“Land–it’s the only thing that matters, the only thing that lasts.”
So said John O’Hara, Scarlett’s father in the movie “Gone With the Wind,” advising his daughter to hold on to their beloved estate, Tara.
That has been the warning of longtime Libertyville Township Commissioner F. T. “Mike” Graham over the years, as the area attracted young families looking for a hometown environment in an idyllic setting.
But the region’s appeal actually has been its own worst enemy in a sense, Graham said.
“Within 10 years, there won’t be any open space left that’s not publicly owned or owned by developers,” he said.
In fact, at the rate of current development, Graham contends, the area soon may need a third high school.
That means a significantly higher tax bill for residents, who must pay not only for school construction, but also for lifetime operating costs.
In Graham’s eyes, the most efficient means to preserve open land is to purchase it and protect it from developers, who, he says, will try to squeeze in as many homes as possible with little consideration for economic or ecological impact.
“Our county issue is urban sprawl,” Graham said. “My contention is that it is cheaper to buy land and preserve it as open space rather than build schools and roads.”
The township has purchased more than 1,500 acres since 1975,when the Libertyville Open Space District was founded. Most of that land was purchased following voter approval of a $22.6 million referendum in 1985.
“If that land were developed at just one unit per acre, it would cost $75 million [in school costs] over 20 years, including all taxes,” Graham said.
Aside from township property, the Lake County Forest Preserve District owns and maintains just over 2,500 acres in Libertyville Township.
Unlike the township, however, the Forest Preserve District has power of condemnation, which allows it to protect land simply for the public good. Township governments are limited to purchasing property from willing sellers and in 50-acre parcels.
To maintain its land, the township last year spent nearly $13,000.
But, Graham said, land rented to farmers brought in more than $15,000, an exchange that would continue with additional land acquisition.
Voter sentiment toward township purchases has changed, however; a $37 million referendum proposal that would have allowed the purchase of additional acreage failed by 400 votes last year.
Graham attributes the referendum proposal loss to an uneducated public. But Libertyville Mayor Duane Laska gives more credit to township residents.
“They [the township board] didn’t have a good, solid plan,” Laska said. “What they wanted to do wasn’t clear to voters.”
Laska said residents actually are quite supportive of open land preservation, provided that specifics are laid out up front. That’s what the Lake County Forest Preserve District did in April 1999 with its $55 million referendum bid, which passed with 66 percent of the vote.
Since then, the Forest Preserve District has purchased more than 750 acres, including a 56-acre preserve in Libertyville.
And Libertyville officials recently jumped at opportunities to provide residents with more recreational space, purchasing 5 acres to expand what is now Bolander Park. And, with Libertyville High School District 128, village officials also plan to purchase school property for additional park land.
Because the town of Libertyville is an established community and essentially built out, residents are not as concerned with development in their village as they are with growth in neighboring suburbs, Laska said.
“Over the last 25 years, we haven’t really contributed to Lake County’s population increase, but we get a lot of byproducts of that; traffic is a real concern,” Laska said.
The balance between development and preservation is a delicate one, said Kenneth Marabella, Mundelein village administrator.
“Without development, you don’t have communities. Without open space, you do not have as high a quality of life as you can,” Marabella said. “A reasonable balance between both needs to be pursued.”
Part of that theory lies in careful municipal planning, Marabella said.
While Mundelein enjoys a fair amount of open space in the form of parks and forest preserves, undeveloped land still is at a premium.
Determining how available land is used is critical to the village’s future.
Additionally, the outright purchase of all available land, thereby saving it from development, may not be the most realistic strategy, said Betsy Dietel, director of the Liberty Prairie Conservancy, a not-for-profit organization that aims to preserve open space through environmental education, advocacy and restoration activities.
“The root of our approach has been the realization that you can’t go out and buy every parcel that’s endangered. There are alternate ways of land preservation; recognizing human habitation but promoting conservation,” Dietel said.
A prime example of that philosophy is the Prairie Crossing subdivision in Grayslake, where residents try to live amid nature rather than on top of it.
“We encourage integration and the ability of people to live kindly on land, preserving what’s already there,” Dietel said.
The Liberty Prairie Conservancy does not own land but forms partnerships with agencies such as Libertyville and Warren Townships and the Lake County Forest Preserve District, serving as stewards for properties. Most notable is the Liberty Prairie Reserve, 2,500 acres bounded by Illinois Highway 120 to the north, Illinois Highway 137 to the south and U.S. Highway 45 to the west.
“It’s a patchwork of private and publicly held land, with some homes on it,” Dietel said. “Most of it is private, protected land, and some is fragile, so we don’t encourage active use.”
The goal of the Conservancy is to restore properties to healthy, functioning ecosystems. That means removing invasive species as needed, addressing hydrological problems and handling outside threats, such as development.
Appropriate maintenance of open land is an issue that may have hindered Libertyville Township’s last referendum bid, Dietel said.
While Graham contends that routine maintenance such as mowing and some reforestation is all that’s necessary to preserve acreage, Dietel says there’s more involved.
“How to take care of land once it’s acquired has been a weakness in the land preservation movement in general. It’s not totally without cost,” Dietel said.
“There would be more support from the electorate for open space acquisition if that piece were examined more fully.”
Politics comes into play as well, Dietel said.
“It’s not a matter of conservationists against developers,” Dietel said. “There’s been an ongoing [political] battle in Libertyville that has little to do with development per se.”
Graham agrees but also points to the public’s responsibility.
“The public is not blameless. They have elected pro-growth, pro-development people for the past 25 years,” Graham said.
Still, Graham is optimistic that public support for open land initiatives will sway voters next spring, when the township plans to put forth a referendum proposal similar in scope to last year’s bid. If it’s successful, the board would use bond money to purchase much of the 2,000 developable acres still available in the township.
In Graham’s eyes, every acre preserved is money saved by the taxpayer. And in the end, he said, that’s what moves voters.
“Environment is not the issue, taxes are,” Graham said. “And the public is beginning to realize they pay both ways.”
OPEN LAND IN TOWNSHIP
Liberty Prairie Reserve
(Grayslake, Libertyville)
Boundaries: Illinois Highways 120 and 137 and U.S. Highway 45, Des Plaines River.
Description: A combination of private and public land makes up the 2,400-acre Liberty Prairie Reserve, which is home to four subdivisions, including Prairie Crossing, and six nature preserves. A bike trail runs around the perimeter of Prairie Crossing and through a portion of township property near Oak Openings and Baxter’s Grove nature preserves. A continuation of the trail, connecting to the Des Plaines River Trail, should be completed by fall. About 600 acres is owned by Libertyville Township.
Facilities: Aside from the bike path, most of the land is private and protected; no other public facilities are available.
Information: Contact the Liberty Prairie Conservancy at 847-548-5989.
Other township-owned parcels
Soccer complex
Boundaries: U.S. Highway 45, Old Petersen, Winchester, Butterfield Roads (Libertyville)
Description: All of the land, 110 acres, is used and maintained by the Greater Libertyville Soccer Association.
Information: 847-367-1035
County farmland
Boundaries: Milwaukee Avenue, Buckley and Winchester Roads (Libertyville)
Description: The township owns 10 acres of the 90 that make up the County Farm property. Officials hope to purchase the remaining 80 acres, now vacant, for use as community playing fields.
Canterbury land
Boundaries: Maple Avenue, Butterfield Road, Wisconsin Central Railroad tracks (Mundelein/Libertyville)
Description: Two parcels totaling 130 acres are township-owned. The 50-acre parcel is designated park and open space; the 80-acre parcel is in mitigation, which means developers buy credits on township-owned land to enable them to build on land previously thought to be unbuildable in a place other than the 80-acre parcel. Remaining township-owned land about 600 acres, is leased farm land or flood plain/wetland areas.
