Nearly a decade after voters approved borrowing $17.5 million to buy the Mayslake Forest Preserve in Oak Brook, the DuPage County Forest Preserve Commission is looking to borrow up to $4 million to rehabilitate the 90-acre estate, although this time by dipping into one of its own funds. Commissioner James Healy, who is overseeing the project, said Thursday he will seek to use money from the district's bountiful landfill fund.

"We're looking for a one-time capital infusion," Healy said. "And I think the best place to find that money is the landfill fund. We want to get this done."

But tapping the $180 million landfill fund has become controversial in recent months .

Although some commissioners want to use landfill funds for various projects, others fear spending the money could leave the district unable to pay for environmental problems in closed landfills it owns-the reason the fund was established.

Healy and other loyal to County Board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom are pushing for the release of some landfill fund dollars. They want to hire a consultant to determine how much money the fund should hold, but opponents have blocked such a move.

Cost estimates for the Mayslake work hover around $4 million. Healy said any money borrowed from the landfill fund would be paid back, but he did not give a timetable. Much of the work would involve adding parking and improvements to the grounds as well as rehabilitating the so-called retreat wing attached to the Peabody Mansion.

Healy's proposal to borrow from the landfill fund comes as the Forest Preserve Commission is getting closer to opening the doors of the historic 37-room Tudor mansion. Built for coal baron Francis Peabody, the 1920s mansion is the centerpiece of the estate and the main reason the Forest Preserve District brought the land.

On Thursday, the Forest Preserve Commission's Operations Committee, which Healy heads, reviewed a draft of a master plan for the estate and suggested some slight alterations. Healy said he hopes to get a final plan from the Chicago architectural firm of Holabird & Root within the next few months. That plan then will be presented to Oak Brook officials, who must approve any work at Mayslake.

Audrey Muschler, who was among the first group of Oak Brook residents to lobby the Forest Preserve District to buy the Mayslake estate in 1992, said she is happy with the way the master pl

an is shaping up. "We're just so pleased this is moving forward," Muschler said. "We just think things are turning out so

well." Healy said the Forest Preserve District hopes to open the mansion for tours in April. Much work remains to be done to rehabilitate the mansion, but enough has been done to allow the public inside, said Michael Palazzetti, the district's program services division manager. The plans reviewed by commissioners also took into account the retreat wing, which is attached to the mansion and being designed to hold offices and rental space.

Commissioners hope the three-story building will bring in money to support operations at Mayslake. "It's got a proposed payback on it," Palazzetti said.