New forest preserve gains Chain O’Lakes access

• Reprints

Updated: March 14, 2012 1:49AM

Two adjacent land purchases totaling 227 acres on course for approval by the Lake County Forest Preserve Board on Lake Marie near Antioch will join a host of other purchases made during the soft real estate market in that area of the county.

The property will be known as the Lake Marie Forest Preserve and was approved for purchase by the Lake County Forest Preserve’s Finance and Administrative Committee on Thursday and includes a longtime campground overlooking the bay on Lake Marie, just off Route 59 south of the village of Antioch, and some farm fields along West Beach Grove Road.

“These transactions are significant enhancements to the district’s holdings,” said Forest Board President Ann Maine of Lincolnshire. The full Forest Preserve board will vote on the purchase Tuesday.

“The purchases are possible because of current land bargains and a successful 2008 referendum that provided funds for land purchases like these with no increase in taxes to residents,” she said.

Both parcels are on the north side of West Beach Grove Road and include a campground of about 80 sites, and 85 boat slips and piers on Lake Marie. The other land is farmed, although part of the woods and wetlands off Mocking Bird Drive in the Heron Harbor subdivision will be part of the new preserve, but not the wetland closest to the backyards of the homes on Mocking Bird Drive.

Total cost of the land is approximately $7.45 million, leaving more than $39 million of the referendum money left in the fund.

The property had been owned by members of the Schneider family who were approached about 10 years ago by the Forest Preserve. At that time, the three sisters did not want to sell. Six months ago, they approached Forest Preserve officials to see if they were still interested.

The forest preserve inherits 85 boat slips, a valuable commodity on the Chain O’Lakes because the number of slips is regulated. The forest preserve also has slips at the Fox River Preserve and Marina south of Island Lake that also allows access to the 7,100 acres of waterway that makes up the Chain O’Lakes and Fox River in the area. The district also owns the Tanager Kames Preserve near Fox Lake that is on Red Head and Pistakee lakes.

Lake Marie Forest Preserve joins the Dutch Gap Forest Preserve (754 acres), Pine Dunes Forest Preserve (421 acres) and Prairie Stream Forest Preserve (286 acres) as recent purchases in the Antioch area. Those preserves are in the planning process for development.

Tom Hahn, executive director of the Forest Preserve district, said the recent master plan drawn up before the 2008 referendum targeted the Antioch area for purchases and the western part of Lake County.

“It takes about a year and half for the planning process, which includes three to four public hearings,” where residents can suggest uses for the property, he said.

Part of the Lake Marie Forest Preserve overlooks the bay on Lake Marie and Hahn said, “the views are great, you just want to sit and look at the lake. It’s pretty,” he said.

Campground renters have not been happy about the purchase and did not learn about it until recently. Hahn said forest preserve officials had encouraged the owners to tell the campers as soon as possible.

Cheri Taluzek mourned the loss of the campgrounds, which generations of her family and others had simply called “The Lake.”

“I was very disappointed to learn of the sale of property,” she said, “My family has been on the property that is being turned into a forest preserve and used for boat access for over 60 years. It is very much home to us. We are not just summer people or a thorn in Antioch’s side.

“There were a lot of tears from a lot of people. It is our home, you see. We may live somewhere else during the winter months, but all we think about is waiting for the lake to open,” said Taluzek.

Forest Preserve Commissioner Linda Pedersen of Antioch said she understands how the campers might be upset, but “it’s a wonderful acquisition for the district and the county.”

“For us to get piece of property on the Chain O’Lakes is just golden,” she said. Campers will still be able to visit and picnic at the site once it opens.