FOND DU LAC (NBC 26) — Even though it's currently a little cold for spending time outside, Fond du Lac is unveiling its ideas for the future of the city's parks with a 2025-2029 Outdoor Recreation Plan.
- The city's five-year Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (CORP) reviewed the current state of the park system and made future recommendations.
- Recommendations include making trails more accessible, adding more parking to Adelaide Park, and building plaques at parks to showcase their histories.
- Video shows more about what improvements could be coming.
One highlight of the five-year plan is making trails and parks more accessible for people with disabilities.
"We were just talking to a gentleman who can't access the fishing areas at Lakeside Park, and that'd be something we'd really want to take a good look at," said park board president John Pappenheim.
Watch: Revamping recreation: FDL unveils plans to improve city parks, trail system
Pappenheim said improving park accessibility is part of the city’s Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan or CORP.
"We've got new playgrounds going in at some of the other parks," Pappenheim said. "We're taking a really good, close look at places like the riverfront downtown and the improvements that can be made [there]."
Public Works Director Paul DeVries said one project in the plan involves working with the historical society to research the parks’ histories and create informative plaques at the parks.
"The park board is going to take that research to develop into, assign a plaque that can be installed at all the parks, and just give a brief history, like when it was a park, what's it named for, basic things like that," DeVries said.
At Adelaide Park, the city also wants to add amenities to the park’s new pickleball courts.
"That's a huge, hugely popular sport, so we probably will add some parking there, maybe a restroom," DeVries said.
Pappenheim said a popular recent park improvement is the synthetic ice rink at McDermott Park, which he said he hopes the city expands.
"I'd also like to see down the road somewhere, an opportunity to rent skates here and to use it that way," Pappenheim said.
DeVries said improving the parks could help attract more people to the city.
"There's a lot of data out there that would say a good park system is very attractive to whether you're a young, single person, or have a young family, or you're retired, or whatever," DeVries said. "You see all ages using parks and trails."
The city council has already approved some of these plans for 2025—like painting the gazebo at Lakeside Park.
Other plans, like some accessible trail modifications or ice skating rink updates, would still need council approval.
