What’s Going On At Gillson?

Keep informed! Stand Up! Speak Up!

The Park Board consultants have issued five new concept proposals for Gillson Park. For a detailed analysis of each, click HERE. To see the proposed concepts PDF, click HERE.

These concepts are more modest and less objectionable than the four over-the-top plans presented in May. But they still do not adequately reflect residents’ long held view that any improvements to Gillson must be minimal and must not impact its natural beauty and character.

Please take the time to educate yourself. We have detailed analyses of the five concepts that can be found HERE.

We support Concept #1, excluding allowing traffic or parking along Middle Drive. This concept makes no changes, except to add a bike/walking path in the park. It doesn’t upend the park or change the traffic flow to add parking that we do not need. There are 357 parking spots at the beach. On the few summer weekend days that lot is full, users can find parking elsewhere.

Concept #1 is the only concept that respects residents’ wishes to leave Gillson alone. In survey after survey, and in the failed 2015 referendum, residents have consistently and overwhelmingly said that they like Gillson as it is. Fix the roads and sewers that are broken, adopt a master landscaping plan, improve pedestrian and bike access into the park, preserve open space, and protect the trees. The consultants admit that Concept #1 was the “most popular overall” during three recent open houses. Their own, unscientific survey conducted this summer affirms this view. When presenting the four of the five concepts, the consultants said that residents spoke loudly and clearly over and over again --- Simple, Simple, Simple.

Only Concept #1 is simple. The primary purpose of the others seems to be to squeeze more and more parking into Gillson, not for beachgoers on the hot summer weekends, but to serve the Board’s recently approved plan to spend $1 million to expand and develop Lakeview Center in the hopes of generating revenue from larger and larger events and weddings..

There will never be enough parking for beachgoers in Gillson on summer weekends. A 2013 traffic study of the park showed that on some summer weekends, more than 700 cars were parked on nearby streets. At all other times of the year, the beach lot is empty. Why add concrete, cut down beautiful trees, and move and widen roads -- spending money doing so -- to add parking that will only be used 10 or 12 days a year? And how much parking is really added? The greatest number of spots added under any concept is 40. All this disruption to the park for 40 spots? it doesn’t make sense.

None of these concepts measurably increases open, beneficial natural space. Removing useful roads with lawn is not “green.” Lawn has almost no ecological value. Each concept removes beautiful, mature trees. Every road in Gillson is lined with trees. If roads are removed, widened, or moved, tree roots are likely to be severely damaged and the trees may ultimately die. The Board should not be so cavalier with our mature trees. Not only are they majestic, but they are also superheroes in the fight against climate change, storing tremendous amounts of carbon, cooling temperatures up to 17 degrees or more, and absorbing stormwater to prevent flooding. They are valuable infrastructure assets just like water lines, utilities, and sewers.

The consultants say that they will replace each tree removed with a new tree. That is not how it works. You can’t replace a large tree with a young sapling and get the same benefits. According to the Morton Arboretum, for every 20” diameter maple that is cut down, you have to plant 50 2” trees, and, even then, it will be generations before you get the full benefits from those young saplings that you get from a mature tree. That takes generations. The Park District already acknowledges that 56 trees--not necessarily the trees designated to be removed in the concepts-- are diseased or dying and need to be cut down. Our community cannot afford to lose more mature trees. To the contrary, a responsible choice would be to plant more and more trees.

None of the concepts appears intuitive or forward thinking. Climate change is not mentioned once in the consultants’ 29-page proposals. Where are the solar panels, car charging stations, electric vehicles and mowers, green infrastructure, and commitment to biodiversity and preserving wildlife and bird habitat? This is 2021. Climate change is real. Why is there not one word about it in a Comprehensive Plan for the next ten years?

None of the concepts includes cost projections. For years, the Board has told us that roads need to be repaired and the sewers are broken. The consultants have said that there are significant drainage issues at both ends of the beach parking lot and near the dog beach. In addition, the Board has budgeted $1.95 million to shore up the bluff at Langdon, a figure some say is too conservative. The Board has also promised us a Master Landscaping Plan to enhance the natural aspects of Gillson. The Park District only recently undertook an inventory of the trees in the park and admits that it has not adequately maintained them. Over the last 15 years, they have planted only 8 trees in Gillson.

These are all needs for Gillson, and all are expensive. What is in the concepts are wants--a wish list. A responsible steward of the land--and of public funds-- would address the needs before even thinking about the wants. The Board has yet to fully determine the details of the needs, much less the expected costs. That should be the first priority. We ask the Board to undertake that before asking us to evaluate or comment on the concepts.