Dold meets with Belsky on hybrid golf course proposal

Highland Park Mayor Michael Belsky met recently with newly elected U.S. Rep. Robert Dold to reiterate the city’s support for a nine-hole hybrid golf course at the Fort Sheridan Forest Preserve.

Belsky said he wanted to brief Dold, R-10th, on Highland Park’s opposition to efforts to remove the Army’s original deed restriction, which required a golf course be maintained at Fort Sheridan.

“We still believe the easement (deed restriction) should stay in place,” Belsky said.

The original master plan for the site called for an 18-hole high-end golf course to be built at Fort Sheridan, but Highland Park proposed a nine-hole hybrid golf course that would also include public trails and open space as a “compromise,” Belsky said.

“I felt like it was a good meeting,” he said. “I got the sense he (Dold) understood our position.”

A spokesperson for Dold’s office said Belsky had requested the meeting with the congressman and Fort Sheridan was just one of many issues that was discussed and declined to comment further.

The Lake County Forest Preserve District Board will review the recommendations of the Fort Sheridan Master Plan Advisory Committee in the coming weeks. The full forest preserve board is expected to review the advisory panel’s recommendations at a committee-of-the-whole meeting on May 10 and potentially make some decisions regarding how to proceed on June 14, according to forest preserve executive director Tom Hahn.

Although a majority of advisory committee members favored the hybrid, nine-hole golf course option, there was no overwhelming consensus of the committee regarding a particular option.

Supporters of the project believe the forest preserve’s estimated $14 million price tag for a hybrid golf course with open space is too high and want to see more detailed bids or requests for proposals from private developers on actual construction costs.

Source: www.pioneerlocal.com