, and have many friends who live in the various
subdivisions south of 83 that would be thrilled to have tennis courts on the
south side of town. We feel that not only would we benefit from it, but so
would that park district, as well as the town it self. Many of my fellow
team players have moved here from other states and countries, (they are
primarily
*corporate wife's’ ) have expressed a disappointment in lack of a tennis
facility. Also, many do travel all the way to Aurora’s Park district,
either because the cost to play at Rush is cost prohibitive, or simply
because it seems very unfair, if one only wants to play tennis.

Such tennis facility would be a revenue generating venture, especially if we
had *traveling tennis teams’ & a pro shop. Naperville is a wonderful town to
live in, and that would just improve it a notch. With the possibility of
the new High School being built, it also would relief some of the traffic
congestion.

I would love to attend the upcoming meeting, however I’m working out of town
this coming week. I hope that my letter will serve as an inspiration to the
part district, and if there is anything that I can do to help, please don’t
hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

XXXXXXXXXX

and his response....

Thank you for your email regarding the proposed Recreation Center. I appreciate your thoughts and will share your ideas for tennis with our staff.

I am sorry to hear that you will not be able to attend the public forum on April 26th. I hope that you have a safe trip.

Thank you again for your email. Have a wonderful weekend!

Sincerely,

Brad Wilson, CPRP
Director of Recreation
Naperville Park District

Does anyone know where and when this meeting is?

[gatormom]

Recreation Center public forum
Join the Naperville Park District for a Recreation Center public forum on Wednesday, Apr. 26 at 7:00 p.m. at the 95th Street Library in meeting rooms A & B. The library is located at 3015 Cedar Glade Drive. All residents are invited to attend.

[cantretirehere]

2 things:
First momof3: Fox Vally indoor tennis by WV - PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE more details please! My family just ended our membership at Copley cuz they started charging for court time. We just couldn't justify paying the monthly membership PLUS paying for court time besides. The indoor tennis was the only thing for which we were members there. I have never heard of Fox Valley tennis by WV. Is this an Aurora park district thing? Is it the Indian Trails facility (too far for us). If you don't think others are interested then PM me. Otherwise I await your post on this thread.

second thing: My hubby heard that some groups of handicapped kids (and adults) couldn't get pool time at the high schools because competitive swim groups kinda sorta hogged up a lot of the time slots - I'm guessing because they had more funds. We think the pool part (which seemed to be the only part that much of the public objected to) of the rec center is important if, at the very least, these kids get the pool time they need! I say that when this center is built the handicapped kids should get first dibbs!

Dammit! I would totally have gone to the April 26th p.d. meeting to bring up the topic of indoor tennis courts but hubs going to be out of town and that is the night of my sons' extracurricular orchestra seasonal parents' debriefing meeting!! I am going to call the head of the orchestra parents group and see if I can get out of it and still have my kids in that orchestra next year!

P.S. I actually hit the 'bottled' wine a bit early today due to beautiful weather and good steaks, so if this post is disjointed - let's just blame it on that. LOL

[Avenging Eagle]

ETA: Sorry Bob, hit enter too soon....
>>
I think its time to go on a rampage against the park district.

One resident who attended the meeting said that the park district was not responsive to any questions about the tennis courts. They seem dead set on putting in yet another monster pool, and they said that they had no response about tennis courts in the survey (even though the survey didn't allow you to discuss tennis courts).

Here is a follow up letter that the resident has sent, and she has had NO RESPONSE whatsoever.

Dear Park District Board and Administration:

I am wondering if you are aware of the new Sports Fitness center that will be opening this year at 75th and Fort Hill Dr, which is right behind Costco. It will have an Olympic size pool along with a kiddie pool, state of the art workout facilities, a juice bar/WiFi area and many other amenities that mirror many of the amenities that are currently being planned at the park district rec center off of 95th St. The YMCA offers many of these same amenities as well. The new high school to be built at 75th and Commons Dr will also have another pool funded by the taxpayers. I understand the point that private and public facilities offer a different experience to the user. However, given the fact that there are so many facilities in this general area offering the same amenities, it seems that the park district would be wise to offer something different as a way to ensure that the new center will be as profitable as possible.

None of the facilities that you used as a reference for the proposed plan or the new Sports Fitness Center offer indoor tennis courts. I do believe that indoor tennis courts at this location would be extremely well received and profitable to the district at the same time. I understand that the district feels that no interest was indicated for indoor tennis courts on the survey and that the survey is statistically accurate, however, indoor tennis courts were never even mentioned throughout the entire survey. This alone should give you pause and hopefully you will consider researching the viability of adding indoor tennis courts at the new proposed rec center.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,
XXXXXXXXXX

If we don't do something about this soon, we, as taxpayers, will end up wasting our money on yet another ill conceived project.

[bob]

It will be a 25 yard pool.

It will also have a rec pool.

We really need the indoor space for programs.

[Avenging Eagle]

With so many pools, we might all turn into frogs like Arch.