Orland Park Mayor Pekau Update

I want to give everyone an update on the board meeting from Monday night. We honored several people including the winners of the spelling bee, Orland Funeral Home for their donation to pay for bullet proof vests for our police, and Terrance Regan who has participated in Special Olympics for 50 years and was at the inaugural event at Soldier Field. I also thanked Tom Morgan from Public Works for his work with the Southwest Conference of Mayors auction as he was specifically thanked by the mayors at our meeting last week.  Additionally, I thanked Ed Lelo and Khurshid Houda of Development Services for working with me to put in a proposal answering an RFP from the USDA looking for 160,000 square feet of office space.  We submitted the I-80 corridor which was a front-page story in the Southtown.  Lastly, I thanked Tom Dubelbeis and the Veterans Commission for collecting over 1,000 lbs. of goods and $1,049 for postage for our troop in harm’s way on Sunday. The most important thing the Village Board did was choose a developer to partner with to finish the Triangle, Structured Development.  I think it is important to give you the full picture on the Triangle. Historically, there have been at least 4 different designs shown to the public and the land development code called for taller buildings to the north and shorter buildings along LaGrange and 143rd.  What we have there now-296 apartments, a parking garage and the medical center, don’t resemble any of those plans. That’s because the market determines the plan and the Village of Orland Park is not a developer.  As someone who advises companies on market growth strategies, in my opinion, the skill set to understand the marketplace does not exist in-house. (and this is not a bad thing, it’s not typically the government’s job).  The fiscal reality is that to date, the Triangle has cost the taxpayers over $109 million.  We are projected to receive $16M in property taxes through the end of the TIF and $18M in lease payments.   We are in the hole over $75 million.  This is a sunk cost and we are not going to get this back.  This long precedes my tenure as your mayor. However, we cannot turn back the clock on this sunk cost.  We need to look forward and make sure that the future project is successful.  To me, success is defined as a unique and interesting project that all residents of Orland Park enjoy (not just those who live in newly constructed apartments in and around the TIF district).   I commend the board for agreeing to go out for an RFQ/RFP to allow developers to provide proposasl for ALL of the remaining property.  This is a distinct departure from the past where the Village was “playing developer” by parceling out the area piece by piece. I also want to point out to our residents that I have learned a couple of things through this process. U of C is a great add to Orland Park, but they have the right to refuse medical office space in the Triangle, which limits the developer The development is not going to look anything like the drawings you have previously seen.  You may have already known this, but it bears repeating Much of the existing infrastructure the Village has previously put in place (streets, parks, etc.) place limitations on what can be done.  Of the two plans we reviewed, one developer decided to scrap it, driving up cost while the one we chose decided to work around those limitations.  This is a limiting factor for the chosen developer as well. The two restaurant pads under the parking structure not only cost the Village over $200,000 this year to remediate but they were a dilemma for both developers and it appears that they will not be restaurants I am happy to support the chosen developer, Structured Development, but not without some reservations.  While their plan will be modified (as all developments like this are), I want to ensure that some key elements remain to ensure that this is a project that EXISTING Orland Park residents enjoy.  Provided the Master Development agreement includes stipulations on mixed use requirements (so it is not simply retail and apartments) and these stipulations are met prior to the developer taking control of the property, I will support the Master Development agreement. I am thrilled that the Board agreed to go through this process and that we have made a decision that will move this project forward. Additionally, I am committed to helping make this project successful by the measures I previously defined. At the end of the meeting Trustee Carroll decided to attack Trustee Dodge personally because Trustee Dodge and I did not want to move the last budget hearing to the end of the board meeting.  He stated that “Trustee Dodge has missed more meetings than he has made.”  He also stated that he has a “very busy week”.  He also pontificated about all of the cuts we are making and that we should be raising revenue.  I disagree. I have a couple of points about these comments.  The first of which is that the budget meeting for 11/7 has been on the calendar for a long time and I see no reason to move it, especially when the move is requested at noon of the day you want to move it to.  Also, while Trustee Dodge has been campaigning for Treasurer, a race he unfortunately lost, he has made most of the meetings, so Trustee Carroll is factually incorrect. My other point is about professionalism.  It is in bad form generally to personally attack people on the board floor, but to do so when they are not even present to defend themselves is unacceptable.  Additionally, to do so, the night before his election is pure politics.  I understand that Trustee Carroll is the former Democratic Committeeman and Trustee Dodge is a Republican but he should have had the professional courtesy to keep his mouth shut about a fellow Trustee on the board floor.  He doesn’t have to support him, but to attack him on the board floor is uncalled for.  This is the type of behavior we are all tired of and the Village of Orland Park and Trustee Dodge deserve better.