Spring to bring improvements at county park

Work will soon begin at Hawthorne Hills County Park to make improvements to Sugar Maple Nature School and to prepare for the construction of bathrooms for a new campground to be built nearby.

County supervisors recently approved plans to build a 750-square-foot storage shed near the school, which is south of Pioneer Village and north of the county golf course.

The county will prepare the site and the school will purchase the shed and move it to the site.

Installing the shed will help free more classroom space in the 8,700-square-foot school where classes are held for the 124 students as well as office space for staff.

The outdoor nature school uses the park as its outdoor classroom and hopes to expand its enrollment.

Supervisors also have approved plans to add a 2,000-square-foot natural playground and make other improvements to the school. The playground would be open to the public.

The first phase of the playground would include an “active play” zone featuring a downed-tree climbing structure, climbing nets, log balance beams, stump walks and  an overhead climber.

The second phase would include a “creative play” zone focusing on “exploration and collaboration, offering a wheelchair-accessible mud kitchen, a loose-parts construction area stocked with natural materials and additional open-ended discovery elements that invite imaginative play.”

Plans also call for adding a community garden and a greenhouse-type structure.

The school is in the second year of a five-year lease from the county.

Discussion has begun regarding extending the school’s lease.

The school added a seventh grade this year and plans to add eighth grade for the 2026-2027 school year. The school also hopes to add a nature-based day-care center at some point.

The school is a tuition-free, public charter school authorized by the Northern Ozaukee School District.

Last year, the school received a $1 million Wisconsin Charter School Program grant to fund operational expenses for the creation of sixth, seventh and eighth- grade classes.

The school has access to the 57-acre Hawthorne Hills Park and 67-acre Shady Lane Natural Area as an outdoor classroom and learning lab, including to a nearby pond and the Milwaukee River.

The school can also use a nearby maintenance building, bathrooms, showers,  parking lot and, in case of severe weather, offices and other rooms.

The school is paying the county $68,000 this year to lease the property, which increases 5% a year. It also has helped pay for a number of improvements to the site.

In other action, supervisors approved aa contract for architectural design and engineering services for bathrooms at the campground planned at Hawthorne Hills.

They chose Kueny Architects for $43,166 over two other firms.

The county has hired Kueny for several projects, including the bathroom pavilions at Lion’s Den Gorge Nature Preserve County Park, Covered Bridge Park and the multi-purpose maintenance building at Hawthorne Hills.

Plans call for installing 32 campsites, most of them suitable for recreational vehicles.