Olympic planners want different site for equestrian cross-country

Lake County Forest District officials and Chicago's Olympic committee are tweaking plans for a Wauconda-area equestrian facility.

A proposed cross-country course at the chosen site within the Lakewood Forest Preserve will be relocated, either to another spot in Lakewood or elsewhere, forest district Executive Director Tom Hahn said.

The move would make the event safer for Olympic equestrian athletes, and improve the visibility for spectators, he added.

The change doesn't affect the deal between the forest board, Chicago and the Olympic committee to stage equestrian events at Lakewood in 2016, Hahn said.

"That's still the intent," he said.

Opponents of the Lakewood Olympic plan who want the equestrian facility built somewhere else entirely, say the change indicates there are bigger problems with the site.

"It's an admission that they blew it in the first place," said activist and Wauconda area resident Larry Svec.

The forest board and Olympic organizers agreed earlier this year to build an equestrian facility at Lakewood -- the forest district's largest preserve -- if Chicago hosts the 2016 Olympics.

The $12.5 million facility, on 300 acres near Ivanhoe and Fairfield roads, would have a 15,000-seat stadium, stables and other amenities. Some would be temporary, but others would remain after the Olympics conclude.

Officials are open to other sites, however, including elsewhere at Lakewood and in Old Mill Creek, in northern Lake County between Wadsworth and Lindenhurst.

Hahn told the forest board about the changing the cross-country site in an e-mail earlier this week. The adjustment was needed, he said, because an expert in equestrian competition facility design expressed concern about the width of the cross-country trail, which would wind through a wooded area.

A cross-country race is one of three equestrian events that would be held at the complex.

The expert said most cross country courses are set up in open fields, which makes spectator viewing easier, Hahn wrote.

"This is an exciting part of the event," Hahn said. "Spectators love to watch this part of the race."

The expert also said many courses are temporary and dismantled after events, Hahn said.

Based on those opinions, officials removed the cross-country course from the current plan and will consider other layouts with more open landscapes, Hahn said. One possible site for the event could be the former Four Winds Golf Club, now part of the Lakewood preserve, Hahn said.

They'll also evaluate whether to make the cross-country course a temporary layout.

Opponents of the Lakewood plan are worried about the proposed facility's impact on the preserve's plants and animals, as well as its potential uses after the Olympics. They would prefer moving the events to a different spot in Lake County.

Activist Roy Davis was particularly concerned trees would have to be removed at Lakewood to make room for the cross-country course as originally laid out. He said there'd be "more than enough room" for the course and spectators at the 145-acre Four Winds site.

Svec, however, isn't at all mollified by the change.

"They may still be doing the most sinful act by putting the stadium ... and the stables in the most endangered areas," said Svec, president of the Tamarack Homeowners Association, which represents a neighborhood that borders Lakewood.

The equestrian plans depend on Chicago actually getting the Games, which won't be determined until 2009. Chicago is the U.S. entry in a contest that includes Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and Prague.