Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1990 [PAGE 463]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

1992]

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

451

The College of Agriculture has two small agricultural demonstration fields of approximately 20 acres each in Lee County near Dixon and in Henderson County near Oquawka. The exchange of these fields for a.portion of the Grein land (a portion of equal value) would enhance the research programs of the College of Agriculture. The exchange of the Dixon and Oquawka tracts of land for the Grein land may require the involvement of third-party purchasers. Any third-party purchasers would be identified through an advertised bid procedure. The Foundation is willing to participate in such an exchange and has indicated that the exchange value of the Grein land will be the same per acre price as its cost. Accordingly, the president of the University, with the concurrence of the appropriate administrative officers, recommends that the Foundation be requested to participate in an exchange of the Dixon and Oquawka tracts of land for a portion of the Grein land as outlined herein.

On motion of Mrs. Shepherd, this recommendation was approved by the following vote: Aye, Dr. Bacon, Mr. Boyle, Mrs. Calder, Mr. Downey, Mr. Grabowski, Mrs. Gravenhorst, Mr. Lamont, Ms. Reese, Mrs. Shepherd; no, none; absent, Governor Edgar. (The student advisory vote was: Aye, Ms. Caporusso, Mr. Mitchell; no, none.)

Annexation of the James Woodworth Prairie Preserve to the Village of Glenview, Chicago

(24) The University of Illinois owns a tract of land located near the Chicago suburb of Glenview. This bx/i acre tract, known as the James Woodworth Prairie Preserve ("Preserve"), was given to the University to preserve as a natural prairie nearly 25 years ago. The Chicago campus is responsible for maintaining the preserve through the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Department of Biological Sciences. In June 1991, the Village of Glenview petitioned the University to seek consent to the village's legal petition to annex certain lands, a portion of which includes the preserve. Upon careful review, it appears appropriate that the University consent to annexation of the preserve to the Village of Glenview by executing a Pre-Annexation Agreement with the village and by filing a Pre-Annexation Petition Agreement with the Circuit Court of Cook County. The annexation proceeding would extend the boundaries of the village and bring adjacent residential and commercial properties under the jurisdiction of the village. Benefits to village residents would include an increase in the area's commercial tax base, extension of police and fire protection, improvements in sewer service, and municipal control of development patterns. The University would benefit from the annexation as a result of the extension of police and fire service as well as the protection afforded to environmentally sensitive areas by the village's zoning ordinance. In agreeing to the annexation action, the University will stipulate certain conditions which will ensure that the village will not tax or impose any easement over the preserve; that the village agrees to the University's position that as an instrumentality of the State of Illinois, the University, by agreeing to annexation, is not and will not be bound by local (i.e., Glenview) laws; and that Glenview will provide customary municipal services to the preserve such as police and fire protection. No transfer of property ownership is involved in this agreement. The chancellor at Chicago, upon the recommendation of the director of the preserve, the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and university counsel, recommends that the University consent to annexation of the preserve to the Village of Glenview by executing the Pre-Annexation Agreement and Pre-Annexation Petition Agreement documents. (Copies of these documents are filed with the secretary of the board for record.)