(A) Statement of purpose. The Open Space District (“OS”) is created for the purpose of preserving areas for passive uses which conserve natural resources such as floodplain, wetland and wildlife habitat areas and to provide for active recreational uses of upland areas for the benefit of village residents which are consistent with the overall goal of utilizing natural areas in a manner that will best preserve them for future generations.
(B) Allowable uses. The following uses are specifically allowed as of right in all OS designated areas:
(1) Open grasslands, nature preserve, wildlife habitat and public open lands;
(2) Marshes, fens, swamps and wetlands of all kinds;
(3) Public and private parks and conservation areas, including trails for pedestrians, bicycles, horses and other non-motorized vehicles;
(4) Public park buildings and structures, including without limitation gyms, maintenance facilities, pavilions, restaurants, vending areas, shelters, ball fields, dugouts, grandstands, tennis courts, skating parks, and the like;
(5) State and county-owned parkland and conservation areas, including those areas formerly designated as being in the Lake Plain District (for example, those parcels owned by the State of Illinois or Lake County Forest Preserve and known as the North Point Marina, Illinois Beach State Park and the Spring Bluff Forest Preserve); and
(6) Designated detention and retention areas created by plat of subdivision, ordinance or other recorded instrument.
(C) Special uses. The following uses may be permitted by the village, following an application to the Planning and Zoning Board and affirmative action by the Village Board:
(1) Arboretum or botanical garden;
(2) Boat launching ramp, dock or pier;
(3) Croplands on parcels of not less than 20 acres;
(4) Golf courses on parcels of not less than 60 acres; and
(5) Stables for horses on parcels of not less than five acres, provided that the same connect to equestrian trails.
(D) Maintenance regulations.
(1) Unless specifically required by a plat, ordinance or recorded covenant that has been approved for recording by the Village Board, the owners of all properties in a subdivision wherein an OS designated retention or detention area has been platted and developed shall bear all liability, jointly and severally, for the maintenance, upkeep and condition of the parcel; and they shall neither permit nor suffer any use of any area in a manner inconsistent with or which interferes with its intended use as a stormwater buffer.
(2) The owners of all properties described in division (D)(1) shall, upon written request of the village, perform any and all necessary maintenance to any area, including the removal of brush, bushes or trees, the re-grading of eroded soils, the dredging and removal of silt and all other things reasonably necessary to the continued function of the area for its intended use as a stormwater buffer.
(3) If the owners of all properties described in division (D)(1) fail to honor the request of the village made pursuant to division (D)(2) within a reasonable time of the request, the village shall have the right, but not the obligation, to enter upon the OS designated property and perform the required maintenance, and the village may issue statements to the said owners, on a pro-rata basis, requiring them to pay their proportionate share of the expenses, calculated at 150% of the ascertainable actual cost of the maintenance in order to cover the expense of enforcement and administration, and if any of the owners should fail to pay the statement within 30 days of issuance, these charges shall become a lien upon their individual lots which the village may memorialize by the recording of a formal notice of lien with the Lake County Recorder of Deeds.
(Ord., passed 2-18-64; Am. Ord. 2003-O-25, passed 8-19-03)