Residents Weigh In on Sports Complex, Indoor Recreation Plans – Door County Pulse

The snowstorm that arrived in the area Dec. 19 didn’t prevent members of the public from attending an open house that evening at the Door County Fire Company in Sturgeon Bay,

They were on hand for the opportunity to provide input on options for making improvements at the outdoor athletic complex encompassing Sturgeon Bay’s Memorial Field and the possibility of building a new year-round indoor recreation/athletic center in Door County.

A steering committee, composed of representatives from the City of Sturgeon Bay, the Sturgeon Bay School District and other stakeholders, has been meeting with Ayres Associates, which is putting together a feasibility study on those projects.

“We’ve been working with the steering committee to try to understand the goals and mission of the two different projects,” said Chris Silewski, a landscape architect with Ayres. “From there, we were able to develop a series of graphics that help accomplish those goals and programming that goes into those graphics as well.”

The Common Council this year approved contributing $20,000 toward the $74,500 feasibility study to look into the potential development of both an indoor and outdoor community athletic complex. In addition to $17,000 the school district contributed to the study, it also received financial support from the Door County Medical Center, The Raibrook Foundation, Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding and the Door County Pickleball Club.

For the open house, Ayres put together three concept drawings showing how improvements could be made at Memorial Field’s outdoor athletic complex, and two concept drawings related to a possible indoor recreation/athletic center.

Silewski said the concept drawings show different configurations for fields for the outdoor complex, while elements that could be included in an indoor facility are depicted in those drawings. The public could vote or provide written comments to provide feedback on what they liked or didn’t like about those concepts.

“That’s really what we want to find out – what are people interested in – and then take that feedback and mold it together for maybe some kind of final plan, and then we can start doing the mathematical analysis of it,” said City Administrator Josh Van Lieshout.

He said how the improvements would be paid has yet to be determined, and those improvements could be done in priority-based phases.

The concept drawings for the outdoor complex listed prices to make improvements ranging from $13-$14.35 million for the entire complex, with the relocated track field and the turf field estimated at $4 million as the No. 1 priority project. Both Van Lieshout and Silewski said those estimates at this point are by no means firm.

The city and the school district for several years have been looking into possible improvements to the facilities they own that are part of the Memorial Field athletic complex, such as modernizing surfaces and improving drainage to improve usability.

The school district makes use of the track-and-field facility south of the high school on Michigan Street for football practice, but it has been years since the Clippers hosted a track meet there due to the lack of a rubberized running surface. Drainage issues can affect the Dick Clark Soccer Field’s usability and its playing season’s length.

One proposed improvement common to all three concept drawings was to put the track where the Jaycees softball field is currently located at the southwest corner of Michigan Street and South 15th Avenue, and extend it south to the current site of the soccer field.

“Each of the concepts, and it seems to be universally recognized, shows that the existing track needs a substantial improvement,” Van Lieshout said. “It shows a track and then on the inside of the track [an artificial] turf space, whether it’s [for] soccer, football or whatever.”

He said other sports complex improvements could include an outdoor ice rink, improved parking and more designated public space.

“Right now, [there’s] open grass, open fields, but it doesn’t feel like you’re supposed to be there necessarily,” Van Lieshout said. “The idea is to make this more of a community-type park.”

Indoor Facility Features 

Kristen Jeanquart, a Sturgeon Bay resident who is also on the steering committee, said the new indoor facility under consideration is a countywide project

“Part of what we’re studying and asking people who come to the open house is to identify where they would like the facility located, where they’re going to be most likely to visit it, and where they think it would be most successful,” she said.

Jeanquart said the concept drawings depict what the indoor facility  could include, such as pickleball courts, an indoor play area, a multi-use gymnasium and a mult-use turf field house.

“There’s a wide variety of options, but again, [we’re] trying to figure out what is the correct size and scope for our community,” she  said. 

Jeanquart said the goal of the indoor project isn’t to compete with other facilities that exist in the county.

“Our goal is to help residents stay local, rather than having to run down to Green Bay to do some of these sorts of activities with their family, and again, making a year-round option for those winter months when we can’t be outside doing some of things we love to have that indoor option available,” she said.

Jeanquart said the feasibility study also seeks to determine the best business model for running the facility – whether it be operated privately, by the city, county or a non-profit organization – and how it could be affordable for residents to use.

Next Steps

Silewski said Ayres will review the feedback received at the open house with the committee. 

“We’re trying to throw things out there, see what sticks with the community, and try to figure out where do we go from here, based on what the community says,” he said.

Silewski said Ayres hopes to wrap up the feasibility study before the beginning of April.