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A TRADE MADE IN HELL?
Lake Geneva Public Works members tossed around the idea of trading Cobb Park for Center Street with the Town of Geneva. Cobb Park is located on the western city limits at 2101 McDonald Road in Lake Geneva, making it a city island in the town of Geneva. The Town of Geneva has expressed interest in the trade.
Cobb Park is a passive park located on a five-acre wooded site. This park is very underutilized, mostly due to it being on the edge of town and not well known. The park has a lot to offer with its picnic shelter, seasonal restrooms, a small playground area, charcoal grills, and walking trails. It is a gem. The Center Street section of roadway owned by the Town of Geneva on the north side of Sheridan Springs Road heading into the Stoneridge neighborhood is used mostly by Lake Geneva residents. This neighborhood was initially supposed to get another roadway in and out of the neighborhood, but this never happened. This makes the roadway in question a Lake Geneva problem.
As it is right now the street is plowed and cared for by the Lake Geneva Public Works as it is the only way to the other city streets it needs to clear. There have been other problems with this roadway that could be resolved more easily if ownership was with the city. In the recent past, this road has had a lot of speeding and the City of Lake Geneva had to deal with a solution for its residents. The most recent issue with ownership of this road is the safety concerns and the need for crosswalk improvements. With ownership of the road, the city would have control. Saving the city a lot of back and forth with the town of Geneva regarding solutions, responsibility, and finances.
The idea to swap properties was introduced to the other members by Alderperson Joel Hoiland. Hoiland, with the apparent approval of the public works department of Lake Geneva, has had conversations regarding the Town of Geneva’s interest in the property. The question becomes, what does the Town of Geneva want with the property? Will it remain a park that Lake Geneva residents can continue to visit or is there something else the town of Geneva would like to do with it? A beautiful piece of nature for a steep issue-riddled stretch of roadway?
What is on the mind of Lake Geneva representatives? What do they know that the public doesn’t? Why would the city trade a cute little park with great amenities and low upkeep for a road that’s too steep, was and is not supported by promises and agreements formerly made, and not kept by the builder, with all sorts of other service problems? Where’s the gain for Lake Geneva in any of that? There’s also the not-so-easily dismissed item of trust to consider. Lake Geneva, the city, does not have that great a relationship with the populated areas that surround it. Why would Lake Geneva officials believe anything Town of Geneva officials promise when it comes to what might be done with the five-acre park once it was annexed or traded? No agreement made between the communities beforehand would be enforceable once ownership changed.
This kind of ‘trade’ should be looked into very skeptically by Todd Krause and his new team. The Lake Geneva public has placed its trust in them, not in either the Department of Public Works, the Town of Geneva, or even Joel Hoiland, albeit a city alderperson in his own right.
