Acquired nearly a year ago, the Lake County Forest Preserves District’s Openlands Lakeshore Preserve will soon become about 20% larger, with plans to build trails to connect it to the district’s other lakefront land in Highland Park and Lake Forest.
The Lake County Forest Preserves District Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the purchase of 18.2 acres of the former Ft. Sheridan adjacent to the Openlands preserve Tuesday in Waukegan, creating a larger footprint along Lake Michigan.
With a little more of the Lake Michigan shoreline now in the public domain, Lake County Board Chair Sandy Hart, D-Lake Bluff, said planning should be more long-term than the usual strategic planning.
“We need a 100-year plan,” Hart said. “We have 100 years of using this land along the lake. It’s something we are preserving for everybody.”
Commissioner Paul Frank, D-Highland Park, said expanding the Openlands Preserve and the district’s entire property at the one-time headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Army is an “exciting” move.
“It’s really great our district is not only able to preserve habitat, but it’s also an opportunity to do some important restoration work on this parcel in the future,” Frank said after the meeting.
“This is amazing,” added Commissioner John Wasik, D-Grayslake. “It’s in the public domain in perpetuity.”
Ken Jones, the district’s director of land preservation, said the county will pay $6 million to the federal government for the 18.2 acres of mostly wooded land, which the U.S. Navy is currently managing. The entire area is in Highland Park and Highwood.
Once the Navy signs the contract, hopefully within the next two weeks, Jones said the district will begin its due diligence, which includes a survey and an environmental study. He anticipates the contingency period will take 30 to 60 days, with a closing 90 days after the contract is signed by all parties.
Jones said long-term planning for the area will be part of a master plan which will be developed. Funding will come from a $155 million referendum the Forest Preserves District is asking voters to approve in the Nov 5 election.
Pending approval of the referendum, Jones said $60 million will be used to acquire new property, and the remaining $95 million will be used for improvements, including a portion for the entire Ft. Sheridan Preserve of 321.2 acres and two miles of shoreline.
Before the district acquired the 71.5-acre Openlands Lakeshore Preserve just under a year ago from the Chicago-based organization as a gift from Openlands, Jones said it already owned 249.7 acres east of Sheridan Road to the north. It is mostly north of Old Elm Road in Highland Park and Lake Forest.
Going east from Sheridan Road to Lake Michigan, Jones said the northern portion of the preserve has both hard and soft trails, a bird trail, an overlook to the lake, a historical gun emplacement as a reminder of the area’s military past, several ravines and a very large ornamental bird’s nest.
“It’s a place kids can walk into and look around,” Jones said. “People take pictures there.”
With the only direct link between the two parcels going along the beach, Jones said it is a challenge the forest preserves district intends to overcome.
