Sioux Center, Iowa — Some of the uncertainties about Open Space Park in Sioux Center and its future use has been straightened out.
We talked with Sioux Center Mayor David Krahling recently. He says Open Space Park is a half-mile wide and almost that long, and includes many facilities including the All-Seasons Center, The Tsunami Water Park, the football field and softball field complexes, which are owned jointly by the City, Dordt University, and the Sioux Center Community School District. The Sioux County Fairgrounds are on city-owned land that is part of that park as well, and they share buildings with the Saddle Club. A museum-of-sorts with several antique buildings is on the park property as well, known as Heritage Village.
An indoor turf facility is now planned to be on that land as well, and changes are ahead for Heritage Village.
The Sioux Center City Council approved the construction of an indoor turf dome at Open Space Park, east of the existing All Seasons Center parking lot. The approximately 250-by-450-foot air-inflated structure could be completed by the winter of 2022. Council members discussed benefits for recreation, health, athletics, and community events.
Councilmember Eric Moerman says that it is going to bring people to town, and “that benefits our businesses, and those businesses pay taxes and create jobs.” He says, “To me, it’s another piece that Sioux Center is going to provide its citizens.”
As part of this master planning discussion, the council also approved moving Heritage Village from Open Space Park to an approximately 5-acre site at the Tower Fields park.
Mayor Krahling says he believes the Heritage Village experience is “portable.”
Larry Te Grotenhuis, chairman of the Heritage Board, noted that, at Heritage Village’s current location, there is no opportunity to grow.
Moerman says that he hopes that moving to Tower Fields would allow Heritage Village to grow and be better than it is today. He says he “…feels for the financial piece, the moving and setting up. The city needs to bear a good portion of that obligation. We’re asking them to move. There have been tons of volunteer hours.”
It is anticipated that the moving process would begin later in 2021 and could potentially be a multi-year process.
The council’s decision followed nearly a year of discussion and master planning with stakeholders including Dordt University, Sioux Center schools, the Heritage Village Board, and the Parks Board, as well as gathering public feedback at an open house and via a survey. Earlier, in the 2018 Community Survey, respondents selected “indoor recreation options” as the top way Sioux Center should focus recreation investments.
The City will partner with Dordt University on constructing the turf facility.
