In 1961 when Frank Bellinger was elected to the Du Page County Forest Preserve Commission, the commission owned a total of 1,500 acres of forest preserve in small parks around the county.
The largest was no bigger than 150 acres, and most were between 50 and 100 acres.
It`s a far cry from the current forest preserve system, which totals more than 18,000 acres. Five preserves total more than 1,000 acres each, one of which encompasses nearly 2,500 acres. Any one of the five would qualify as a state park, officials say.
”I have forever changed the shape and the livability of Du Page County,” says Frank Bellinger, who is retiring in December from the commission and the Du Page County Board.
The senior member of the county board and forest preserve commission, Bellinger has been a leader in the spending of nearly $250 million to buy some of the county`s dwindling vacant land.
He and the commission haven`t asked voters for permission each time they decided to borrow cash to expand the commission`s land acquisition program.
A year ago, when the commission was debating borrowing money for its current land acquisition program, Bellinger said the commission should issue $200 million in general obligation bonds to pursue some of the last vestiges of the county`s past. Instead the commission decided to issue $100 million in bonds.
Bellinger is proud of what he has wrought-justifiably proud, some people would say.
He has been willing to vote for higher taxes and risk incurring the wrath of the county`s conservative Republican voters.
”Had we had a major voter rebellion it might have been different,” says Bellinger, a political science professor at the College of Du Page in Glen Ellyn.
But no widespread opposition ever materialized through the years to the commission`s aggressive pursuit of preserving the dwindling vacant land-a fact that wasn`t lost on Bellinger or the other commissioners.
Bellinger acknowledges that voter support-or perhaps lack of opposition-has been essential to the continuation of the commission`s program. The commission has repeatedly interpreted the lack of widespread opposition as tacit approval.
And if he were going to remain a member of the commission, he would vote to continue the land acquisition program by borrowing even more money.
”I would continue to support the program,” he says. ”I`ve seen what has happened to this county and its growth.”
When first elected in 1961 on a slate of Republican candidates described as ”white knights,” the county`s population stood at a little more than 300,000 people. Today nearly 750,000 call the county`s 331 square miles home. Within 20 years that total will grow to nearly 1 million, according to population forecasts.
But Bellinger says there likely won`t be a vote soon to borrow more money, despite an estimated $1 billion growth this year in the county`s assessed valuation that will increase the district`s borrowing power by $50 million.
”That gets into political strategy,” he says. ”Before anyone on the commission will start talking about another $100 million bond issue, we`d better get general confirmation that this one is acceptable to the
residents.”
However, Bellinger hopes the commission, if it decides more land needs to be taken out of the buildable inventory, makes the decision within two years. ”The land will never be less expensive than it is now,” he says.
As chairman of the commission`s finance and land acquisition committee Bellinger has a first-hand acquaintance with the price the commission is being forced to pay.
To increase the district`s land-holdings by 7,000 acres to a total of 25,000 acres, the stated goal when the commission began in November the current land acquisition program, the commission needed an average price of a little more than $14,000 an acre.
Instead, the commission is being forced to pay an average of more than $22,000 an acre.
”When you say 25,000 is desirable it`s a lot like (Chicago Bears coach Mike) Ditka saying he wants to be 18-0,” says Bellinger. ”You set a goal that`s probably unattainable.”
