Chart Our Future City of Lake Forest Parks & Recreation Master Plan | Page 112

Stakeholder Input
The following summary is an overview of input received from the stakeholder interviews and staff workshops facilitated
as part of the comprehensive master planning process.
Stakeholder input was collected through two
processes. On June 6, the planning team conducted
a workshop with 10 staff members from the Parks
and Recreation Department. Participants were
asked to generate ideas answering the question
“What should the City of Lake Forest focus on over
the next ten years?”. Each participant submitted
their highest priorities and the group voted on the
items they thought were the most important.
The planning team also facilitated a series of
stakeholder interviews on June 6 in which 10
stakeholders from associated resident, business,
and government organizations shared their
observations about the Department and
suggestions for the future in a conversational
format. An additional 3 representatives provided
input via phone interviews on June 13 and
14. Participants represented the following
organizations: Lake Forest Dance Academy, CROYA,
Kinderhaven, MSSRA, AYSO, the Sailing Program,
and Lacrosse, Soccer, and Baseball Associations The
following summarizes the results of the staff and
stakeholder meetings.
Indoor Space and Facilities
Comments regarding the City’s indoor space
largely fell into two categories: updates and new
amenities. A general comment heard from staff and
stakeholders is that the indoor spaces, especially
the fitness center, are outdated and not up to the
standards of comparable, affluent communities
in the area. Staff commented that the entire
Recreation Center, including the fitness center,
is in need or updates and renovation. They also
suggested new spaces including homework/study
and social spaces.
For new amenities, stakeholders suggested adding
indoor turf and adding more gymnasiums. Some
requested an expansion to the fitness center while
others prefer it remains small so as not to compete
with private providers. Staff suggested adding
an indoor pool and artificial turf, potentially in a
new field house or recreation center if the existing
building cannot accommodate the City’s indoor
space needs.
Programs
Staff did not address programming but
stakeholders had several positive comments.
Specifically, the stakeholders praised the Dance and
Kinderhaven programs but feel both could expand
if more space were available.
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CITY OF LAKE FOREST PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT COMPREHENSIVE MASTER PLAN
Parks and Open Space
While open space in Lake Forest is generally
well-received by the stakeholders, participants
suggested a few areas that could be improved
including the expansion of paths for walking
and biking and the need to keep up with trends.
Stakeholders also suggested that awareness of the
available resources and parks could be improved.
Athletic fields were one of the only amenities
in which stakeholders and staff expressed
dissatisfaction. The City provides a good quantity
of fields but many have drainage issues that limit
playability. Both groups suggested the addition
of synthetic turf and sports lighting to improve
playability. Staff suggested additional solutions
including the creation of a new grid field complex
and/or indoor turf. There was debate among the
stakeholders if multi-use or single-purpose fields
are more appropriate for the community.
Staff also suggested improvements to the City
baseball and softball fields such as adding fencing
and scoreboards.
In addition to updating current amenities, staff
proposed the addition of outdoor performance
space, a disc golf course, and water play at a
playground.
CHAPTER 4