MASTER PLAN
The City of Lake Forest Parks and Recreation Department, in partnership with the Friends of Lake Forest Parks and Recreation Foundation, developed this plan in 2019 to guide park, facility, and program development decisions for the next ten years.
Master Plan Adopted for Northcroft Park
Thank you to the residents of all ages who helped shape the Master Plan for Northcroft Park by participating in engagement sessions, sharing feedback, and completing online surveys!
Resident feedback helped refine the elements to include in the Master Plan, highlighting the City’s dedication to community engagement. City Council approved the Master Plan on September 16, 2024.
Superintendent of Parks, Forestry, and Natural Resources Chuck Myers presented about the process and the final plan at the City Council Meeting. Watch the presentation.
Background
The 2019 Parks and Recreation Master Plan was developed as a comprehensive 10-year strategic plan to guide future improvements for all City parks and recreation facilities. While the comprehensive Master Plan provides a high-level guide for City-wide planning, the City develops individual Master Plans to dive deeper into details for individual park sites.
About Northcroft Park
Northcroft Park is one of six neighborhood parks in the City of Lake Forest and is located in the far southern portion of the City. The park is approximately 30 acres and contains a variety of recreation facilities including tennis courts, an asphalt walking path loop, turf fields for soccer and lacrosse, a playground, a picnic pavilion with restrooms and maintenance shop. The park is bordered by single-family residential to the north, east, and partially to the south.
community engagement Process
During the first phase of the process, the City gathered input to better understand how residents currently use the park and identify opportunities for improvement. Over 100 people attended a community engagement session called Planning and Pizza in the Park on May 24, 2023. Through conversations, comment cards, and children's activity sheets, we heard great feedback from residents of all ages.
In addition to the engagement session, 440 responses were collected via an online survey from May 25-June 15, 2023. Preliminary design concepts were created using feedback collected through the online survey and community engagement session.
The City hosted second a S'mores and More! Community Engagement Session on October 17, 2023 to gather resident feedback on the preliminary design concepts. Additionally, 176 responses on the preliminary concepts were collected via an online survey from October 17-November 3, 2023. The community engagement session and second survey provided helpful feedback that was used to develop a final schematic design.
City staff worked with Hitchcock Design to complete the design phase of the master plan that was presented to and approved by the Parks & Recreation Board in March 2024. City Council officially approved the Master Plan for Northcroft Park in September 2024.
next Steps
In alignment with the City’s tradition of long-term planning, the Northcroft Park Master Plan will act as a guide as elements from the plan are incorporated into capital planning over the next 3-10 years.
Questions?
If you have any questions, please contact Superintendent of Parks and Forestry Chuck Myers at myersc@cityoflakeforest.com or (847) 810-3565.
