Earlier this week we held another board meeting. A lot of important issues were discussed, including the AMC Theater at Orland Square Mall (which I will comment on last). We accomplished a lot.
We started a new Technology Commission to assist the village with our technology issues going forward. As you remember I started talking about this last May as part of the Special Commission I tried to get started at that time. It took a while, but it was finally approved. I look forward to engaging them immediately on our Smart City Initiative which the Economic Development Advisory Board has also been working on.
We also hired a consultant to analyze the John Humphrey Complex, Centennial Park and Cachey Park sports facilities to assess their condition, improve their utilization and help identify ways we can use those assets for the economic benefit of Orland Park. This is the first step in the process to address the issue of field utilization that I raised during the campaign a year ago.
I started a discussion to look at replacing our street lighting with LED technology. Based on my research, the savings generated will result in a 7 to 8-year payback if we embarked on this project. The benefits include improved safety, lighting and monitoring. They are also more energy efficient and last longer. Our energy savings and maintenance savings will more than pay for the project. This is a good use of our strong financial position. The Village Board unanimously agreed to direct staff to develop and send out an RFP to accomplish this. This is an example of strategic and proactive thinking that benefits Orland Park in the long term.
We discussed an after-action report on the snow removal event of the prior week where we received two feet of snow. We recognized our snow fighters for their hard work during that week. It is physically and mentally draining to plow that much snow night after night and they did a great job. Key takeaways included ensuring that we continue to improve our use technology to get residents information about the snow event and to get feedback from the residents. Also, it was noted that our code red alerts were very well received and very helpful. We also talked about the continuing need to monitor IDOTs plowing, particularly of LaGrange Road. IDOT still has not adjusted to the additional lane miles on LaGrange and we are continuing to work with them on this. It is important to note that these discussions happen after all events, but this is the first time for a public discussion with the Village Board. I believe this is important for transparency and to keep the Village Board engaged with the Village of Orland Park Staff. We owe that to the residents we serve.
All of the above discussions were unanimously passed by the Board of Trustees.
The most important issue of the night was the passing of the AMC project at the Orland Square Mall. As most of you are aware, when this first came up over 8 months ago, I was the lone supporter on the Village Board. I want to express my gratitude to Trustees Ruzich and Dodge for their open-minded approach from the beginning and their support for the last six months. Trustees Calandriello and Gira also voted to pass the project. Trustee Carroll abstained (he was late due to a work commitment and did not participate in the whole discussion) and Trustee Fenton voted against the project.
I want to thank the Economic Development Advisory Board for their unanimous support of the project. A special thank you goes to Khurshid Hoda and Jane Turley from staff who worked on this project and treated the petitioners fairly and professionally. Ultimately the project had their support and our Planning Commission passed it unanimously with a lot of positive comments. In fact, there were no negative comments made from the public at any point in the public hearing process.
Trustee Calandriello expressed concerns about the process and about the Village accepting the first proposal that was made. His process concerns were about the fact that we had the Committee meeting and Board meeting on the project on the same night and was concerned about whose idea this was. I pointed out that I met with staff around the New Year and asked them about timing and they said approval in March. I asked them if we could speed the process up (since we tell petitioner 60-90 days and we were going to be well over 150). They said that we could the meetings the same night and that there was precedent for it. Combine that with the fact there was nothing controversial in the petition, I agreed that was a great idea and we moved forward with that plan. As it was it we are at 139 days, the petitioners had flown in from New York on 8 different occasions to meet with the Village (including 3 times to meet individually with the Trustees) and we need to work with developers to speed up the process.
As for us accepting the first proposal, we are not development experts and just because it is the first one doesn’t mean it’s bad. The petitioner, Seritage, is the largest re-developer of department stores in the United States; Simon, the mall owner, is the largest mall owner in the world; and AMC is the largest theater operator in the United States. Knowing the business community, I am sure that looked at several alternatives and moved forward with their best one. In my opinion, if these three entities are investing over $40M, complying with all of our requirements and not asking for a penny of incentives, why would we say no as they know their respective markets. Ultimately, Trustee Calandriello voted for the project.
Trustee Fenton had many concerns about the project. She asked the petitioner if they could guarantee that no other retailers would lose business. She also wanted them to share confidential leasing information and wanted the Village to have approval of all of their tenants. These requests are massive government over reach. First, there is no guarantee in business. Second, the Village asked a previous developer to share their leasing information -- that developer did and it delayed the project by over three years because competitors came in and took those stores. Trustee Fenton was on the Village Board at that time. Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat the same mistakes. Lastly, the Village does not approve tenants now and nor should we in the future provided they meet our codes.
Unfortunately, there were several last-ditch efforts to derail this project. One was asking for confidential information. Another, was hiring an attorney to craft an opinion against the decision of our Planning Commission and stating that members of the Board of Trustees were ignoring the facts – what bothers me most is that Village funds were used to hire this attorney. This opinion was delivered to us less than 6 hours before the meeting. Finally, a frantic investigation into the original Special Use Agreement was conducted. I must express my gratitude to Trustee Ruzich for going above and beyond on Monday to diffuse this situation.
While I obviously support the project, a Trustee doesn’t need to agree with me. However, a project that has been in the pipeline for 139 days should not be subject to last minute maneuvering. These are the political games we see in Washington and Springfield and do the residents of Orland Park a disservice. I am glad to see that the majority of the board put the people of Orland Park first and did not play politics.
Before sending out this update, I had the opportunity to read an article in the Prairie’s February 22nd edition about mall safety. It is a very well written article. It is unfortunate that Trustee Fenton doubled down on the comments she made at a board meeting about the AMC and that AMC brings nothing but problems. That statement is not based on facts. She also states that she has problems with “the way the whole thing was approached with the board.” I would ask her if any other petitioner in the past has met with each of the board members on 3 separate occasions to address concerns.
In my opinion a Trustee should base their decisions on facts. I realize that this doesn’t always happen. However, making statements that aren’t supported by facts can damage Orland Park. Trustee Fenton did say after the vote that she hoped that the project is successful. I believe that her comments about AMC and safety, which aren’t fact-based, serve only to stoke up emotion and fear and are not helpful to Orland Park or the project. The facts are that AMC, Seritage and Simon have met with our police department about security plans. Simon regularly meets with our police department and this will continue. Additionally, the FBI crime statistics show that crime at Orland Square Mall is down 30% in 2017. Moreover, according to an independent research group that tracks crime at malls nationwide, we have the safest mall in the Chicagoland area.
Lastly, I want to point out that at my trip the White House this week there were about 50 Mayors from both sides of the political aisle. Every time I meet with Mayors, there is an amazing amount of agreement on issues. The reason is that the issues faced at the local level typically aren’t political. This same philosophy should apply to the Village Board -- slowly but surely we are getting there.
Keith
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