New paved path would connect neighborhood, Hastings Lake trail system
A proposed trail connection would only be 370 feet long but pack a big punch for one Lindenhurst neighborhood.
An agreement in the works between the village and Lake County Forest Preserve District would provide for that short link to the four-mile trail system at the Hastings Lake Forest Preserve.
The proposed asphalt trail connection from Hazelwood Drive would provide improved, direct access to more than 1,000 homes and 2,900 people on the south side of the 80-acre lake.
"This is a great little project," said Randy Seebach, the district's director of planning and land preservation.
Residents have been cutting through a vacant residential lot and heavily vegetated forest preserve property to reach the Hastings Lake bicycle and pedestrian trail but the worn path becomes muddy and inaccessible at certain times of the year.
Seebach said the district and village have received numerous requests over the last several years for a connection at Hazelwood Drive.
Forest preserve officials last November informally agreed to proceed with an intergovernmental agreement with the village for construction and maintenance of the link.
Under terms of the agreement to be voted on by both boards in coming weeks, the district will provide all labor and equipment and use in-house crews to build an eight-foot wide trail link.
The district will prepare the construction plans and secure permits. The village will reimburse the district for materials and contribute a maximum of $19,450 toward the trail, Village Administrator Clay Johnson said.
Talks have been ongoing for some time. The village secured the route in July by purchasing the lot for $49,506, Johnson added. The subdivision was built in the 1950s but the lot was never built on.
"I started mowing it 50 years ago," said Carol Kasper, who lives two doors down and supports the proposed trail segment.
A road behind her home, now part of the trail loop around the lake, was used by the former Hastings Lake YMCA camp, which operated from 1923 to 2002. The district bought the 270-acre property for $10 million.
The Hazelwood Drive link will hug the western part of the lot avoiding two large, old oak trees on the east side, Seebach noted. Construction is planned for spring or early summer 2019 and is expected to take two weeks.
Two other trail spurs provide access to the preserve from the Seven Hills and Mallard Ridge subdivisions but the main preserve entrance is on Gelden Road north of the lake. A trail connection to Grass Lake Road on the east side of the lake is also available.
Hastings Lake trails are open to bicycling, hiking, cross-country skiing and inline skating but horses and snowmobiles are not permitted.