Boat launch usage prompts Machesney Park to expand parking area

By Bob Balgemann
REPORTER
Heavy usage of the new boat ramp along the Rock River is prompting the village to buy additional land to keep up with the demand for parking.
Village board members voted 6-0 May 15 to approve the purchase of a lot adjacent to two parcels the village already owns.
A couple of factors were involved in that decision.
First, the village already has acquired 100 lots in this area, which were damaged by the June 2008 flood, through its voluntary buyout program. Most of them are not close to the boat ramp, or they are along the shoreline.
Officials thought it would be in everyone’s best interests to keep parking areas away from the shoreline, reserving those properties for future use.
Second, two of the lots acquired by the village are across the street from the boat launch facility. But Village Administrator Tim Savage said those parcels were not large enough to add usable parking. So officials reached out to the owner of

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