Geneva park board OKs land buy for Peck Farm

Peck Farm Park will get a little larger with the Geneva Park District's purchase Monday of land near the park's southeast corner.

The park board agreed to pay $1.35 million for a little less than 12 acres on the northwest corner of Fabyan Parkway and Viking Drive.

The land is owned by the Pauline M. Peterson Living Trust.

The district is buying the land with a 10-year installment contract. The district will lease the land to the Peterson family over the 10-year period to permit it to be farmed.

The 395-acre Peck Farm Park was put together from land owned by three farming families: small portions from the Miller and Thompson families just to the west of the Peterson property with the majority coming from the Peck family. The land has been restored to its original prairie state, including wetlands.

The park has a nature center, an observation silo, a butterfly house, picnic grounds, walking and bicycling trails, soccer fields and baseball diamonds. The district plans to build a small outdoor amphitheater on the grounds for musical performances and other events.

Money for the park addition will come from the district's land acquisition fund. Whenever the district receives a grant reimbursing it for land it has purchased, it puts the money in the fund to use for future purchases.

The site was identified for purchase in the district's 2004 master plan.