More than two dozen people showed up to the last in the series of parks workshops, this one on Whispering Hills. In contrast to the other workshops, that drew residents from the immediate neighborhood, this workshop drew people from the entire city and even some from other cities. This diversity was seen in the two major directions that discussions took. One group argued for a quiet passive park, with no restrooms or parking lots, and no large scale events that might draw buses, crowds, and the resulting noise: the type of typical neighborhood park that fills the city. Another group argued for a community garden education center that would attract people from all over the city, that would provide a parking lot (and possibly even a new traffic signal) and restrooms for the non-local participants and for the buses that would bring school children to the park to learn about gardening.
Apart from these two major groups, other asked for a dog park, a pickleball court, water features, and a scenic overlook.
As with all the other recommendations, the consulting group is preparing a report to go to the Parks Commission and then eventually to the City Council.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and you can share your thoughts about the City at Lake Forest Town Square on Facebook. His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.
Find out what's happening in Lake Forestfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Dr. Gardner has office hours every Tuesday from 4 pm to 6 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a Town Hall meeting every quarter. The next meeting will be in May.
