Health & Fitness
What Should Happen to the Sileno Quarry?
An old stone quarry is under consideration for development into a public park and housing.
There is an old stone and gravel quarry on the east side of Brookfield. Look for the water tower on Burleigh around 135th Street — it's south of (behind) the tower. Most people don't even know it's there. It's known as the Sileno Quarry after the current owner and there is renewed interest in developing it into a public park and some housing.
The north side of the parcel is large enough to build something such as condominiums. One proposal is to allow the current owner to build those if he gives the unbuildable area with the water, over 80 acres, to the city for parkland plus some money to pay for park development. Park use would include an entrance road, parking, hiking trails and picnic areas. It would be difficult to allow water usage such as swimming and boating due to safety issues and access.
Look at the attached photos. The first one is an aerial photo taken by the city and labelled as:
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- A - the existing Burleigh water tower
- B - where photo from the north side was taken
- C - where photo from the east side was taken
The potential is tremendous, but so are the challenges. Part of what creates a premier city instead of just another suburb is unique attractions like a regional shopping center (Blue Mound Road, anyone?) or a unique park like this. Of course, nothing is free, so tax money will have to be committed forever.
Should the city step up to the plate and develop a park area or should the parcel just stay the way it is — beautiful and unknown?
