Front Page
A HILLMOOR GIFT FOR CHRISTMAS
On Friday afternoon, the City of Lake Geneva representatives signed the closing papers allowing for the purchase of the entire 200-acre parcel known as Hillmoor. The mayor signed the papers herself and indicated verbally that this mission had been accomplished and that all others involved had also signed. It’s now a done deal and the City of Lake Geneva owns that land. Five million dollars and some change was what the city had to pay (which is quite within the city’s grasp as its current surplus is running just above six million), although instead of paying cash the city decided to borrow the money at four percent, or so, against its 76,000,000-credit line (the city’s asset value is listed as 1,879,000,000).
The mayor, the city administrator, the city attorney, and the entire city council (all eight members voting unanimously to make the purchase) had a strong hand in making certain that no outside private entity was going to develop the land or, in finality, avoid selling it to the city itself. This undertaking was not primarily due to the motivation or actions of these individuals, however. There were local people involved from all walks of life and from just about all professions. They are the ones this city should be thanking for saving the Hillmoor land and then creating something there that can make everyone proud, locals and visitors alike. Many nights of meetings were attended by over a hundred concerned local citizens and residents, which was, and remains, amazing.
These are the local people who helped make the purchase of Hillmoor possible and stopped the over-development of the second largest parcel of open land in the city: Liz Chappel (without her alderperson ‘no’ vote years ago the possibility that Hillmoor would ever have been up for sale so the city could buy it would have been doomed), and then all those who came forward to speak in favor of finally acquiring the land, tirelessly appearing time after time and in meeting after meeting over the years; Dick Malmin, Maureen Marx, Sheri Ames, Tom Reed, Don Ogden, Dave Quickel, Peg Esposito, Fred Gahl, Ernie Gygax and Donna, Henry Sibbing, Grace Hanny, Pat Quinn, Dimitrius Anagnos, Casey Schiche, Norine Smyth, Marcie Holman, David Frost, Sonnette Tippins, Bill the Barber, Speedo Condos, Judge Robert Kennedy, Bruno Rizzo, Don and Muriel Forbes, Ruth Hackman, Joanne Williams, Wesley Pete Peterson, Jim Wilson, Stan Redmer, Terry O’Neil and so many more.
These are the people, on into posterity, that should be remembered and thanked for what they did. They were not paid, and they had no career investment in the outcome. So many citizens simply pursued this real estate deal (although the Hillmoor acquisition is so much more than a simply real estate deal) because it was the right thing to do for the current people who will benefit from as well as all those who will come after, locals and visitors alike.
What will happen to the property now that it’s been purchased is up in the air…way up in the air. There’s talk of goats being brought in to manage the overgrowth of vegetation. There’s talk of having parking lots so visitors can be ferried back and forth from those lots to the downtown area, and back, on every weekend day during the summers. There’s talk of ice- and roller-skating rinks, the creation of walking and bike-riding trails and much more when it comes to repurposing the run-down nature of the fallen away and fallow golf course that once graced the entirety of the property. There’s even talk of taking the YMCA and having it relocate to the land. All these potential pursuits must now be considered, and it is hoped, during this period of consideration that the public’s interest, so stimulated about property acquisition, will remain at the same level of high motivation as it was and remains for the acquisition of the Hillmoor property
