DuPage forest board wants to sell 2 acres

A 2-acre sliver of DuPage County Forest Preserve property near Oak Brook has been nothing but trouble to the district for years.

Now, the forest preserve commission wants the state legislature's permission to sell the land to whoever is willing to pay for it. No price has been set.

The board voted 5-2 Tuesday to seek legislative assistance to unload the parcel near the southeast corner of York and Roosevelt roads. It was part of the nearby York Woods Forest Preserve until construction of the intersection dissected the land.

The forest preserve is forbidden by state law to sell its property to anyone other than another taxing body without legislative dispensation.

"This is a move to give us the flexibility to do something with it," President Dewey Pierotti said. "Right now, we have nothing on the agenda to sell this property."

Money from any sale would have to be spent acquiring open space elsewhere, according to the resolution the commission approved.

However, commissioners Roger Kotecki and Joe Cantore aren't sold on the idea because two acres in that part of the county is a rare commodity.

"It has ecological value no matter what," Kotecki said. "Open forest land in that part of the county is not available."

Cantore and Kotecki also worry about the precedent it would set for future boards to sell off pieces of forest preserve property to private developers.

The district received a similar allowance from the state for residential parcels attached to the eastern outskirts of the St. James Forest Preserve property in Warrenville.

The district already has taken heat from residents who objected to plans to sell a road near the Danada Forest Preserve to the county and Lisle, which in turn would offer it to developers in an attempt to lure Navistar's corporate headquarters to the village.

For years, the property in Oak Brook was illegally used as a garbage dump by passers-by and people living in a now-closed adjacent trailer park, forest preserve officials said at Tuesday's meeting. The district, along with the owner of the trailer park and York Township, were cited by the state in 2002 for solid waste dumping violations.

In 2003, a fence was constructed restricting access to the parcel by vehicles, which cut down greatly on the illegal dumping. But that fence has created some legal hullabaloo as well, district officials said.