The Star Trek city is ready for warp speed with community center, pickleball and downtown projects. Paul D. Bowker gets the lowdown from mayor Allen Schneider and city administrator Cole Smith

Riverside is the land of Star Trek.

You’ll hear it in the movies whenever James T. Kirk, Captain of the Enterprise, talks of his hometown.

The Voyage Home Museum is one of the first things you’ll see on the east side of Riverside as Highway 22, the main road in town, swings into its straightaway toward downtown.

A Kirk statue stands in front of Railroad Park and the Kirk birthplace sits next to City Hall on Greene Street.

An annual Trek Fest parade fills the city’s main street on a Saturday every year in late June.

But there is so much more that Riverside is striving for. It is Star Trek. And it is more. Warp speed, Sulu.

A downtown revitalization project will likely involve more than $1 million of work.

A proposal for a long-awaited community center will involve millions more dollars and likely a bond referendum vote.

Updates of the city’s centrally located Hall Park, the main venue for Trek Fest events, will include the installation of three pickleball courts this year to go along with its softball and baseball fields, tennis court and playground area.

“The pickleball courts are just the first piece of that,” Mayor Allen Schneider said. “We’ve had a lot of discussions about what we want to see there long term, different pieces that come into play there.”

Collectively, the view of Riverside could change substantially in a city that also includes a large casino and golf course on the east side of Highway 218.

“Over the next year or two,” said Schneider, a Mid-Prairie High School alum whose mother, Lois, serves on the Riverside City Council, “I think we want to see those things start to come together, which could have a pretty big impact on what Riverside looks like.”

Already, plans are in the works to extend Cherry Lane, which is located just south of Highland Elementary School, so that the area around the school has better traffic flow and more safety for kids. The project is planned for next summer.

And a big addition to that corner of town could also include the construction of a community center, a dream that has been an on-and-off topic among residents for years.

Projects in the past year included improving the boat ramp south of Hall Park, renovation projects at a pair of water plants and finalizing late changes to the $3.2 million water and sewer update along Third Street. Fiscal Year 2025, which ends in June, was really a catch-up year before bigger projects start up again in Fiscal Year 2026.

“I think we’ve spent this past year being a little more strategic, a little longer term thinking about some of our projects,” Allen Schneider said. “The community center is a good example. We really want to get some momentum there. We want to take that to the voters and see what the community really thinks about moving ahead with that.”

Community Center

A steering committee of eight, plus City Council members Ryan Rogerson and Lois Schneider, has been formed to continue discussions on a Riverside community center. The plan is to have the committee meet monthly. A community center would be located near Highland Elementary.

OPN Architects, a design firm with offices in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids, is in the midst of drawing up plans and tentative proposals that would be presented to the City Council, steering committee and eventually the public in an open meeting. Axiom Consultants of Iowa City is coordinating efforts with OPN.

The exact cost of a community center is unknown, but it is expected to be at least $7 million, depending on which options for the building are eventually approved.

Cole Smith, City Administrator, said the financial plan includes applying for grants, in addition to asking voters for a bond referendum.

Downtown Improvements

The city is partnering with Iowa Economic Development for more than a million dollars in improvements to downtown buildings.

Smith told The News that the Downtown Revitalization Fund will provide a grant of $590,000, along with an additional 25 percent share by the city and a 25 percent share by building owners. The project will update the facades of a number of downtown buildings on Highway 22.

“We did a lot of work to get ready for our downtown revitalization project,” Allen Schneider said, “and we’re just getting started with that now.”

The city has committed $315,000 toward the project.

Hall Park

The work at the boat ramp last summer and fall was just the first phase of an improvement plan at Hall Park that will be spread over several years.

Next up is the installation of three pickleball courts and improvements around the park’s main stage venue that is used for Trek Fest and other events.

The design for the pickleball courts has been completed by Axiom designers and a public hearing for the bid letting on the project has been scheduled for February 3.

Kirk ADA Birthplace

When fully completed, the birthplace monument will be placed so that it is facing east toward Greene Street so that it is easily viewable from the street. An ADA ramp now leads up to the landing area, which is located just south of City Hall.

Final work has been delayed until spring due to winter weather concerns.

2024 Projects

The city had extensive renovation projects completed at the water treatment and wastewater treatment plants.

Work at the boat ramp included rocks being installed on both sides of the ramp, new signage and a clearing out of brush and other growths around the ramp.

Work was also begun on the changes to the Kirk Birthplace monument and final details were completed on the Third Street water and sewer main project.

“The street projects have been good,” Allen Schneider said. “I think we want to still continue to do those. … I think you’ve got to have infrastructure and you’ve got to have things that support recreation, businesses in town.”

The year also included the first full year of new City Council member Ryan Rogerson, who has been a big backer of a proposed community center. He was elected to a four-year term in November 2023, joining City Council members Kevin Mills, Kevin Kiene and Lois Schneider.