The Aurora City Council Tuesday approved two items to move forward with improvements at Phillips Park.
Aldermen approved a contract for a master plan for the park and zoo sections, a 10-year plan city officials have said will help design a park of the future.
The contract with Darien-based Wight & Company is for $119,600.
Aldermen also approved spending $74,290 for two indoor golf simulators for the new addition to the pro shop at the Phillips Park Golf Course. The purchase would come from Foresight Sports, of San Diego, California.
The master plan contract would cover the zoo and all parts of the park with the exception of the golf course. Because golf course planning is a separate niche of its own, city officials will go for a second contract to cover the future of the golf course.
Wight will start with preliminary activities such as taking an inventory of programs and facilities in the park, putting together exactly what the city has at the moment.
The second part of the contract will be a concept design and master plan for the next 10 years.
Phillips Park, which is on the mid-East Side, is what city officials refer to as a Legacy Park in the city. Work has been done in recent years in Wilder Park along the west bank of the Fox River downtown, and also at McCarty Park.
The simulators will go into an addition to be built onto the pro shop at the Phillips Park Golf Course. Aldermen recently awarded a contract to build that addition, which has been in the works for a while.
The simulators will give golfers a place to hone their skills inside during the winter months. City officials have said they hope the simulators will generate some revenue during a normally dormant time for the course.
