Genoa Park District adds 10 acres to Chamberlain Park with $102K state grant

GENOA – The Genoa Park District recently announced plans to add 10 acres to Chamberlain Park, bolstered by more than $102,000 in stage funding allocated by Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration this month.

A total of $2.4 million was distributed through the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to parks across the state, including Genoa. The new land is adjacent to Chamberlain Park, 400 E. Second St. in Genoa.

Genoa Park District Executive Director Paul Bafia said the sale closed right before Christmas but the district has not yet decided exactly how the land will be used.

“It will expand Chamberlain Park and, down the road, we’ll add other park amenities to it,” Bafia said. “We have five years before we have to start development on it, so over the next couple of years, we’ll start planning on exactly what we’re going to put on it.

“And then we’ll probably go back out in a couple of years and apply for another grant to help with the development of the land.”

Chamberlain Park has four softball fields, three baggo courts, two basketball courts, a sand volleyball court, a skate park and a bocce court, as well as shelters and playgrounds. The district’s administrative offices and aquatic center also are located inside the park.

With the land acquisition, Chamberlain Park has expanded by 38%. Bafia said this isn’t the first time the park district has bought land years before it intends to decide what to do with it.

“We did this about 15 years ago,” Bafia said. “We bought 13 acres from the same person that owns the farmland that we sat on for a couple of years, and then we went back again and got another grant to help develop it, and then we built a bunch of stuff on it.

“This time, we just thought it was a good time to go ahead and try to purchase the property, and then we’ll sit on it, like I said, for a couple of years. And in that time frame do some more planning and figure out exactly what we want to put on that land.”