NORTH AURORA – The members of Auroraland Archers are worried about the club’s future as the Fox Valley Park District makes plans to tear down its building in Lippold Park because it has fallen in disrepair.
“This is our home,” said club president Karen Larsen. “We have no other place to go.”
Fox Valley Park District operates Lippold Park, located along Route 25 just north of the park district’s Red Oak Nature Center in North Aurora. The building houses the club’s indoor archery range – which is used by about 100 people a month, including those involved in the Junior Olympic Archery Development program – and the club also holds its meetings there.
The Auroraland Archers group was formed in 1960, and the club has the mission of promoting education in archery and providing instruction to prospective and experienced archers. According to Larsen, a structural analysis of the building revealed it needed between $150,000 and $200,000 worth of work to bring it up to code.
The park district has decided not to repair the building, and has told the club that it must vacate the building by the end of September, Larsen said.
Larsen said she has complained to the park district for the last four years about the building’s condition, but that her complaints have fallen on deaf ears.
The building’s roof started leaking this spring.
“The roof has a great big hole in it,” she said.
Auroraland Archers range captain David Bray, a longtime member of the group, also is upset about the building’s condition.
“They [the park district] should have maintained the place,” he said. “They let it go.”
Fox Valley Park District public relations manager Jeff Long said repairing the building, which dates to at least the 1960s, is not economically feasible.
“It’s outlived its life cycle,” Long said.
The park district still is gathering demolition estimates for the building.
“Ultimately when the building is gone, that area will most likely be converted into additional natural area that may include an educational, kiosk-type info setting with interpretive signs highlighting the natural features, flora and fauna that exist within the park,” Long said.
As plans are being made to tear down the building, improvements are being made to Lippold Park, which is being developed in phases as an outdoor educational venue. A half-mile paved trail was constructed last fall, and additional improvements include the construction of a shelter-styled “tree house” structure built amid an amphitheater setting with interpretive displays and observation areas.
Long said the park district wants to find a home for Auroraland Archers.
“We want to accommodate them,” he said. “Our archery program has been a great success. We have plenty of outdoor areas. Indoors is a little more challenging because safety is of the utmost importance.”
Auroraland Archers also faces declining membership. Larsen blamed the decline on the park district’s decision to remove the group’s outdoor archery range and replace it with a natural grass prairie seven years ago.
“Nine years ago, we probably had 250 members,” Larsen said. “Now, we have 63. That was the beginning of the end for us.”