Half Of White Pines Golf Club May Be Sold

BENSENVILLE, IL – The Bensenville Park District is considering selling nearly half of the White Pines Golf Club, which attracts golfers from Elmhurst and other towns.

The sold portion may be rezoned for light industrial, but that would need the Bensenville Village Board's approval. No decisions have been made.

Some residents oppose such a sale, saying it would create more traffic, noise and flooding.

The 260-acre golf club contains two 18-hole courses. It is a few blocks north of the Elmhurst city limit.

An online Change.org petition against the sale has drawn more than 100 signatures.

Ordinarily, a park district could not sell a big chunk of land. But at the park district's urging, the state Legislature last year voted to allow the park board to approve the sale of up to 125 acres of the golf club.

In an interview Tuesday, Joe Vallez, the district's executive director, said the park board is in "fact-finding mode."

The board, he said, plans two public hearings on the issue in May and hopes to decide in June.

Vallez said golfing has been on the decline for years, except during the pandemic, when many other activities were shut down. Because of the trend, he said, the golf club has been losing money for years.

"You're seeing golf courses similar to White Pines closing," Vallez said.

He said the park district has $7 million capital needs, including up to $1.4 million for the aquatic center.

The community, he said, needs more athletic fields for youth. The remaining half of the course could be used for such purposes, he said.

The park district believes less than 15 percent of the golf club's users are Bensenville residents, Vallez said.

He said rumors are running rampant about the park district's plans. At this stage, he said, little information is available because no decisions have been made.

"It's not that anyone is hiding anything," Vallez said.

Some residents believe the park district has kept information from the public.

"They're trying to jam this through," Chuck Rizzo, who lives near the golf club, said in an interview. "They're talking about a whole lot of money, and unfortunately, that clouds some people's judgment. It will be under the guise that this is good for Bensenville. I don't think it will be."

He said the golf club is a major flood control mechanism for Bensenville, Elmhurst and Addison.

"It's a big sponge," Rizzo said. "They want to put in 120 acres of concrete. They'll tell us all kinds of stuff. I don't think there's anything they can do to keep us from flooding. Elmhurst is going to flood. They're going to have problems."

Another nearby resident, Julia Styrczula, also expressed concern.

"There will be a lot more traffic on Grand Avenue, Church Road and Lake Street," she said in an interview. "I bought a house three doors down from my parents. It is quiet and safe. We have bald eagles flying over us. We have it all here."

Now, Styrczula said, "they're going to create concrete and pollution, and they're going to flood us."