{"id":23486,"date":"2026-03-03T01:03:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T01:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/23486\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T01:03:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T01:03:07","slug":"geneva-neighbors-object-to-removing-sam-hill-park-for-new-police-station-shaw-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/23486\/","title":{"rendered":"Geneva neighbors object to removing Sam Hill Park for new police station \u2013 Shaw Local"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to Sam Hill<\/a> Park, the late alderman and commissioner on the Geneva<\/a> Park District, whose name was dedicated to the South Street ballfields in 2022. <\/p>\n

The city-owned property next to the Public Works building will be the site for a new police station if voters approve the $59.4 million public safety referendum<\/a> on the March 17 primary ballot.<\/p>\n

And that means the name Sam Hill Park will have to move. <\/p>\n

Neighbors in the 42-home Dover Ridge subdivision, such as Rob Humphreys, object.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the neighbors are upset,\u201d Humphreys said. \u201cHe was a legacy in that neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Humphreys said the city should explore other places to build a police station.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of history in this neighborhood because Sam and Carolyn Hill founded this neighborhood,\u201d Humphreys said. \u201cIt\u2019s her name and her family\u2019s name which we\u2019re trying to honor her park and keep it in her family.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Sam Hill (left), former Geneva alderman, and Jim King of Batavia started a memory cafe as an informal social gathering where people in the early stages of Alzheimer\u2019s Disease or other forms of memory loss can connect with others in similar situations. (Sandy Bressner)<\/p>\n

Fifth Ward Alderpersons Mark Reinecke and Jeff Palmquist met with him and about 25 neighbors a couple of weeks ago. <\/p>\n

\u201cMark and I were happy to meet with the neighbors and answer questions,\u201d Palmquist said. \u201cThe Facilities Master Plan did explore quite a few different sites, but this was the one that emerged as the preferred site.\u201d<\/p>\n

The meeting with alderpersons included Carolyn Hill<\/a>, Sam\u2019s widow, who now lives in Batavia. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a very emotional meeting,\u201d Humphreys said. \u201cShe made a comment to the alderman, \u2018What do I tell my children and grandchildren about Sam Hill Park demolished for a police department?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Humphreys said the response was, \u201c\u2018We\u2019ll just move the sign.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot good enough,\u201d Humphreys said. \u201cIt was a slap in the face to the widower.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carolyn Hill agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes it was,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe [Sam Hill] was very pro Geneva \u2013 city or parks \u2013 but I\u2019m not sure he would have said, \u2018Put the sign somewhere else,\u2019\u201d Carolyn Hill said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe city has always been a proponent of open space and parks,\u201d Carolyn Hill said. \u201cThe primary issue is losing the park, taking the open space. … I think the neighbors need to feel they have a right to protest a location.\u201d <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Longtime community volunteers First Ward Alderman Sam Hill and his wife, Carolyn Hill, received the 2009 Geneva Chamber of Commerce Wood Community Service Award Tuesday night. (Brenda Schory – bschory@kcchronicle.com) <\/p>\n

Geneva Park District Board President Jay Moffat said the district is under its second 25-year lease of the South Street ballfields with the city. <\/p>\n

If the referendum passes, negotiations have already started about finding land to replace the ballfields, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, we the park district are concerned, but we believe we have a good cooperative arrangement with the city moving forward to find additional space to put the ballfields,\u201d Moffat said. \u201cIt would be unfortunate to lose the ballfields, but it\u2019s the reality of what is in the better interest of the entire population of Geneva. I\u2019m sure we are going to find something that would be appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most people don\u2019t even call it Sam Hill Park, Moffat said.<\/p>\n

The 17-acre site is noted on the park district\u2019s website<\/a> as South Street Athletic Fields.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are concerned about losing those two ballfields,\u201d Moffat said. \u201cThere\u2019s 50 games a year there, not to mention all the practice that takes place on those fields. We are confident the city and park district will work cooperatively to find a location to build new ballfields to take care of that situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mayor Kevin Burns added that the city and park district have a long history of collaboration.<\/p>\n

\u201cShould the voters approve the referendum, the park district and neighbors can rest assured that the city will partner with all stakeholders to ensure minimal disruptions in the immediate and long-term,\u201d Burns said.<\/p>\n

As to where Sam Hill Park would move, Moffat said they could memorialize him in another area.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will definitely have something named after Sam Hill,\u201d Moffat said. \u201cSam Hill was a true statesman in the community, a rare thing in these days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moffat said the nearby skate park would also have to be relocated.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good idea about moving the skate park to an area with more intense use than the current location \u2013 more in the geographic center of the park district,\u201d Moffat said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome to Sam Hill Park, the late alderman and commissioner on the Geneva Park District, whose name was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23487,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[1979,65,898,305,899],"class_list":{"0":"post-23486","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-geneva","8":"tag-breaking","9":"tag-geneva","10":"tag-kane-county","11":"tag-local","12":"tag-local-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}