Group weighing options for Ft. Sheridan rehab

After spending years campaigning for the construction of a high-end golf course at the Fort Sheridan Forest Preserve, one of the concept's most prominent proponents now is open to other ideas.

As long as some sort of golf course is included, Town of Fort Sheridan homeowner association president Ralph Pfaff said he'll consider different options for the preserve, which overlooks Lake Michigan near Highland Park.

"(We) would consider a nine-hole course as part of the solution," Pfaff said.

But Pfaff still insists the forest district can build a full-sized, top-shelf course for less than the $25 million officials have said it would cost.

"If they really want to do it, they could do it for a whole lot less than (that)," Pfaff said.

Pfaff is among the members of an advisory committee debating whether to build a new golf course at the Fort Sheridan Forest Preserve.

The group has met twice, in December and then earlier this month. The first meeting was so contentious, members brought in an independent mediator to run the second session.

That helped keep the discussion moving in the right direction, said forest board and advisory committee member Carol Calabresa. The goal, Calabresa said, is consensus.

"We have to be optimistic, we really do," the Libertyville Republican said.

When the forest district acquired the 259-acre preserve from the Army in the 1990s, it agreed to keep a golf course there forever. Other parts of the base were turned into the Town of Fort Sheridan residential development.

The district tore up an 18-hole course in 2003 to make way for a new one, but the work halted in 2004 after updated cost estimates came in much higher than originally proposed.

Since then, the economy tanked and the golf business has suffered. Those and other factors have led some forest district officials, including board President Bonnie Thomson Carter, to say building a new 18-hole course would be a costly mistake.

Despite the work stoppage, the master plan never was amended. Other amenities, including trails and a military-themed lookout, have been added despite the golf-related delays.

The advisory committee, which formed last year, is the district's latest effort to finally resolve the matter.

Four forest district commissioners - Calabresa, Anne Flanigan Bassi of Highland Park, Michelle Feldman of Deerfield and Susan Loving Gravenhorst of Lake Bluff - serve on the panel. So do Pfaff and representatives from the cities of Highwood, Lake Forest and Highland Park.

The Highland Park and Lake Bluff park districts are represented, too.

At the group's first meeting in December, four options for the site surfaced:

• An 18-hole course, similar to the 2003 proposal.

• A mixed plan that could have a nine-hole course and traditional forest preserve amenities.

• A traditional forest preserve without golf.

• A site that would stay largely undeveloped for at least three years, which would allow officials to reassess the situation based on future economic and market factors.

Those concepts essentially were tossed out during the second meeting when the mediator suggested members recommend new ideas, Pfaff said.

To succeed, the members must work toward a compromise, Calabresa said.

"We all felt there was a huge gap between what is achievable and what the master plan initially showed," she said. "We want them to understand the financial constraints."

Pfaff isn't ready to call the original plan dead, but he knows most forest board members oppose designing and building a high-end course.

The Fort Sheridan homeowners, however, still want to be able to golf at the scenic preserve. That's why Pfaff's willing to compromise.

A nine-hole course, he said, could meet the requirements of the district's deal with the Army. A miniature golf course, which some people have joked about, wouldn't be acceptable, Pfaff said.

Calabresa said district officials are willing to consider options.

"We're not saying 'no' just to say 'no,'" she said. "The forest preserve wants to be responsive and responsible."

If the advisory group eventually decides golf isn't in Fort Sheridan's future, it will make recommendations for a new master plan with alternative public amenities.

The advisory committee is next scheduled to meet April 14 at the Gorton Community Center in Lake Forest.