The Village of Metamora is exploring the idea of building its own multi-sport domed athletic facility.
The project is among the development possibilities for a large piece of farm land the village purchased four years ago. Metamora Village Board member Merle Weyeneth sees a long-term benefit in building an athletic facility.
“We want to have a place where we can grow this community and stay viable, and the way to do it is to engage the youth – the youth today, the youth of the future,” he said in an interview with WCBU.
Weyeneth said the possibility gained some momentum in 2019 when the village bought the 135-acre property on the east edge of town along Route 116.
The village already has approved plans to use some of the land for a solar farm and a new facility for emergency responders. But Weyeneth noted that leaves plenty of space with a lot of potential.
“We don’t need 135 acres for a fire and ambulance (building), but we could sure use it for economic development,” he said. “So it was always in the back of my brain, but I had to be in a position or know somebody on our council that would want to put in an athletic facility of some sort.”
The facility could be similar to the dome at Peoria’s Louisville Slugger Sports complex, he said, but not focused on bat-and-ball sports. He said discussions with area sports coaches has shaped the concept for what the facility should be.
“We need something year-round for — everybody’s big into running and track and volleyball, basketball, tennis and now pickleball,” Weyeneth said. “Our baseball and softball coaches said we’ve got enough ball diamonds in the area, but it would sure be great to have an indoor facility year-round to practice all these other sports outside of our normal season.”
Weyeneth said along with the athletic dome, the property also could include some restaurants and maybe a hotel. He said many of his contemporaries like this idea.
“With me being retired, I work with other retired grandpas, and they go on about how many hundreds of dollars they spend on a weekend watching their kids — grandkids, I should say — play sports all over the country,” he said. “I just said, ‘Well, what if you only had to drive to Metamora?’ Oh my goodness, that’d be fantastic.’ I said, ‘Plus, you wouldn’t have to stay overnight, but you could expend some money here at some restaurants and stuff.’
“So, we’re just looking to be able to embellish the Tri-County area for all types of athletic events.”
Weyeneth said that in doing some research on the options and consulting with the Farley Group based in Canada, he determined pursuit of a domed facility would be the best approach.
“It’s a lot more reasonable than brick and mortar, and they hold up,” he said. “It’s not like, unfortunately, the (Avanti’s) dome in Pekin that has deflated many times. This company (Farley) has got a 20-year track record and they’re the number one builder of domes in the world. Last year in 2022, they built close to 100 domes and their nearest competitor put up about a dozen.”
Weyeneth said he’s had an opportunity to look at other dome facilities around the Midwest, mostly in the Chicago area, to get an idea of what would work best for Metamora.
He said the Farley Group’s plan would be for a 135,000-square-foot dome, measuring 500 feet long, 270 feet wide and 80 feet tall. It would include a six-lane, 200-meter track, a turf field, physical therapy space and possibly an aquatic center if they can figure out how to make it work.
“The cost of the dome, the building and everything itself is very minimal; versus brick and mortar costing $30-$40 million, this thing is considerably less,” he said. “The potential of the infrastructure work, the preparing of the ground and so forth, we’ve estimated — through our city engineer — could be in the neighborhood of $6-$8 million, which is probably 75, 80% of the cost of the whole putting the structure up.”
Weyeneth envisions the dome as an asset both for Metamora and to the entire region.
“We want a way that we can keep this town alive and possibly growing for the next 50 years – way past my lifetime,” he said. “And by having this not only for — it’s just not going to be (for) Metamora; there’s no way that I’d be building it for just our community. I’m looking at Woodford County, Tazewell County, McLean County, Peoria County. There is all this need for the youth of today and knowing what’s not there and what can be.”
Weyeneth said he’d like to have firm plans in place next year, with hopes to have the facility open within three years.
