Village Shocked By Park District's Plans For Mental Health Center Land

TINLEY PARK, IL — Tinley Park officials were surprised Wednesday when the Tinley Park-Park District released a preliminary rough plan for its vision for the Tinley Mental Health Center property. The park district last month declared its intent to pursue the land as a sole entity, a move that stunned the Village, which has been trying for a decade to acquire the land.

In a response to the park district's releasing the information, Village Manager Pat Carr said he and Mayor Mike Glotz were, "totally caught off guard on this, and a bit dumbfounded that they’d come out with a release like this."

The latest development in what seems to be growing into a contentious relationship between the Village and park district, Carr said it was the first time he had heard any details of what the park district would like to do with the land, should they get it. The Village's most recent attempt to purchase the land—280 acres on the corner of 183rd Street and Harlem Avenue—at a price tag of $4.5 million fell through as recently as February 2022.

"There was one time that I spoke with Shawn Roby (executive director of the park district) about this," Carr said, "and there was nothing of any seriousness about what they wanted to do."

The state in late October listed the land among its surplus properties, opening it up for parties to declare interest by the end of November. Burt Odelson, a lawyer with Odelson, Sterk, Murphey, Frazier & McGrath representing the park district, said its officials spoke up once it was listed. The park district's interest stunned Glotz and other officials, who said they'd always hoped to first acquire the property, then work with agencies such as the park district to flesh out plans for it.

"At the end of the day, once we would acquire the property, of course we would bring in the park district … but again, it doesn’t make any sense of what they’re trying to accomplish," Carr said.

The Village has hopes of using portions of the land in different ways, in part for a sportsplex and multi-purpose athletic fields, and also to centralize all Village resources, moving Village Hall, the police department and more to one location, Glotz said.

The park district's plans detailed a sports dome, a hub of athletic fields, and open recreational space to accommodate people with special needs.

The cost to remediate the land to usable condition years ago was estimated at nearly $12.4 million—a concern Glotz has for the park district’s ability to finance such necessary work. The land is in a tax increment financing district, Glotz said, so any revenue raised through its redevelopment could help offset the Village’s cost to remediate.

"They have no idea of the contamination of where they intend to put some of this stuff," Carr told Patch. "I don’t think they grasp the magnitude of what the cleanup would be. ...

"They don’t have the wherewithal or infrastructure to handle anything like that."

The land is also not zoned for what they intend, he said.

"At the end of the day, this is not zoned for parks," he said, "and when we created this TIF, the park district was involved in this, and they knew exactly what needed to go there to generate revenue and jobs for the residents of Tinley."

The Village has sought ownership of the land for years, and has long floated proposals for its use, at one point touting the idea of a racino—a combined racetrack and casino—and later considering redevelopment as a 55-and-older, 400 single-family home housing complex. The former was nixed in October 2019, when Gov. J.B. Pritzker canceled the state's sale of the property.

Carr and Glotz both say the land is a pawn in a "political game," with legislators such as Sen. Michael Hastings (D) and Rep. Bob Rita (D) interfering in the sale. The state ultimately decides who gets the land—a process that will likely take up to 60 more days.

"It’s the residents and the Village caught in a political game, unfortunately," Carr said. "We have been trying to get this property for 10 years. We’ve put millions of dollars into this for the plans, and every time it gets shot down by the senator and representative. That works against the residents of Tinley Park."

The park district said in its statement that it has been in talks with Village officials previously, and should it acquire the land, "we hope to continue those conversations with the Village as this process moves forward.”