A $930,000 land purchase was approved Thursday by the Will County Forest Preserve District as the first link in a three-way deal that will eventually clear the way for expansion of Lincoln-Way High School in Frankfort and construction of a waste treatment plant for that village.
The land purchases by the three governmental units include just over 41 acres of wooded property for the Forest Preserve District to expand the Hickory Creek Preservation Area north of Frankfort and west of U.S. Highway 45.
Open land in the same 108-acre tract would be purchased by the village of Frankfort and School District 210 for projects of their own.
According to county planner Mike Pasteris, the Forest Preserve District will pay $22,500 an acre for 41 acres of the 108 acres being sold by an Orland Park woman.
The land purchase will increase the size of the Hickory Creek Preservation Area to about 1,850 acres, Pasteris said.
The purchase was opposed by board member Richard Budde (D-Joliet), a frequent critic of some forest preserve land purchases.
Budde said he believes the $22,500-an-acre cost makes the land too valuable for use as a forest preserve.
”Any time you get land worth that much money, it should be developed, not taken off the tax rolls,” Budde said.
Pasteris said the price paid for the land is comparable to other acreage sold recently in the area.
He said the 41 acres is adjacent to forest preserve holdings.
The acreage acquired by District 210 would enlarge the east campus of Lincoln-Way High School. Frankfort will buy the rest of the 108-acre site for eventual construction of a waste water treatment plant.
”The Forest Preserve District has acted as the staff and negotiator for the three different entities just so we can reduce costs and confusion,”
Pasteris said. ”We are the first to take action, but I am told the other two agencies will follow quickly.”
He said all of the land is being sold at the same price per acre.
According to Dr. Lawrence Wyllie, superintendent of District 210, the district is purchasing land for a long-range expansion of Lincoln-Way.
Frankfort officials said they are buying land for a treatment plant that is still in the planning stages.
