Surprising Stuff
What are the real facts behind the city parks located in Lake Geneva?
Does the City of Lake Geneva really have 786 acres of parks mentioned in the mayoral debate? Well, 786 acres is misleading because it includes 586 acres of state, county, and undeveloped parks, plus school playgrounds (Bigfoot State Park = 271 acres, White River County = 190 acres, school playgrounds = 71 acres, undeveloped parks = 32 acres, abandoned railroad = 22 acres).
That leaves 200 acres of city parks, of which 64 acres are outside of the city limits in the remote Four Seasons Nature Park, 35 acres are in the White River wetland area owned by the city and 38 acres of Veterans Park (the city’s large park run by the YMCA). That leaves 63 acres for all the other city parks. Removing 13 acres, because Dunn field and Eastview playground are believed to be the same area and double counted, leaves the city with 50 additional acres of developed city parks (listed below) of which only 45 acres are within the city limits, and several parks are rarely used, or in obscure areas like the Business Pond Park, Cobb Park, Home Depot Park, Edwards Blvd Park and the Median of Park Row Park.
Here they are:
1.) Library Park at 10 acres
2.) Home Depot Park at 7 acres
3.) Business Pond Park at 6.5 acres
4.) Cobb Park at 5 acres (outside city limits)
5.) Donian Park 4 acres
4.) Tied at 3 acres: a.) Water Tower Open Space b.) Rush Wood Park c.) Seminary Park d.) Maple Park.
5.) Tied at 2 acres: a.) Flat Iron Park b.) Edwards Blvd Park
6.) Park Row Blvd at 1.2 acres
7.) Baker Park at 1 Acre
8.) and 5 mini-parks of a ½ acre or less.
In summary, the area of city parks is only about 25% of the stated 786 acres and adding Hillmoor’s 200 acres would approximately double the land that the city would have available for city parks. Regardless of your view, it is important to review and understand the real facts before making a decision. It would give every evidence from this analysis that the City of Lake Geneva could certainly use an area the size of Hillmoor to be set aside as a park area.