By Howard Packowitz
NORMAL – Discussions about a possible athletic complex are about to intensify as the Normal Town Council will soon decide whether to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a feasibility study.
The council at Monday night’s meeting will consider a staff proposal to spend up to $47,000 to hire a Clearwater, Florida consulting firm called Sports Facilities Advisory, LLC to perform the study.
Incoming City Manager Pamela Reece said conversations about a soccer venue have expanded to a multi-sport facility, not necessarily on the west side.
“Up until this point, most of the discussion has been focused on the west side, but we don’t even know if that’s the best location, and fundamentally prior to that, we don’t even know at this point if the market would support it,” Reece said.
“Once we have an independent third party who knows how to do these sorts of analyses, take a look at it and report back to us, then we can at least have a good idea to make some decisions,” Reece also said.
Bloomington’s city government is not participating in the study, but Reece says the Bloomington-Normal Area Convention and Visitors Bureau will pay some of the cost.
The consultant would complete the report in about three months.
Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected].
