Kane County forest district eyeing additional 209 acres

Kane County Forest Preserve District officials will begin negotiations that would add another 209 acres of open space to the more than 20,000 acres already in public use.

The coveted properties includes are all located adjacent to existing preserves or would help link existing tracts of open space. The five separate deals would add land to preserves in Elgin, Hampshire, St. Charles and Sugar Grove.

The full forest preserve commission must still vote to begin negotiations on the properties. That vote won't come until Tuesday. District officials said they will announce the purchase prices if and when negotiations are successfully completed.

The specific properties involved include:

• The Deihs property, 98.24 acres adjacent to the Otter Creek Forest Preserve in Elgin.

• The Cutsinger property, 76.48 acres near the Prairie Kame/Sauer Forest Preserve in Sugar Grove.

• The Imhoff property, 16.06 acres near the LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve, along Ferson Creek, in St. Charles.

• The Faber property, 12.25 acres adjacent to the Cardinal Creek Forest Preserve in Hampshire.

• The Kelly property, 5.96 acres near the LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve, along Ferson Creek.

The pending deals come one month after district officials announced their pursuit of about 150 acres of land in two separate parcels north of the Binnie Forest Preserve.

The purchases are possible thanks to Kane County residents voting in favor of a $50 million tax increase referendum in April. Commissioners pledged to use about $40 million of that total toward the purchase of additional land. Projections indicated that amount of money would net the district about 2,000 additional acres.

The remaining $10 million of the referendum money is earmarked for capital improvements to new and existing preserves. Such improvements make the preserves more accessible to the public.