Village of Tinley Park, park district at odds over competing interest in acquiring abandoned mental health center property
TINLEY PARK, Ill. — Village of Tinley Park officials are saying they were blindsided earlier this week when the Tinley Park-Park District acted at a special meeting to explore acquiring the former mental health center site located along 183rd Street and Harlem Avenue.
The park district’s Board of Commissioners met Monday, Nov. 14, during a special meeting to direct its legal team to inform the state of its interest in acquiring the 280 acres of land, according to reporting from the Daily Southtown. Village officials attended the meeting to ask the park district commissioners to table the item.
Richard Free Press sent multiple requests for comment to Tinley Park-Park District Board of Commissioners President Marie Ryan and Executive Director Shawn Roby, but they were not returned as of the publication of this report.
During the Nov. 15 Village of Tinley Park Board of Trustees meeting, Mayor Michael Glotz called park district’s decision to seek the land “disappointing” and that “they took it political.”
“The park district only cares about the park district,” Glotz said, noting the importance of the Village taking the lead on acquiring the property. “The park district does not cover The Odyssey. The park district does not cover one resident of the great Village of Tinley Park who lives in Brookside Glen. Our Brookside Glen residents can’t even use the Tinley Park Park District, but they live in Tinley Park.
“We can make sure we look out for every resident of Tinley Park, not just whoever is in the boundaries of the park district.”
During the Village Board meeting, it was pointed out by staff and Glotz that the mental health center property — which is currently made up of about 45 structures, with underground tunnels, 10 underground fuel storage tanks, five above ground storage tanks, three landfills, 22 state-owned transformers and a lime pit — is zoned as Office and Restricted Industrial (ORI).
“Anyone that knows anything about zoning knows that in ORI, parks are strictly prohibited,” Glotz said. “They couldn’t put a park there if they got all 280 acres. They would first have to come to us. So, why would you go around us to try and run through us instead of working with us.”
Glotz added that while Tinley Park Village Manager Pat Carr received an email from Roby in January 2022 about the possibility of the park district acquiring the closed Howe Developmental Center — a building located at the site — there had been no other communication about the park district’s interest in the land.
“Putting a pond in there and a park doesn’t bring any value to the Village of Tinley Park,” Glotz said.
The mayor also said that it has been the Village’s plan to meet with representatives of the park district and local school districts once the site was acquired from Illinois Central Management Services to determine how the land could help all the taxing bodies.
“That was a major concern of ours — what we can do to work with them and help them,” Glotz said.
On Wednesday, Nov. 16, Carr told Richard Free Press that the Village was “blindsided” by the park district’s actions.
“I talk to [Roby] quite regularly, and we meet and discuss numerous issues,” Carr said. “We work together on a lot of stuff. This totally blindsided us. We met as recently as a few weeks ago [in October], and this was never brought up.”
Carr said he received an email from Roby in January 2022 inquiring about the vacant Howe Center. Richard Free Press obtained that email through a Freedom of Information Act request. The email, dated Jan. 13, 2022, asked for a meeting to be set up.
“Park District Commissioner [Bernie] O’Boyle and I would like to meet with you and Mayor Glotz to talk about the Howe property,” Roby wrote. “As discussed in the past, the park district certainly has interest in possible expansion of Freedom Park into a true sports complex for tournament play for all levels. The proximity to train station, I-80 and existing infrastructure make it prime space for that kind of development. Couple the access, infrastructure, as well as existing amenities like hotels, convention center, restaurants and you have the perfect formula for a sports complex. I know that this property has been in the village sights for a long time and many things are holding it up.”
Carr said he called Roby the next day to let him know that until the Village was in possession of the mental health center property, they did not have a reason to meet yet. He also said he told Roby that the Village has the site zoned as ORI and did not plan to put a park on the property.
“They wanted 90 acres, and there is no way that we’d give up [that much of the property] for a park,” Carr said. “The real kicker is that they are on the joint review board for our TIF. They know all this. If you put a park [on that site], it doesn’t generate any revenue. We always talked about putting a sports complex in there, but that would be run by a private operator that would be in an entertainment type of district — you’d have a sports complex, restaurants, bars, things like that to generate revenue. Would there be some open space that the park district could have for maintaining and open, green space? Yes, there would be some of that. But it’s not a business decision that we would do to give away 90 acres to the park district.”
As of Wednesday, Nov. 16, Carr said he had not heard from park district officials. But he said he planned to reach out in the coming days.
In the meantime, Carr said the Village has submitted its letter of interest to the state.
“We wait for the next steps from the state on what we are supposed to do,” he said. “We had a deal with the state last year for $4.5 million. I know the park district doesn’t have [that]. So, we are once again waiting — but this doesn’t help with [competing offers]. It only further clouds the issue of what we are trying to do.”
Carr said park district leadership knows the challenges the Village has faced in trying to acquire the mental health center property.
A 2014 hazardous materials survey by Tetra Tech found as many as 95 drums of hazardous materials on the site, with hundreds of more containers filled with hazardous materials and buildings filled with asbestos. The consulting and engineering firm estimated that it would cost approximately $12.4 million to remediate the site.
Carr said that factoring in current economic conditions, he believes it would now cost closer to $20 million to clean it up.
“For them to make a play like this, we don’t understand it,” Carr said. “It makes absolutely zero sense to do it.”
Carr said that he still believes the Village has the best offer to the state to purchase and develop the land. That plan includes an entertainment district, retail, limited office or commercial development, and a municipal campus near the Howe Center site.
“At the end of the day, we should all be working together for that common good,” he said. “We are still willing to do that. It’s my job to make sure that happens. We are the best equipped entity to try and make this thing a success — not only for the residents of Tinley Park but the park district, school districts and everybody that bought into the TIF to make that site what we’re trying to make it.”
Let us know what you think about this story in the subscriber chat.
Richard Free Press is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.