By: Jenna Frisby
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jenna@thevillagereporter.com
The Edgerton Park Board met on Friday, July 12th in the council room of the Village Office Building at 324 N Michigan Avenue.
Their meeting was called to order by Mayor Bob Day at 2:30pm. A roll call presented that in attendance were Mayor Bob Day, Village Administrator Dawn Fitzcharles, Village Administrative Assistant Amanda Knecht, Park Board Committee Members Camie Hicks and Bill Swank, as well as one member from the community. Absent for the meeting were park board committee members Chris Sanchez and Abby Witsaman.
The purpose of the meeting was to update the committee on the items of the Miller Park Community Center, the Edgerton Metals Site Plan, and Park Project updates through June 30, 2024.
Fitzcharles had a prepared PowerPoint which aided in walking through each item and gave detailed information.
Fitzcharles started with speaking on the projects that have been completed since November of 2023. Those projects being: cabinets & shelving for the concessions at Gerhart & Miller Park, Gerhart parking area, scoreboard installation at both parks, fencing project at Gerhart, and security project at Miller.
Fitzcharles then showed the committee members an aerial overview image of Gerhart Park with outlines from the 2023 proposal.
She discussed that the last thing to be done would be the four handicap spaces that were outlined in the image. These handicap spaces will be located between both the softball and baseball field.
Next to be discussed was the installation of a Disc Golf Course at Miller Park. This is something that was put in motion and now possible partially because of the 2.464 acres of wooded land that the village donated to on the back side of Miller Park.
As of now, the disc tees/baskets are staked out where they will be placed throughout the park. The course will also feature benches and trash cans throughout the course.
The course has an advantage of drawing people to the area because of the uniqueness of the course having disc tees in areas that are open, wooded, elevated, and even by water.
The great diversity of the course is something that avid disc golfers desire and will put the course on the map for those individuals. The hope is for the course to be done and operational by the end of the year.
Fitzcharles then discussed the Miller Park Community Center Project. She provided a blueprint rendering showing the space the building will have which is substantially larger than the current building.
The plan is for the current building to be done by the end of the year. After that, soil testing will have to take place and the land/property should be ready by next spring. The hope is that bids can begin to be taken in February of 2025 for the project.
The space within the new community center (as the drawings stand now) will be able to hold 380 people. That number does not include the outdoor area surrounding the building which will include patio space.
Fitzcharles also informed the committee that the building will actually be larger than the rendering showed as they have since decided to add a storage and mechanical room on one side of the building as well as several meeting type rooms on the other side of the building.
The estimate for adding those buildings in would make the center about 20 feet longer than originally planned. The parking outside the building would also be a much larger paved space and completely regraded.
The building will also have an indoor/outdoor fireplace for the community to enjoy. Security cameras will also be in place at the facility.
The rebuilding of the Miller Park Community Building will certainly be an asset to the community of Edgerton as the village will be able to rent the space out for events ranging from wedding receptions to graduation parties and everything in between.
Mayor Day mentioned that they are hopeful as well to be able to have some sort of divider within the building so that the center could hold two different events at the same time.
Fitzcharles then moved on to discussion for the Edgerton Metals Brownfield Remediation Property planning and design.
At this time, they recently received the survey results back for what the members of the community most desire to see in the space. The survey had 91 participants whose ages ranged from 18-80.
The #1 thing voted on that the community would like to have is a riverwalk with trails. Fitzcharles also shared several comments from the survey in which desire for a pickleball or volleyball court was shown as well as for some sort of outdoor amphitheater.
Mayor Day then mentioned that the greatest untapped resource in the Edgerton community is the river. This project will change that and hopefully bring more people into the community to enjoy Edgerton’s resources.
The committee then brought up the discussion of having some sort of small building on the river just for the seniors in the community so that they could have their own senior center.
It was further discussed that the southeast area would be the most eligible for the potential of a senior center building.
Before ending the meeting Fitzcharles presented the projects that are currently being worked on. Those being: Miller Park field upgrade project, MP Trail & Disc Course, Nature works Grant funding for ADA Miller Park benches and tables around disc golf course.
Future plans currently still being discussed are the Community Center at Miller Park and the Edgerton Metals Site Plan.
With no further information to present to the committee or questions, the meeting was adjourned at 3:18pm. At this time, the committee does not have a set date or time for their next meeting.