Treyton Kilar Field of Dreams plans a step closer to reality

(Editor's note: The following is an excerpt of a Jefferson County Daily Union story writtwn by Chris Welsh)

WHITEWATER -The Whitewater Park and Recreation Board on Monday unanimously approved preliminary plans for the Treyton Kilar Field of Dreams baseball park.

As proposed, phase one of the project would be built in the northeast corner of Starin Park, bordering on Fremont Street and East Lauderdale Drive. Amenities include lighted stadium-like field sideline seating, hillside seating, 60-foot baselines, masonry dugouts, batting cages and 145 parking spaces. The outfield would be 250-feet at its furthest point from home plate.

Long-term phase two plans - still in the theoretical stage - call for updates to the existing fields at Starin Park. Those plans, however, might take years to come to fruition.

The "Field of Dreams" baseball park is named after Treyton Kilar, a 6-year old Whitewater boy who was killed in a drunken driving crash in Walworth County last September. The son of Mike and Mary Kilar, the boy loved baseball.

with the Park and Recreation Board granting its approval, the next step is to bring the preliminary plan to the Whitewater Common Council.

"We go to the council, but we will also make it an agenda item for the Urban Forestry Commission because there is a significant removal of trees that will need to be replanted as part of the design," he said. "We want to make sure they are comfortable and on board with the work we are going to be doing at Starin Park."

The timeline for completing the project is dependent on the funds raised for the project.

"The last update I had on fundraising is that we have raised about $60,000," he said. "We have, as a committee, set a goal of $150,000 to begin construction of the field itself, knowing that that is probably going to be really close to the number it is going to take to finalize the field. We are working on finalizing the construction with some of the groups that have pledged to donate, whether that is labor or to provide materials at cost, those sorts of things. We are still working on getting that final number for the project."