Cell towers won’t grow in forest preserves

Lake County forest preserves are noted for their variety of plants but cell towers are one thing the public will not see sprouting amid the trees.

Allowing cell towers in forest preserves was one of an array of ideas to increase revenues or cut expenses suggested by district employees in an informal poll.

Some other ideas, such as charging for parking at forest preserves also were nixed, but one suggestion to trim legal fees is going to be tried.

Although some governments have cashed in on cell towers, the forest district won’t be one of them.

“They are ugly. They are intrusive to the overall look of a forest preserve,” executive director Tom Hahn said during a recent meeting of the forest board’s finance and administrative committee.

“We’ve been approached by cell tower companies many times in the past and routinely have turned them down,” Hahn added

The discussion regarding the cell towers was brief but decisive.

“I just don’t want to compromise what we’re all about,” Commissioner Diana O’Kelly of Mundelein said.

There is one cell tower on district property but it came with the site the purchased a few years ago on Route 176 as an addition to the Lakewood Forest Preserve.

“We assumed the lease when we purchased the Four Winds golf course,” said Bonnie McLeod, the district’s finance director. “It was a 25-year lease for us. It ends in 2021.”

The current lease payment is $29,000 but comes with a 4 percent annual increase. By the end of the term, it will net the district about $43,000.

As the district faces a $2.7 million drop in property tax revenue, it is looking for ways to raise more money or cut expenses for the next budget year, which begins July 1.

Some staff-generated ideas may be studied further and could be included in the proposed budget, which is scheduled to be considered May 2 during a joint meeting of the various forest board committees.

Other ideas, such as imposing parking fees or charging admission to forest preserves, were also quickly rejected.

Commissioner David Stolman said the district shouldn’t “nickel and dime” visitors with those types of charges.

“We wouldn’t really be looking at this if we weren’t scrounging around looking for dollars,” Stolman said. “We know the economy will come back. Let’s suck it up for a period of time and things will improve.”

Charging more for permits or admission to the Lake County Discovery Museum, for example, also went by the wayside.

Other ideas to explore the privatization of the district golf courses may have merit, but will wait until after a decision is made on the Fort Sheridan issue, commissioners said.

Reducing copying and printing costs and simplifying landscaping at forest preserves to save money are examples of ideas that are under way or will be implemented.

Trimming legal fees was another staff suggestion that simultaneously had been under consideration by Hahn.

As a result, Holland & Knight, which has been the district’s general legal counsel since 1991, for the next six months will be paid a monthly retainer of $13,000. A district study had shown the average cost for those services nearly three years ending last fall was $13,777 a month.