Despite opposition from four commissioners, the county’s Forest Preserve District on Thursday voted to pay $1.15 million for 5 acres near Stateville Penitentiary. The four dissenters questioned spending $230,000 per acre for the vacant property in Crest Hill.
The district intends to use the land to buffer and expand its Lockport Prairie Nature Preserve and to protect the Hine’s emerald dragonfly’s environment.
Director of Planning and Operations Marcy DeMauro told the district board that the city of Lockport previously sold the property to Lemont resident John Ratkovich, who planned to develop the property, which abuts the Prairie Bluff Golf Course.
There are no sewer or water lines to the property, however, so Ratkovich would have had to install wells and septic, DeMauro said
Commissioner Tom Weigel (R-New Lenox) criticized paying the “excessive price” for the property on Renwick Road. “We have several hundred acres in the area. I don’t see what this will do for the forest preserve,” Weigel said.
Joining Weigel in opposing the purchase were Democrats Walt Adamic and Steve Wilhelmi and Republican Don Gould, all of Joliet.
Adamic and Wilhelmi also opposed paying Oak Lawn resident Robert E. Kenny Jr. $8.3 million for 213 acres in University Park. The purchase price is approximately $1.4 million higher than the land values determined by district appraisers.
Kenny’s property is part of a 308-acre purchase intended to protect headwaters and wetlands associated with Thorn Creek. The acreage represents the largest unprotected portion of the Thorn Creek greenway left in Will County, District Executive Director Michael Pasteris said.