If task force recommendations are implemented, 330 acres recently annexed by Lemont would be turned into a recreational area, complete with cycling, jogging and fishing areas.
The parcel, in the northeast corner of the village, was formerly the property of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. It was annexed about three months ago, making Lemont 15 percent larger.
The Village Board then created a nine-member committee to study how the area could best be developed. Those recommendations were presented Monday to the board.
”The task force is convinced that the annexed land offers a unique and creative opportunity for all Lemonters,” Rev. Glenn Bergmark, chairman of the task force, wrote in the report. ”The land has been the source of many hopes and ideas for several years. The right moment for action is at hand.”
The land surrounds the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and the historic Illinois and Michigan Canal. For more than a decade, Lemont officials viewed the area as a potential site for tourism and commercial development. The village and neighboring Willow Springs believed the land would bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in property-tax revenues.
In its report to the Village Board, the task force said the approximately 100 acres north of the Sanitary and Ship Canal will probably be used by the Du Page and Cook County Forest Preserve Districts. The rest of the land should be used as a recreational area, it said.
The task force was aware that it would be difficult to get any state aid to build a hotel and a business conference center on the site.
Although the report provided few specifics, task force member Richard Diaz, who also is the chairman of the Planning Commission, said cycling, jogging and fishing areas would be appropriate.
”Lemont has always wanted to make this a recreation area,” he said.
”This is the first time we have an opportunity.”
Diaz also said there is a lot of opposition to a proposed marina because it would destroy a quarry near the Illinois and Michigan Canal.
The task force wants the Lemont Township Park District to ”take the leadership role” in developing the property and leasing or acquiring it from the water reclamation district.
Park District Director Bob Porter, who was not on the task force, said the parcel is a very attractive area that could be used for fishing, camping, walking and jogging.
”You won`t see dinosaurs running around there, but nature has been preserved,” he said.
Porter said voters would have to approve any large expenditure of district funds.
