Parks Plans Proceed, With Cost Cautions

The Sussex Park and Recreation Board Monday approved the budgets of three park improvement projects in the village, but asked administrators to find ways to cut costs before proceeding with the plans.

The board unanimously approved the budgets for improvements for, and, but removed proposed drinking fountains for the parks and want planners to reach out to community organizations to help build the improvements and significantly reduce installation costs.

The initial improvements were proposed at about $250,000, which is $10,000 more than what the village planned for the projects, but board member and Village Trustee Tim Dietrich said if the drinking fountains were removed, volunteers were used to install the modifications and other tweaks were made to the plan, he estimated $44,000 in additional savings could be had.

“With the state cutting funding to municipalities, I think it would be very foolish to spend more than we absolutely have to,” Dietrich said.

The improvements to the parks will include new play areas for children, with work expected to begin in August. With the drinking fountains included, the projects were projected at $97,784 for Spring Green, $110,200 for Ridgeview and $42,220 for Prides Crossing. By eliminating the proposed drinking fountains at Spring Green and Ridgeview, it shaved off more than $10,000 in costs.

The board also pulled $12,800 from the approved budget to pay for a path at Spring Green, which administrators will continue to examine to see if costs can be reduced. The final lighting plan will come to the board at its May meeting for discussion and Amy Jeske, director of recreational services, said she will reach out to community groups to see if there’s an interest in helping install the improvements to the parks.

“Other communities are doing this,” Jeske said. “I know the City of Waukesha has been doing this for awhile.”

The board was also presented a possible master plan for , which calls for the installation of four lighted baseball diamonds on the western portion of park and a concentration of sports areas in the southern part of the park, which could include an aquatics area in the future, a soccer pitch — which could fit a football field on top of it if needed — and a shaded rest area.

The plan, which includes up to 500 additional parking spots, would also move the tractor pull area during Lion’s Daze at the park to a gravel field in order to cut down on repair costs associated with the event.

Board members raised issues with some of the aspects of the plan, such as where Frisbee golf could be situated, the closeness of parking outside of the left field fence of one of the four new ball diamonds and the placement of the lights on the new diamonds.

Village Administrator Jeremy Smith said the village’s master plan calls for commercial development north of the new diamonds and houses south of the diamonds in a vacant field. Planners for the project said if lights are planned for the new diamonds, it should be put in the plan immediately and the information should be made public so any potential homebuilders on the lots near the diamonds would know what’s there.

Administrators will now go back to organizations using the Village Park facilities to discuss issues the board has with the plans in order to draw more feedback and possibly approve a new master plan by the end of the year.

“This park is 52 years old and this is about how it’s going to look the next 50 years,” Smith said. "This isn’t something that’s going to happen overnight.”