Landfill liability blocking Kane Co. golf course improvement

The website for Kane County’s Settler’s Hill Golf Course bills it as having “breathtaking views of the Kane County Countryside.”

Not included in that view are a practice area or driving range. But that may change if Kane County Forest Preserve District commissioners can work out a potentially awkward political deal with themselves.

Mark Davoust told his fellow commissioners Friday that he knows the majority of them agree the facility needs to have the full gamut of golf activities to make it competitive with other area courses.

“We’re in the golf business but we don’t have a facility that gives you the full experience,” Davoust said. “We haven’t had any impetus to get (these changes) going. Settler’s Hill is a great place, and it could be even better if we did this. Could we please make some progress?”

Such progress is almost entirely within the power of Davoust and his fellow elected officials, but not because they are commissioners.

The Kane County Forest Preserve District owns all the land the golf course itself sits on. It also owns the nearby Fabyan Forest Preserve, Elfstrom Stadium and the former Fox Valley Ice Area.

But Kane County owns the remaining portions of Settler’s Hill itself. That ownership goes back to the days when Settler’s Hill was still a functioning landfill.

As a result, the forest preserve district would need the county to sell or give it some of that remaining land to add the new amenities Davoust dreams of.

The good news is all forest preserve commissioners are also Kane County Board members. They would have to ink an agreement, essentially with themselves, to make the land transfer happen.

But there’s a catch.

Kane County also maintains $4 million in a special fund to address any lawsuits that arise from Settler’s Hill’s past as a dump. The hill is still filled with methane gas from the decomposing waste, as evidenced by the gas valves that dot the golf course. The landfill also had 201 tons of benzene-contaminated soil illegally dumped in it back in 2004.

The forest preserve district does not have $4 million set aside to deal with those potential liabilities.

Kane County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay has said in the past she’d consider a deal with the forest preserve district for the land, but the district would also have to take the liability.

Forest Preserve District President John Hoscheit said it may be possible to work out a deal just to buy enough land to add onto the golf course without taking on the liabilities involved with the rest of Settler’s Hill. The forest district already has money in the new budget to build the amenities. Hoscheit believes creating a better course may result in increased use and profit for the forest preserve district.

“We need to work with the county on the land use,” Hoscheit said. “I’m in favor of it, but we need to do an economic model to make sure it makes sense first.”