Municipal Dispute Causes Controversy at October Forest Preserve District Board Meeting

September and October 2015 Forest Preserve District of Cook County Board Meetings

September 2015

 

--Due to the budget impasse in Springfield, $4.5 million in grants from the State have been suspended.  These grants include funding for dam removal to improve stormwater management & habitat restoration; strategic land acquisitions; invasive species training and control; projects at Brookfield Zoo and the Chicago Botanic Garden, among other things. Though awarded, these grants are on indefinite freeze. According to the FPDCC, the suspension "jeopardizes the State's ability to attract future federal funding and threatens to waste investments already made..." In response to the suspension, the commissioners  approved a resolution calling for the release of frozen grant funds, to be sent to Governor Rauner with copies to IDNR and IEPA. (#15-0531)

--Item #15-0467 addressed a report about expansion of the Conservation Corps, a strategy for training out-of-school youth (ages 18-24), as well as those involved with the justice system, which is a priority of the Next Century Conservation Plan. 

--The FPDCC receives 1-2 calls a week from donors wanting to honor or memorialize someone with a tree or bench in the preserves. The Forest Preserve Foundation will now manage the tree & bench donation program. (#15-0481)

--Through Chicago Wilderness, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has given FPDCC a $20,000 grant (with a $20,000 match) to make FPDCC the premiere birding destination, to promote birding to diverse audiences, and to provide birding resources to new & experienced birders. (#15-0487)

  

October 2015

FPDCC access to Lake Michigan water at its largest police facility was the issue that triggered extensive and heated public testimony as well as much commissioner discussion--beginning with the September Board meeting and continuing for more than three hours at the October Board meeting.  It is unlikely that FPDCC Superintendent Arnold Randall anticipated such a vigorous response to what  appeared to be a straightforward request. That is, the FPDCC asked the Village of Palos Park to provide Lake Michigan water to its police substation in unincorporated Lemont Township because the shallow well that has been providing water is failing. Additionally, at a future date, Palos Park could be asked to supply water and sewer services to the nearby FPDCC campgrounds.

In reality, the testimony during discussion of  Real Estate Item 15-0198 had little to do with supplying water through an intergovernmental agreement, as you will read below.

Palos Park's response to FPDCC was that they could only provide water & sewer services to properties within its corporate boundaries.  Thus, FPDCC requested annexation to Palos Park. (It's worth noting that 30% of the FPDCC's holdings lay within the corporate boundaries of Palos Park.  Annexation does not involve transfer of land nor any rights to the land by Palos Park.) 

The controversy that ensued between Palos Park and Lemont's village government & many Lemont residents began with the fact that the 152 acre tract on which FPDCC police facility is located is contiguous to the village of Lemont but not contiguous with Palos Park.  Large tracts of FPDCC land separate Palos Park's corporate boundaries from the 152 acres proposed for annexation (the southeast corner of Bell & McCarthy Rds.). 

Given this physical separation, how could annexation to Palos Park occur?  A recent change in state law now allows for such annexations by  "jumping over" the forest preserves, in essence using them as a bridge.

Why should the Village of Lemont (which is on well water) care that Palos Park has been asked to supply Lake Michigan water to the FPDCC police substation? Lemont's real concern is not about providing water to this 152 acres, but that annexation of this parcel by Palos Park would give Palos the needed link to annex more than 1,400 acres in unincorporated Lemont Township. Lemont is concerned about the density of future development and its impact on Lemont schools, library, & park district; and nearby homeowners fear smaller lot sizes will affect their quality of life and property values.  However, the three major owners of the 1,400 acres in question (Cog Hill Country Club, Gleneagles Country Club, and Ludwig Farms) dispute the claims and characterization of their future development intentions by Lemont village government and its citizens; and those three owners prefer annexation by Palos Park rather than Lemont. 

As became abundantly clear during the 3+ hours of testimony in which Palos Park, the FPDCC, and the major landowners were demonized by some of the 26 public speakers, neither village made any effort to talk with the other about the proposed annexation--much to the chagrin of the FPDCC commissioners. In the end, the FPDCC approved the annexation.  Commissioners Richard Boykin and Larry Suffredin dissented, with Suffredin commenting that their approval improperly injected the FPDCC in the middle of regional land use planning.

The possible future development of this 1,400 acres is a saga going back more than 10 years. A more detailed account was reported in the Chicago Tribune.  

 

Other October agenda items of note. . .

--Resting points for users of the North Branch trail will be enhanced by Friends of the Forest Preserve's donation of up to $42,000 for the purchase and installation of up to 21 benches and 14 bicycle racks at specified locations. (#15-0538)

--The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation has given a $50,000 grant for restoration of 22 acres of migratory bird habitat in LaBagh Woods on Chicago's northwest side. The project is a partnership with the Chicago Park District, Friends of the Chicago River, Lincoln Park Zoo's Urban Wildlife Institute, Chicago Audubon Society, Chicago Ornithological Society, the Bird Conservation Network, and Greencorps. (#15-0545)

--USDA's Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) has extended through September 2017 its Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grant to improve habitat for marshland birds at Eggers Woods in Chicago.  The $56,000 grant has a $28,000 match from FPDCC. (#15-0550)

--Also through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, USDA's NRCS is extending its grant (which requires $42,000 in matching funds) for work at Turnbull Woods, specifically to improve amphibian habitat and suitability for migratory bird stopovers. (#15-0553) 

--A  two-year U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant of ~$123,000 (with a $43,000 match by FPDCC) will permit 35 acre habitat restoration of the king rail, an Illinois endangered bird species, at Barrington's Crabtree Nature Center.  The grant also involves the banding & monitoring of birds (#15-0568).

Submitted by Sheri Latash