After more than a year of debate, an agreement that blends private housing with a nature preserve was approved last week by the Lake Forest City Council.
Calling it the most complex agreement the city has ever seen, Mayor Rhett Butler at a City Council meeting last week said the Newell’s Reserve plan is unique because it pulls together so many parties, including a real estate developer, a family, city government and a non-profit land preservation group.
The Richard Kendler Co. will build 26 homes at the perimeter of the 77-acre site, which is at the northwest corner of Melody and Waukegan Roads.
The Lake Forest Open Lands Association will restore and maintain 60 acres at the center of the site-50 acres it purchased from Kendler and 10 acres of prairie and savanna donated for a permanent conservation easement by Robert and Miranda Donnelley.
As a compromise to address concerns from some city officials that the subdivision was too isolated, the approved agreement includes a trail system that will be open to the public.
The land was part of the J. Ogden Armour estate that is now the site of the Lake Forest Academy.
