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Centennial Park Detention Basin
Earlier this year, the Naperville Park District issued a questionnaire to understand the scope of public interest in the ice rinks and sand volleyball courts located in the Centennial Park Detention Basin. The 945 responses received will assist the Park District with planning for the future while addressing operations, maintenance, and resource challenges related to these seasonal amenities. Updates and next steps will be posted on this webpage this summer.
Background:
In a typical winter season, set up, maintenance, and take down of the ice rink dasher boards require an average of 716 labor hours. The ice rinks feature natural ice that is dependent on weather conditions for ice quality and overall usage. A minimum of 72 hours of constant temperatures of 15-degrees or below is necessary before the ice-making process may begin. Over the past 5 years, there have been an average of 11 usable ice rink days per year.
During warm weather months, the detention basin area is converted to sand volleyball courts. Because this area is meant to hold stormwater, the sand often floods, resulting in limited use for the public while creating challenging operations and maintenance practices for Park District staff.
Staff provided an overview of the community input received and possible recommendations for the Centennial Park Detention Basin at the June 26, 2025 Park Board meeting. As next steps, it is recommended to explore options to relocate the ice rinks within the central portion of Naperville. For example, one option to consider is possibly relocating the ice rinks to the permeable paver parking lot with an extremely flat surface at the Community Garden Plots planned to be installed in fall 2025/spring 2026. A refrigerated ice rink system is preferred and would allow for more consistent use and an extended skating season for the community to enjoy. Furthermore, it is recommended to remove the sand volleyball courts and relocate them to a more suitable location ideally in a larger park with support infrastructure. A possible site to consider for relocating the sand volleyball courts is Meadow Glens which is classified as a Community Park with a parking lot. Finally, it is recommended to expand the prairie nature garden in the detention basin to align with the Park District’s Environmental Education, Stewardship and Sustainability Core Value by promoting natural resource management and sustainable initiatives. The intent is to preserve a small portion of mowed turf in the detention basin to accommodate baseball team warmups associated with the adjacent ballfield. The expansion of the prairie nature garden is not recommended to proceed until after the successful relocation of the ice rinks and sand volleyball courts to other sites. Furthermore, there are no plans to remove the ice rinks and sand volleyball courts from the Centennial Park detention basin until the amenities are successfully relocated and operational at other locations. As a next step, the Park District will confirm recommended relocation sites, determine funding needed to complete relocation of the amenities, identify possible funding sources, and establish a timeline for the potential relocations.
Please visit this webpage for the latest information regarding the detention basin at Centennial Park and next steps for improvement.
Centennial Park Detention Basin FAQ’s
The ice rinks and sand volleyball courts at Centennial Park are located in a detention basin. This is a stormwater management facility used to capture rainwater during storms to reduce flooding. As a result, this basin is continually wet, thereby making the volleyball courts and ice skating rinks unusable for a significant portion of the seasons that they are available.
Use of the natural ice rinks is wholly dependent on weather conditions for ice formation. Since the area is too large for a liner and due to the need for the turf to be frozen to hold the water, three days of temperatures of 15-degrees or below are required to begin the ice-making process. Over the past 5 years there has been an annual average of 11 available days of skating at Centennial Park. Smaller ice rinks located at other District locations can use a liner to hold the water. This allows for the ice formation to begin earlier at those locations while helping extend the number of days available for ice skating.
Locating the volleyball courts at the bottom of a detention basin results in flooded or very wet courts following rain events. Continued moisture leads to poor sand quality and difficult and unpleasant playability of these courts, even when conditions are favorable.
Community feedback regarding these two amenities will help the Park District evaluate interest in these activities by residents. Location recommendations provided by survey respondents will be helpful to determine alternative park sites where sand volleyball and ice skating might be relocated to provide a better experience to users of these amenities.
