Buckeye Lawsuit Settlement Reached

TINLEY PARK, IL - A possible end to the village of Tinley Park's legal dispute with the Buckeye Community Hope Foundation has been reached.

An agreement between the two parties reached this week indicates that if the settlement is accepted in court that the village will pay Buckeye a total of $760,000. According to a news release, the village says it will use $75,392 of the sum from its general fund and $684,608 from a legal settlement fund held on behalf of the village by the Intergovernmental Risk Management Association.

Buckeye will be paid $2.45 million total, however, as the IRMA will pay an additional $1,690,000.

The Buckeye foundation sued the village after it was denied its request to build a 47-unit multifamily residential building that would have been known as "The Reserve" at the northeast corner of 183rd Street and Oak Park Avenue. The settlement terms, according to the village, indicate that Buckeye will withdraw its plans to build the development and withdraw its lawsuit against the village.

“Litigation costs associated with defending the lawsuit were escalating quickly, with the price of defending the lawsuit through trial likely being greater than the settlement amount being paid by the village now,” Tinley Park Village Manager Dave Niemeyer said.

According to the village, the village and Buckeye were at odds about whether the development needed to include commercial space on the street-level. The village argued that it would need to include the commercial space to coincide with zoning restrictions in the area while Buckeye held that the requirement was discriminatory against affordable housing.

The U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit against the village regarding possible violations of the Fair Housing Act remains ongoing.