Arlington Heights village leaders Monday promised involved residents a say within the affect the Chicago Bears’ proposed NFL stadium improvement could have on the village if the Bears transfer forward with redeveloping the previous Arlington International Racecourse web site.
Mayor Tom Hayes promised two residents who, on the Village Board assembly Monday night time, voiced considerations concerning the soccer staff’s proposal that they “and other members of the public will have a full and fair opportunity to provide input before any votes are taken.”
For months, the village has walked a slim path between asserting its management over improvement selections on the 326-acre racecourse web site and protecting the door open to the bold residential, business and leisure improvement the staff has proposed for the realm. The Bears signed a purchase order settlement final 12 months with racecourse land proprietor Churchill Downs Inc.
Village leaders proceed to emphasise how tentative the negotiations are, although some who spoke throughout the public remark portion of the assembly Monday night time mentioned they felt that the closing on the property sale and eventual improvement have been assured.
Village residents Peggy Lane, 75, and Roberta Fisher requested trustees for a firmer timeline of how an eventual buy and redevelopment may play out.
Lane mentioned she was involved about what would occur with parking and transportation on sport days.
“I just wonder what the impact on our neighborhoods would be,” she mentioned. “I wonder if they’ll use our condo parking lot. They could be using our parking lot for games, or other activities – that stadium would probably be used for other things.”
Fisher requested the board what sort of enter she and different members of the general public may have and requested how preliminary the plans actually have been.
“If [the predevelopment agreement] is going to be signed on [Nov. 7], it seems like it’s going to happen,” she mentioned, referencing the Village Board assembly date at which a pre-development settlement between the staff and the village is ready to be on the agenda.
The doc, labored out between village employees and the staff, lays out the Bears’ proposal for redeveloping Arlington Park and the phrases on which the village and the staff have thus far agreed to work collectively.
“All we’re doing right now is trying to assist the Bears in closing on the contract and purchase agreement,” Hayes advised Fisher and Lane. “[The team] doesn’t own the property yet.”
Later, Fisher and Lane advised Pioneer Press they felt the redevelopment was already a performed deal and requested why residents hadn’t been extra concerned within the preliminary phases of the method.
“They say it’s very preliminary,” Fisher mentioned. “But what about us? We could have been included sooner.”
Lane mentioned, “It just doesn’t seem right that they haven’t involved the people of the community sooner.”
Lane added that she would have most popular to see “meetings with tables of people and plenty of notice ahead of time” for residents to have a say in whether or not the village ought to have interaction with the Bears on the redevelopment.
Village Manager Randy Recklaus mentioned the village hadn’t even reached the primary part of the redevelopment course of. The Bears are entitled to make a bid on and buy the property if they want, he mentioned.
“We’re going to work with anyone who wants in earnest to build something on that site, but we aren’t going to say yes or anything until we’re sure that it’s going to be a good thing for our community,” Recklaus mentioned.
Brian Costin, the Illinois State Deputy Director of Americans for Prosperity, a libertarian group that lately proposed an ordinance that might bar Arlington Heights from offering public cash as incentives for any enterprise seeking to open within the village, additionally had questions for the board Monday night time.
Costin needed to learn about how the proposed residential aspect of the Bears’ redevelopment plans would affect native faculties. He mentioned it was “really concerning” that the village would possibly decide to divert tax income from the challenge right into a tax increment financing district that might in any other case go to varsities seeing an inflow of scholars from the event.
“All this residential impact that could be happening from this development and no discussion goes to schools as to where the children from this development is going to go,” Costin mentioned.
Recklaus advised Costin the village had had preliminary conferences with the varsity districts which may see an affect from a stadium improvement.
Recklaus and Hayes each emphasised that the village will exert important energy over any improvement on the former racecourse.
“The village has quite a bit of say in terms of what will go there ultimately, and how it will be built and how it will impact our community,” the mayor mentioned. “And so we’ve got a long way to go. Please understand that the village has to say yes [in order for there to be a redevelopment at the site].”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com