SIOUX CITY — The Sioux City Council carried out a few details Monday that will likely make waterpark and off-road mountain biking fans happy in the near future.
The council members in their weekly meeting added to recreation options in the city, by selling some land that a private developer will turn into a $7 million dollar waterpark and adding onto a mountain biking trail project.
The two items are on opposite sides of the city, with the Siouxland Splash waterpark to be added on the north side, while the biking trails are in Cone and Sertoma Parks on the south side.
The council approved the sale of 10 acres of land at 3820 Highway 75 North to Frontline Development LLC to create the waterpark.
Buying that tract for $229,460, Frontline plans to build the Siouxland Splash facility to open in summer 2025. It will have such features as body slides, tube slides, a variety of pools and a multi-feature kid zone.
Sioux City Councilwoman Julie Schoenherr said she has hoped the city would land a waterpark, and said the $7 million facility will be a great quality-of-life piece. Sioux City Economic & Community Development Director Marty Dougherty said the location within a mile of Outer Drive and the so-called Highway 20 Bypass will make it an easy place for people to reach.
There is currently no private waterpark in Sioux City, while within 100 miles there are such facilities in Storm Lake and Sioux Falls.
The city will give some property tax rebates to Frontline over the next 10 years, plus add infrastructure such as sanitary sewer and streetwork. The city over the last two years had purchased almost 100 acres in that vicinity, with the goal of selling them to select entities that could boost commercial and industrial growth in the northeast segment of the city.
The offerings at Cone Park include a tubing hill in winter, plus a paved recreation trail. The addition of the mountain bike trails will cost $3 million, after the Monday approval of a $206,348 addition for contracted work by Rock Solid Trail Contracting LLC of Michigan.
The natural surface trails are the type of trails that off-road bicyclists like to use, with the plan to have 10 miles of single-track route for both experienced and intermediate types of users, to be located adjacent to the Cone Park Lodge.
Nearly $2.4 million for the project has come from grants or been raised privately to supplement the city portion paid towards the mountain biking trail.
