How DuPage Forest Preserve’s plan to buy horse farm led to a lawsuit

East of the Danada Forest Preserve near Wheaton lies a 37-acre horse farm that has belonged to the Bolger family for 56 years.

The DuPage County Forest Preserve District has tried to buy the Gladstone Ridge boarding and training center twice before, once in the late 1980s and again in 1998. Each time, the late Helen and Vincent Bolger refused to sell.

In January 2022, forest preserve commissioners approved an ordinance directing the board president and staff to negotiate with the Bolgers’ children, who were amenable to a possible deal. Talks, however, stalled over the price.

Now, the Bolger siblings are suing the district.

The family believes the vote the forest preserve board took nearly two years ago could prevent private developers from being interested in the property. They also claim the district has refused to negotiate the price any further.

Stephen Helm, an attorney representing the Bolgers, says the district refused to respond to requests to continue negotiations or rescind the January 2022 ordinance, when asked earlier this year.

The family filed its lawsuit on Dec. 15.

Just days later, the forest board voted last Tuesday to rescind the 2022 ordinance.

“The district negotiated in good faith, including offering above our (certified) appraiser’s evaluation,” said Beth Schirott, the district spokeswoman. “Unfortunately, the parties were still far apart, and we have a duty to our taxpayers to not overpay for property.”

Schirott said the family had asked the board at a previous meeting to rescind the ordinance. “At our Dec. 19 meeting, we honored their request,” she said.

The farm is at 3S325 Leask Lane in unincorporated Wheaton.

If the district acquired the property, it would connect the Danada Forest Preserve to the Morton Arboretum in Lisle. The open land also could help with flooding in the area, according to the lawsuit.

“The district recognizes the value of the property to the Danada area and remains open to acquiring the property if the Bolgers want to reconsider our offer,” Schirott said. “If not, we wish them the very best on their future endeavors.”

Forest preserve President Daniel Hebreard said during Tuesday’s meeting that the district was trying to honor repeated requests from the Bolgers by rescinding the ordinance.

“I think we need a break at this time because we have been unsuccessful in coming to an agreement,” he said. “And we’re not even close.”

But Helm told commissioners before the vote that the Bolgers “clearly want to sell this property to the forest preserve.”

He said afterward the Bolgers had asked in the lawsuit for the rescission as a “fallback position” and reiterated what he told the board: that the Bolgers want to sell to the forest district. But Helm added, having rescinded the ordinance, “now they (the forest preserve president and executives) don’t have any authority to negotiate.”

Helm says the decision to rescind the ordinance sent a mixed message. Commissioners said they still were interested in the property. The district’s interest may make private land developers loathe to offer to buy the site, according to Helm and the lawsuit.

This is not the first time the Bolger family has tangled publicly with the forest preserve district.

When the district voted to buy the farm in 1998, Helen and Vincent Bolger made it clear that they did not want to sell.

The couple ran a publicity campaign that included mass mailings to Wheaton and Glen Ellyn residents, full-page newspaper advertisements, and a website to drum up public opposition to the district considering condemning the land.

The Bolgers also spoke out in the late 1980s when they learned their land was on a list of sites the forest preserve district wanted.

Helen died in 2006, and Vincent in 2008. Now, the farm belongs to Bolger Family Homestead LLC.

In their lawsuit, the Bolgers claim they had three appraisals done by appraisers approved by the forest preserve district. The Bolgers say the site is worth $15.3 million to $16 million, per the appraisals.

But the forest district offered $10.6 million, the lawsuit says.

The Bolgers offered to lower the price to $14.3 million but got no response from the district, according to Helm.

The lawsuit says the district “knowingly used the acquisition ordinance to permanently eliminate the owner’s ability to sell or develop the subject property at its highest and best use and market value.”

The lawsuit alleges the district has not responded to suggestions to try to reach a deal, including having a mediator determine a price.

In the meantime, Helm said he is consulting with the Bolgers to see what they want to do next, including whether to amend or drop the lawsuit.

The Bolgers have spoken to the city of Wheaton about annexing the site. A private land-use planner the Bolgers hired believes a subdivision with 85 single-family homes could be built on it.

But, Helm says the family prefers to see it remain as open space.

“That’s what mom and dad wanted here,” Helm said.