Even though the Lake Forest Parks and Department is fiscally responsible…
Our Gold Medal award winning Lake Forest Parks and Recreation facilities include 10 parks, the Grove Cultural Campus, Elawa Farm, Deerpath Golf Course, the Forest Park Beach and over 500 programs annually. A shortage on funding, however, may threaten these jewels of Lake Forest.
Funds vs. Needs
The Lake Forest Parks and Recreation is a department of the City and not a separate taxing District. Therefore, it must rely on funding from the city budget. Because there are so many things our taxes get used for, sometimes the Lake Forest Parks and Rec. are not always the first priority. Even with the best-case scenario for funding levels, there is still a funding gap that is over $1 million over the next decade for repair and replacements alone. Now there are limited funds for Friends of Lake Forest to maintain parks and recreational activities. Tax funds account for less than 33% of Parks and Recreation support
Friends’ goal is to bridge the repair/replacement gap, to ensure that facilities and programs remain at Gold Medal levels. Here are some future projects we hope to support:
- Development of an Indoor Sports Complex at Townline Community Park
- Renovation and upgrade of neighborhood playgrounds
- Expansion and enhancement of our award winning Dance Academy
- Support for the renovation of our Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farms
- Deerpath Golf Course projects: Bridges, deep well for irrigation, course wide cart paths
Collectively the above projects could require over $12 million to complete, but hopefully we will be able to reach our goals to a “gold medal” town!