UPDATE: Forest Preserve District Will Buy Property to Expand Preserves

kanecountyconnects / August 8, 2017 / Comments Off / Environment, Government, Kane County Forest Preserve District, Nature, Property Values

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to reflect the tabling of a motion to purchase parcels along the Ferson Creek Greenway.

The Forest Preserve Commission of Kane County voted Tuesday (Aug. 8, 2017) to authorize acquisition of lands that will expand the footprint of forest preserves at locations throughout Kane County.

The commission OK’d resolutions authorizing acquisition of:

The Cutsinger property as an addition to the Sauer Family Prairie Kame Forest Preserve in Sugar Grove.
The Deihs property as an addition to the Otter Creek Forest Preserve in Elgin Township.
The Faber property as an addition to the Cardinal Creek Forest Preserve in Hampshire.

The commission tabled a motion authorizing acquisition of the Imhoff and Kelly properties, which would expand the publicly held lands along the Ferson Creek Greenway in St. Charles. Those property additions had been on the agenda for the Tuesday meeting, but were tabled to allow more time for ongoing property negotiations.

Forest Preserve District President Mike Kenyon said the property purchase is the first of many to come and was made possible by the passage of a $50 million referendum voters approved in April.

“We have a list of properties that have been available to us,” he said.”These were easy to do, right at the beginning. We have a lot of places to go from here.”

The acquisition of land in the Ferson Creek Greenway will continue to link up creek-side property in the area of LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve.

“Trees make people feel better,” Kenyon said. “(These properties will provide) a continued connection to nature.”