"BARGAIN" CENTRAL PARK
WELCOMED IN WESTERN SUBURBS

Knowing how few tax dollars their park district spent to buy a central park appraised at $1.2 million, Roselle residents had good reason to celebrate the opening of Clauss Farm Recreational Area with the first annual Winter Carnival on January 16.

The park was officially opened by (left to right) Kathy Cassens, Roselle Park District manager; Terry Farke, state representative; Dave Caddis, Roselle Park District president; George Podd, Harris Band senior vice president; and Tom Hahn, Corlands director and Open Lands assistant director. The Hahn children, Colleen and Brian, also were there to kick off the festivities.

Roselle, a dense and rapidly developing western suburb, once had less parkland per capita than most Illinois communities. To get a recreational park within budget, the Roselle Park District called on the Open Lands Project, a not-for-profit land conservation group. Open Lands agreed to help the park district acquire 36 acres of rolling, wooded land owned by a local businessman, and the conservationists found themselves competing with housing developers who'd already bid on the property. However, with rare public-private cooperation, Open Lands secured the property at a bargain price in minimal time. "Neighbors in the adjacent subdivision have been calling us to confirm that the land will remain a park," said Kathy Cassens, park distirct commissioner. "Even local developers have thanked us for making it a park."

The park district paid only $262,500 for the land —nearly $1 million less than its 1987 appraised value. Open Lands negotiated a below-market price of $525,000 with the seller, then resold the land at no profit to the park district. Having obtained a bargain price, the park district applied for and received a grant from the Illinois Department of Conservation to cover half the acquisition cost. Open Lands, because it is temporarily holding title to the land, obtained 100-percent financing from the Harris Bank Roselle, then allowed the park district immediate use and management of the property under a three-year lease. The park district may prepay Open Lands for the cost of the land any time during the lease period.

The entire transaction, from the park district's initial contact with Open Lands through the closing, took only six weeks.

"They've been wonderful," Cassens said of Open

March 1988 / Illinois Municipal Review / Page 15

Lands. "If every time someone entered into an agreement, it went this smoothly, nobody would ever have any business problems."

The quick work required not only the expertise of Open Lands' land acquisition arm, Corlands, but also the enlightened cooperation of the park district, the seller, and the Harris Bank.

"The Roselle park is a model project in many ways," said Tom Hahn, Corlands director. "We were able to step in very quickly, put together the entire deal within a few weeks, and preserve a valuable property as permanent open space. And we did it through cooperation among the government, not-for-profit, and corporate sectors and a private individual."

The previous owner, Walter Clauss, is a 25-year resident of Roselle. Although he'd already received higher bids, he agreed to allow Open Lands and the park district time to prepare their bid.

"I just thought it'd make a beautiful little park," said Clauss, who owns a local landscaping business. "There are so many small homes around there already, and that's all untouched land, original farmland. And there wasn't that much difference between the bids. I'm all for the park."

The acquisition was typical of Corlands' work in the sense that it was an atypical land purchase. Rather than forcing such projects into cookie-cutter deals, Corlands works flexibly and draws on unusual resources not always available to other holding organizations.

Corlands President Ken Fisk, a long-time conservationist who recently retired as executive director of the McHenry County Conservation District, said Corlands is unique in banking land not necessarily to be kept in its natural state, but also to be used as other public open space. Currently consisting of woods and former farmland and tree nurseryland, Clauss Farm will offer playing fields, a playground, a jogging path, an interpretive center, and eventually a community center.

"We serve a purpose in supplementing organizations that are dedicated solely to natural areas," Fisk said. "We work very well with them."

The park was officially opened at the Winter Carnival by heads of the park district, Open Lands, and the Harris Bank Roselle, and State Rep. Terry Parke. Open Lands President Jim Fox congratulated Roselle on its farsighted park district and business community. Parke noted that during 25 years of rapid development in the western suburbs, many had lost sight of the quality of life.

"A more aggressive stance has been taken here," he said. "There's a realization that we need a healthy buffer."

* * *

Open Lands Project began in 1963 as a temporary program of the Metropolitan Planning Council (then called the Welfare Council) to conserve open space for recreational and cultural uses. It became independent five years later, and its Corlands subsidiary acquires and holds land for organizations that will maintain the land for these purposes. •

Page 16 / Illinois Municipal Review / March 1988