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CENTRAL (HILLMOOR) PARK

 Could Hillmoor become Lake Geneva’s Central Park? The former Hillmoor Golf Course near downtown has become a natural park with the White River flowing through it, and requires some work. The city wants to make it into a feature attraction with more man-made amenities. The city purchased the property back in 2022, and residents still have not seen any tangible improvements.

Thursday’s meetings had ideas presented, including an amphitheater for concerts, an ice-skating rink, a sundial, and an improved dog park. The City of Lake Geneva invites residents to give their comments on the concepts during a series of upcoming public meetings at City Hall. The first set is scheduled for February 5, 2026, at 6 p.m. and 7 p.m., and the second set is planned for February 7, 2026, at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.

The concepts will also be on display for a short time at the Lake Geneva Public Library after the Feb. 5 public comment sessions.  The battle for Hillmoor goes on, back to the original time when it was a viable golf course until the owner gave up the ghost and disappeared, never to be seen again. In swoops the Kennedy shady outfit from New Jersey to purchase the property, but they can’t get past the city council, zoning, and the city’s comprehensive development plan.  They sell to the Whitewater Company, where the CEO is serving time for God knows what. Whitewater tries the same developer’s trick: “We promise we’ll build things you like if you rezone the property to basically business instead of rural limited development.”

It’s demanded by the citizens that this company show its ‘dream’ and allow the community to approve it or not, and then make the development binding.  Whitewater balked and, with only one vote swaying the decision (council person Elizabeth Chappell), denied their development as commercial.  Finally, the city comes in and buys the property, spearheaded by the Friends of Hillmoor (funded by Tina Trahan and the Geneva Shore Report and the work of the mayor of the time, Charlene Klein.

The deal was to hold the property until a use the community wanted was found and then applied.  There was no fund to support the property, which became a problem.  The community, almost overwhelmingly, wanted the land to be a park, but the expense of making it into a park, especially in its run-down condition, was too much, and then there would be the administration and operations expenses.

Now, years later (the property was purchased in 2022) the property remains in its barely improved condition but with a commission and a commitment from some members of the Lake Geneva City Council to fund and make it quite possibly, and after all the mess of its acquisition and management, make it into a park resembling Central Park in New York, minus the size and giant boulders that populate that park.

There is no question that some profit and non-profit companies want the property, or the juiciest parts of it, the YMCA being one of them, and they are not without considerable goodwill in the community and even more power.  Will the city hold?  Will it raise the necessary funds?  Will the coming council elections change the direction of development or non-development?  These are questions the GSR can’t answer yet….so, standby.

Person of the Week

David Winger is Lake Geneva’s new Parks Director and a native of Lake Geneva.