The Lake County Forest Preserve District board, which expected to be sifting through golf course proposals from prospective developers by now, is again weighing its options for a 250-acres site overlooking Lake Michigan.
Lake County Forest Preserve District Executive Director Tom Hahn said a downturn in the golfing industry could be why developers passed on the golf course plan, which has been in the works for the past decade. The deadline for bid requests was earlier this month with no takers.
In 2007, the district had 102,000 rounds played at its courses, but by 2011, it’d dropped 23 percent to 79,000, Hahn said.
The climate out there for the golf industry is poor,” Hahn said. “Many golf courses are closing down.”
The forest preserve district staff will be working on other options for site and will present them to the board over the next two months, said Hahn, who declined to comment on what those options might be.
Highland Park resident Sonny Cohen, a vocal opponent of the proposed golf course, hopes the lack of interest will encourage the district board to dump the golf course idea.
Cohen, who does not believes a golf course at the site is economically feasible, would like the area to be turned into a forest preserve. But that would likely present significant obstacles for the district.
The land was once owned by the U.S. Army, which closed its Fort Sheridan base on the property in 1993. The property’s northern section included an 18-hole golf course, as well as open land.
When the Army transferred the property to the Lake County Forest Preserve District, there was a deed restriction requiring the operation and maintenance of a golf course “in perpetuity.”
The existing course was closed in 2003, and the development of the new course was delayed when budget estimates came in too high, officials said.
Many Fort Sheridan residents still want the forest preserve district to honor that restriction, said Chuck Bley, president of the Fort Sheridan Master Homeowners Association. He said the district’s proposal may have had too many expectations and not enough incentives for developers to take a chance–especially as the golf course industry is struggling.
But he still hopes the district fulfills its promise to the association’s more than 550 homeowners, many of whom bought their homes in the area with the idea that they’d be living by a golf course. If not,he’d like the district to compensate the homeowners, but could not specify how the district might do that.
“People here have bought their homes at premium prices with the expectation that they’d be on a golf course,” Bley said. “Many now feel they’ve been cheated.
