Lake County Forest Preserve District officials and planning staff are discussing with consultants detailed improvements for the Fort Sheridan Golf Course including a visitor's center and banquet facility on the Lake Michigan bluff.

Preliminary business studies are being done to determine if a visitor's center and banquet facility are financially feasible.

"The board has made no decision," said Diana O'Kelly, Chairman of the Forest Preserve Enterprise Committee. The proposals are still at the committee discussion stage. Contracts with selected engineers and architects still are being negotiated. Many of the concepts discussed have been part of the district's concept plan for Fort Sheridan open space since the early 1990s.

No cost estimate for the project is available, according to District Executive Director Steven K. Messerli.

Initially, there is about $8.2 million available to start the project but "significantly more" would be needed to complete it. Renovation of a golf course can cost about $5 to $6 million and must be financed through borrowing from private lenders.

"There is a lot of open space that will be used for the public," said Carol Spielman, D-22, of Highland Park. "There is a market survey being done to see what the area would support and would like."

Preliminary ideas for the remaining public land include trail networks, public rest room facilities, natural resource protection and erosion protection for ravine areas, according to Spielman.

Since trails are to be built in the area, rest room facilities and a snack bar might be appropriate for a visitor's center, according to Spielman. "What that will include is to be determined."

The Fort Sheridan site will have a trail system of its own to connect to three other trail systems in the county, said Messerli. "You'd have access to over 100 miles of trails in Lake county," he said. These would be: the North Shore Bicycle Path, the DesPlaines Trail, and the Millennium Trail.

Educational uses are also in the plans. "I'm interested in having the history of the fort kept in there," Spielman said. "The Lake County Museum does have a lot of artifacts that could be used in there."

O'Kelly agreed a historical display may be appropriate for a multi-use building on the site. She said a federal grant has been received to create history displays in a possible visitor's center. Also under discussion is an environmental education area.

Robert Buhai, D-23, of Highland Park, said the probable site for the visitor's center and banquet facility has moved south of the area where it originally was proposed due to environmental factors. It will be near Lake Michigan and offer a spectacular view. In addition, the last hole of the golf course will be by the club house portion of the building.

Buhai is enthusiastic about the proposed banquet facility. "It would work very well," he said. "There's no question about that. It's a special venue by the lake and would do very well."

Consultant contracts

The Forest Preserve District is preparing contracts with three selected consulting firms for detailed scopes of service, according to Director of Planning, Conservation and Development Mike Fenelon.

Natural resource studies and civil engineering will be provided by the team of Hey and Associates, Inc. and Pearson, Brown & Associates, Inc., each of Libertyville. Booth Hansen, of Chicago, will provide architectural services. The golf course renovation will be done by Cornish Silva Mungeam, Inc., of Oxbridge, Mass.

Cornish Silva Mungeam, named golf course architects of the year 1999 by a golfing magazine, will redesign the course in the old classic tradition. "It would create a different type of course," said Fenelon. The playing challenges are more subtle and of a different type than modern courses, he said.

"We ought to have contracts settled within the next 60 to 90 days," Fenelon said.

The feasibility study will provide the forest preserve district with an independent assessment of the market for a golf course and the need for services to support it, said Dan Prezell, park district director of revenue for facilities. In addition, a 10-year business plan will give the district an idea if their concepts will work, what type of fees are recommended, expected revenue and income, profit and loss potential, cash flow needs, and loan repayment potential.

"It does a demographic study at the same time," said Prezell. "We anticipate this report will come back very favorable."

Public Process

The public process to develop the concepts and implement them has been under way for the past several years, according to district officials. Meetings of the Revenue Committee, the Enterprise Committee, and the Development Committee will continue to be opportunities for public comment, according to Prezell.

"The public process will still be going on," said Fenelon. "There has been very positive support."

Messerli said the design, development, construction and bidding documents will be completed probably after October. The district would send out for bids next summer, 2002. Bids would come back in the fall and work would begin.

"To do this project, you need two years," he said. Although completed parts of the project might open to the public sooner than 2004, public safety is the determining factor of any public use.