Dist. 120 board making new plans for land

Three years after it was lauded for buying a local golf course as a possible second campus, the Mundelein High School board plans to keep the links open, possibly indefinitely.

The panel on Tuesday finalized a lease with Golf Visions Management Corp. to run the nearby Village Green Country Club through January, 2013. The deal allows the school district to maintain ownership of the 92-acre site even as golfers play its 18-hole course.

The agreement, approved unanimously, also lets the board consider three options for 2013 and beyond:

-- Build a second campus on the property when the lease expires, if student enrollment exceeds projections.

-- Extend the lease on an annual basis if student enrollment stays on track.

-- Sell the land if the property's value increases.

The Village Green club is at the southeast corner of Midlothian and Winchester roads, about one mile north of the high school campus.

The board agreed to buy the site for $8.4 million in 2004. The deal called for three equal payments of about $2.8 million.

School officials are scheduled to make their final payment for the property in January.