St. James development plan focuses on horses, trails and sculptures
With 607 open acres to play with, it might have taken DuPage County Forest Preserve planners longer than three years to sculpt a future for the district's most recent acquisition.
But St. James Farm near Warrenville wasn't barren when the district took possession of industrialist Brooks McCormick's longtime homestead a few years ago. The property near Butterfield and Winfield roads came with what some might call challenges - and others might call obstacles - that limit some of those possibilities and make the process more complicated.
The district's director of planning, Andrea Hoyt, prefers to think of them as "unique characteristics" of the site.
After taking those characteristics into account, district staff members led by Hoyt this week presented forest preserve commissioners with a preliminary master use plan for the property.
The $34.2 million, 20-year proposal is designed to capitalize on the farm's many equine-based facilities and its sculpture-dotted landscape.
"What we want to do is develop a multifaceted facility that fosters the appreciation of the unique and individual character, secluded solitude, cultural history and natural resources of St. James Farm," Hoyt said.
The plan calls for the work to be done in three phases.
The first deals with making the property more accessible by adding public utilities and programming for existing facilities that could generate revenue and help the district accomplish the next two steps. Commissioners have not earmarked any funds for the proposal yet.
"Some things I would hope move up to Year 2 or 3 versus Year 5 or 7," said Commissioner Roger Kotecki, whose district contains St. James Farm. "These are things that would get people onto the property sooner."
The property currently is open to the public only about 60 days a year, virtually all during the warmer months because it lacks many accessibility standards required by the state. It's currently closed and will reopen in May, district officials said.
Hoyt said preliminary estimates to bring water and sanitary sewer systems to the property amount to $2.6 million. But the addition of those utilities, as well as parking facilities, would expedite public access considerably.
Those are part of the first -phase plan, along with creating a trail system on the northern half of the property where most of the farm's buildings and art-lover McCormick's sculptures are located.
Hoyt said one unique feature of the plan is to incorporate all the outdoor sculptures McCormick left behind into the trail system and create a walking tour for visitors.
"We want to create St. James Farm as a preserve that has its own unique identity from the district's other properties," Hoyt said. "This will help speak to some of the interests Mr. McCormick had."
Kotecki said trails and the art tour likely will be a big draw.
"The single-most popular activity that our surveys show is the act of walking and taking in the scenery," he said. "And there's an awful lot of scenery there."
The district finalized a deal to buy the property in 2000 for $43 million and received a $5 million endowment from McCormick when he died in 2006. The former head of International Harvester was an equestrian enthusiast who added conditions to the endowment in regard to the property being maintained as a bastion for horses.
Commissioners have not decided how to spend the $5 million, but have earmarked some of the interest earned off the fund.
Kotecki said it shouldn't be a problem to draw equestrian events to the property.
"There are some really remarkable facilities there," Kotecki said of the barns, riding ring and dressage arena. "It has one of the largest and finest indoor horse arenas in Illinois, and that's something you just don't turn your back on."
The second and third phases of the proposal call for incorporation of the south half of the property that is now mostly a working hay field into the whole property with prairie restoration efforts and creation of a picnic area.
"Keep in mind that while it is a master plan, it's just sort of an outline of what you hope will happen in the future," Kotecki said. "It has some really good elements, but a lot of it is expensive and we may not be able to accomplish some of it, even within the 20 years."