Voters say Village can get ball rolling on $15 million Glencoe Golf Club project

With the voters OK, Glencoe Golf Club renovations can play through.

More than 57 percent of voters supported a Village of Glencoe request to borrow up to $15 million to rebuild and renovate facilities at the Glencoe Golf Club.

In unofficial results from the county, 912 Glencoe voters answered “yes” and 676, or 42.57 percent, “no” in the election. The 1,618 ballots made for a relatively high turnout rate of 22.79 percent.

The Village of Glencoe posted a message thanking voters.

“Voter turnout was very strong, reflecting the community’s engagement on this issue,” the message read in part. “In the coming months, the Village will commence the next steps of the planning process for improvements to the Glencoe Golf Club and clubhouse to ensure the success of this community asset for decades to come.”

More information on the project and the referendum is available on the Village’s website.

According to previous Record reporting, the Glencoe Golf Club is a nonprofit, self-funded entity that is governed by the Village of Glencoe and its Village Board. The board decided in December to ask local voters if the Village can issue up to $15 million in general obligation bonds to fund a new clubhouse and other facility improvements.

The 101-year-old golf course covers 126 acres spread across land owned by the Village and Forest Preserve of Cook County. The current clubhouse remains the original building, and course General Manager Stella Nanos told the Village Board in 2022 that it surpassed its useful life in 2012.

Approximately 44,000 rounds of golf are played at Glencoe Golf Club each year, according to village documents.

In 2012, the village-organized Clubhouse Task Force recommended for the replacement of the clubhouse and proshop buildings. In the subsequent years, a plan was made to replace the structures, and Friends of Glencoe Golf Club was formed in 2019 to garner support for new amenities — highlighted by a multi-purpose clubhouse — that could make the golf course site a community venue.

Included in the project are upgrades to the driving range, cart paths, parking lot, stormwater management, and outdoor and indoor golf training facilities. Community-focused features (a restaurant with bar, meeting room, private-party space and youth-program facilities) and green initiatives are also part of the plan.

Along with the modernized facilities, the venue’s future plans include other recreation, such as cross-country skiing, sledding, summer events, croquet, and even more golf (outings, more rounds, etc.)

According to Village projections, the $15 million referendum would be about $140 per $10,000 in annual property taxes per Glencoe household. The bond repayment is projected to last 20 years.

The Village says that the taxes are “expected” to be partially offset by incremental revenue achieved by the new golf-course facilities and by funds raised by the Friends of Glencoe Golf Club ($500,000 as of 2022). For every $100,000 of incremental net revenue the club achieves, according to the village, the Village Board could decide to reduce taxes by $10 per $10,000 paid per household.

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