Lake Villa Township plans park for senior citizens; ‘Our population is beginning to age’

Lake Villa Township plans to buy a vacant five-acre parcel just north of Caboose Park for development of activities aimed primarily at senior citizens.

Discussions with Lake Villa School District 41, which owns the property at 38196 N. Fairfield Road, began last August.

Plans for the new park include pickleball courts, a shuffleboard area and community garden plots. The $125,000 sale is expected to close within 30 days.

“We had the support of the school district board,” township Supervisor Dan Venturi said. “The project benefits the school community as well as the township community. They had the property for awhile and communicated informally, whether there was a use that the township could see for the community.”

One of the two caboose train cars at Lake Villa Township’s Caboose Park. The township approved the purchase of a five-acre parcel that is being eyed for senior recreational activities. (Gregory Harutunian / Lake County News-Sun)

Anna Kasprzyk, the school district’s chief business officer, said, “This property has been vacant for a long time, and our board has always been interested in developing it with the township to serve the community at-large. The (park) idea came from the township, and our board fully supported this development and worked with them to move the project forward.”

Venturi said the new park will be aimed at senior activities. The township’s 120 acres of recreational fields are mostly geared toward youth activities, such as sports. There are already three soccer fields, a football field, two baseball diamonds and the Peacock Camp.

“As time went on, the popularity of pickleball began to rise,” he said. “We also wanted a park themed for senior citizens since our population is beginning to age. Dedicating the park to senior activities makes sense. The object is to go for grant funding over this summer and break ground right away, early next year.”

Caboose Park, southwest of Grand Avenue and Fairfield Road, has 20 acres featuring playgrounds, a sled hill and two caboose cars. One caboose came from Veterans Park in Fox Lake around 1992.

“We use it as a warming station by the ice rink,” Venturi said. “One of the nice amenities is moving the ice rink to those pickleball courts. The current rink is good as long as weather is cold, and it’s so unpredictable.

“We need something to extend the season,” he continued. “We want to install an ice chiller system into the concrete of the court itself.”

Plans for the shuffleboard area and community garden plots received a good reception from more than 30 people at the township’s annual meeting Tuesday. Venturi said there were a number of positive comments about the idea of turning it into a senior-themed recreational site.

The annual township meeting is held on the second Tuesday, every April. Attendees are allowed to cast votes, as long as they are registered in Lake Villa Township.

It was noted that the township already had a title report and preliminary documents on the property, and has scheduled a survey.

Jenny Ashley, who was visiting Caboose Park and attended the meeting, said, “Another park is a great idea.”