Companies, schools, park districts using county land illegally

Daily Southtown

February 21, 2005

By Glen Leyden
Special to the Daily Southtown

After decades of playing the absentee landlord, the Cook County Forest Preserve District wants squatters off its property.
The district has identified more than 150 cases of private and public institutions illegally using forest preserve land. And six of the 11 worst offenders are in the south suburbs, according to a report released this month.

School districts are using forest preserve land for parking spaces, park districts are operating baseball fields, and private companies are dumping horse manure, building marinas and cutting down county trees.

The most egregious offenders in Cook County were ordered off district property in October, said P.K. Parker, real estate administrator with the forest preserve district.

None have complied.

"These really need to be resolved quickly," Parker said, noting the district is legally responsible for what happens on its land. "We are not going to roll over, play dead and allow them to use our land. It belongs to the people of Cook County."

Cook County land, however, is inundated with "no trespassing signs" hung by people who do not own the property. Some businesses are making money using tax-exempt county land.

"No one should benefit financially from using public land," Cook County Forest Preserve District Commissioner Mike Quigley (D-Chicago) said. "It's an abomination."

The Riverdale Marina, near Halsted and Jackson streets along the Little Calumet River, is one of the more "outrageous" examples of encroachment, Parker said.

The private company illegally removed trees, constructed buildings, installed signs, dumped materials and parked boats on district property, she said.

"They are using tax-exempt property for their profits," she said.

A spokeswoman for the Riverdale Marina declined to comment.

The village of Steger and the Chicago Heights Park District found themselves on the list because they operate baseball fields on forest preserve district property.

"If a child got hit by a baseball, who do you think they are going to sue?" Parker said.

In both cases, the baseball fields are locked when not in use.

"To lock up the area so no other citizen can use it is offensive," Parker said.

The village and park district have been asked to find other places to play. They are anxious to come to agreements with the county that would allow them to stay, but Parker said that would not comply with the forest preserve district's mission. The forest preserve is not a park district. Its job is to preserve land, not provide communities with baseball fields and tennis courts, she said.

Not all forest preserve commissioners, however, are anxious to kick Little League teams off the property.

"We don't want to cut anyone off who has been using the fields for 50 years, especially when they are kids or seniors from public entities who are benefiting from the use," Commissioner Joan Murphy (D-Crestwood) said.

Outraged by the abundance of encroachments, Quigley and his fellow commissioners unanimously approved an ordinance in November calling for stricter monitoring of the county's 68,000 acres of land.

Parker believes the commissioners are backpedaling. If they want to deter squatters, they have to be firm with everyone, even park districts looking for athletic space, she said.

Quigley admits the forest preserve district had lost touch with what was happening on its property.

The study, released this month with maps and aerial photos, illustrates the widespread problem.

"This land is really important. It is the filter for our water and our air," Quigley said. "It is our break from the urban environment. We need biodiversity. We need natural land. It is critical to our existence."

Bloom High School was asked to vacate a triangle of land south of its soccer field used for additional parking space. But the school is not convinced the land belongs to the forest preserve, District 206 business manager Mark Sheahan said. The school district's attorneys are reviewing the claim.

The land was an "unsightly" eyesore before the school district planted bushes and flowers on the site a couple years ago, he said.

"It just looked so bad that it made the rest of our property look bad," he said.

The county's tens of thousands of acres of lush forest and grasslands are inviting to municipalities and private businesses hard-pressed for land in the increasingly crowded county.

The forest preserve district needs to take a stand now because the pressure will increase as communities become more desperate for space, Quigley said.

"Those pressures will only get heavier and harder because the county is growing out so fast," he said.

Since its inception 90 years ago, the forest preserve's mission has been to protect pockets of wild land.

The district has a history of staunch opposition to government bodies attempting to wrest control of their land. In the 1940s, the district successfully defended an attempt by the federal government's War Department to take land for nuclear research.

In the past decade, the forest preserve has failed to live up to those ideals. It sold three acres to Rosemont to be used for a parking lot in 1999, sparking outrage from conservation groups.

Quigley wants the district to return to its conservation roots.

"(The founders) did not take their role as preservationists lightly," Quigley said.

Instead of selling, he said, the commissioners will look to purchase land.

Copyright 2005, Daily Southtown

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