Tinley Park residents decided in November 1998 that the price for the Park District’s first recreation center was too high; so voters rejected a referendum proposal seeking a 12.5 cent tax rate increase to fund the project.
In March, Park District officials will ask voters to revisit the issue. And this time, the referendum question asks for less money while touting a recreation center that would be grander and better equipped than the one rejected in 1998.
Park officials believe the new price tag and new plan, which calls for a 65,000-square-foot center–5,000 square feet larger than the previous proposal–and an adjacent water park large enough for more than 1,500 people, will reel in voters’ support.
At least one Tinley Park resident agrees.
“I think that the pool kind of changes the playing field a little bit,” said Sharon Herman, a mother and six-year resident of Tinley Park. “I think I’d be very interested and supportive of a community pool.”
The new proposal calls for selling $12 million in bonds, of which $8 million would go to build the recreation center and $4 million for the water park.
If the bond proposal passes, homeowners will see an initial increase in their tax bills that will be slightly less than projected under the rejected tax increase. Each year the increase will drop, and within 20 years the project will be paid off, officials predict.
People who own a home with a market value of $250,000 would see an initial estimated annual tax increase of $47 with the bond sale. Under the defeated proposal the increase was estimated at $52.
Both the recreation center and water park would be built on part of the 54 acres southwest of 171st Street and 80th Avenue that the district has owned since 1990. Baseball diamonds, a soccer field and a bike path were completed on the property last year using district and state funds.
The air-conditioned recreation center would include a gym dividable into three full-size basketball courts with locker rooms and an eighth-mile jogging track suspended around the inner perimeter. There would be multipurpose and activity rooms for all age groups, as well as a kitchen, dance room, arts and crafts room, indoor playground and administrative offices. Plans also call for a small outdoor band shell.
The water park would feature a “zero depth” pool, “as if you are walking in off the beach,” Curran said. There also would be a six-lane lap pool, children’s water play equipment and water slides. An additional feature would be a “lazy river” facility where swimmers could float with inner tubes on a slow-moving 600-foot water current.
If the bonds are approved, the recreation center could be open by September 2001 and the water park by the following summer, Curran said.
No one doubts that the Park District needs more space. Program offerings are now 98 percent filled, with 300 to 600 residents turned away each session because of space problems, Curran said.
“There are many now who are not even registering for programs because they’re tired of being on waiting lists,” Curran said. “They’re tired of being rejected and they’re going to other communities.”
When Tinley Park residents go to other park systems, they pay hefty non-resident rates that are from 25 percent more to double what residents are charged, Curran said.
The new buildings would not require Tinley Park to increase its program fees.
“We will continue to maintain the rate that we charge currently for programs,” Curran aid. “I don’t think you’ll see any drastic increases.”
To make up for its lack of facilities, the Park District now offers programs offered at 34 sites in the community, which sometimes leads to problems.
