Three years of haggling over a West Chicago golf course ended Tuesday with the county Forest Preserve Commission agreeing to drop its condemnation lawsuit in exchange for a promise from the course owners not to develop the property.
Under terms of an agreement approved by the commission, the Old Wayne course will remain a golf course, and the forest preserve will pick up the legal fees the owners spent fighting an attempt by the district to acquire the land.
The district had eyed the site as a final link in a chain of forest preserve holdings along the West Du Page River. When the Charles Maddox family, owners of the course, refused a purchase offer, the district filed a condemnation suit in 1988 that was scheduled for trial this month.
Tuesday`s action approved a conservation easement, which legally forbids the present and future course owners to develop the property. It must always remain a course or revert to open lands, according to the agreement.
Such agreements grant the owners tax benefits, according to a spokesman for the Corporation for Open Lands, which helped work out the settlement. The owner can declare a charitable contribution on individual tax filings and his heirs will pay lower estate taxes when the land is handed down, said Thomas Hahn, director of the organization.
”I think this is a very significant step in using that form of setting aside land for conservation,” district Executive Director H.C. ”Chuck”
Johnson said.
Commission member William Maio hailed the agreement, but said it should have been reached sooner. The district will now pay the owners $557,000 in legal fees, and racked up about $125,000 of its own, he said.
”To me, that was high,” Maio said. ”But where we were at today is where we should have been three years ago. We could have done it for $50,000.”
”All I can say is we`re happy we`re able to keep the golf course,” said course General Manager Dale Nissen. ”That`s all we`ve ever wanted, and that`s basically what this agreement will allow us to do.”
