20-acre purchase eyed as addition to Ray Lake Forest Preserve
The Lake County Forest Preserve District is expected to extend its holdings with the pending purchase of 20 acres in Fremont Township from a well-known farming family.
Members of the forest board's land preservation and acquisition committee on Monday unanimously agreed to buy the property at the southwest corner of Erhart Road and Fremont Center Road for $650,000 from the Diebold Family Partnership.
"This is a very important addition to the Ray Lake Forest Preserve," said Ty Kovach, executive director of the forest district. The 557-acre Ray Lake Forest Preserve is adjacent to the west and south.
The Diebold parcel has been used for farming and includes a home, garage, barn and outbuilding that have been used for storage. It is north of and adjacent to another 20-acre parcel known as the Wagner property the district agreed to buy in November, also as an addition to Ray Lake.
The Diebold family settled the area in 1872 and ran a dairy operation for four generations. Situated on 40 acres on the opposite corner of the intersection, that dairy farm was the last operation of its kind in Lake County when it closed this past May. That property is not part of the sale to the forest preserve district.
The purchase, which requires approval next week by the full forest board, will come from proceeds of a 2008 voter-approved tax hike referendum for property acquisition and restoration. There is about $23.2 million remaining, not including the cost of the Diebold and Wagner purchases, according to Ken Jones, land preservation manager for the forest district.
"In the greater scheme of things, that's not that much. We're trying to be careful now and make wise decisions," he said.
The Ray family acquired the farm in 1958 to breed and raise Angus beef cattle. The herd reached 400 but the last were sold in the mid-1970s. The land was leased for farming and the district bought it in 1999.
The committee on Monday also recommended approval of the purchase of a 0.12-acre property to include a home and small lot for $30,000 as an addition to the Greenbelt Forest Preserve in North Chicago.