Hastert secures $5 million to buy Boy Scout camp

YORKVILLE - U.S. Rep. Dennis Hastert has secured $5 million in federal funds that the Kendall County Forest Preserve District and the city of Yorkville could use toward the purchase of the Hoover Outdoor Education Center.

Brad Hahn, press secretary for Hastert, said the money will help preserve a significant section of open space near the House Speaker's hometown.

"This is a very important piece of property in Yorkville's history," Hahn said.

The 400-acre site is a pristine natural area owned by the Chicago Council of Boy Scouts from Chicago and throughout northern Illinois.

The $5 million federal allocation is part of a Department of the Interior appropriations bill awaiting President Bush's signature. hahn said Bush is expected to approve the measure.

For the past several months, a number of groups, including the Kendall County Forest Preserve District, the city of Yorkville and others, have been working toward trying to buy the camp.

The Chicago Council of Boy Scouts announced it was considering selling the parcel earlier this year. The asking price for the property has not been disclosed.

The camp, between Fox Road and the Fox River southwest of yorkville, is regarded as prime real estate in the repidly growing county. There are already upscale subdivisions nearby, and, with 400 acres of woods, recreations areas and river views, the property has drawn the interest of several developers.

Yorkville Mayor Art Prochaska announced in march that the city would take the lead in helping secure funds to purchase the land.

Prochaska at the time identified several groups that could be involved in such a project, including the Forest Preserve District and CorLands, a conservation funding group that has worked with the city on two recent open-space projects.

Kendall County voters, in a referendum a year ago, approved a $5 million bond issue that would go toward the purchase and preservation of open space. So far, none of those funds have been used, Forest Preserve Director Jason Pettit said.

"We are anticipating some of those funds would go toawrd this," he said.

During the 1960s and '70s, the Boy Scouts developed camp sites on the property. In the mid-1980s, a capital campaign resulted in the construction of a chapel, several cabins, an archery range and an indoor pool on the site.

The camp has seven cabins, which can house about 180 campers, making it one of the largest facilities of its kind for camping in the region, Scout officials have said.