Tinley Park may not buy mental health center land

June 18--Tinley Park's mayor publicly acknowledged Tuesday night that the village may not spend millions to purchase land formerly occupied by a state mental health center.

Village officials announced last fall that they would buy the property, which spans 280 acres northwest of 183rd Street and Harlem Avenue, for more than $4 million. The state owns the land and operated the Tinley Park Mental Health Center for decades until Gov. Pat Quinn shut it down in 2012.

At a public hearing Tuesday night on a proposed special taxing district for the site, Acting Mayor Dave Seaman said the decision to acquire the land has not yet been made.

"It's a possibility," Seaman said. "I don't think there's been a decision by this board yet about whether or not that's the right thing to do or how to do it."

Last fall, Tinley Park officials said they expected to close on the property by Friday. Former Mayor Ed Zabrocki said then that there was a "consensus" on the Village Board in favor of the purchase.

Zabrocki and other village officials at the time said buying the land was necessary to ensure that Tinley Park retained "100 percent control" over development there.

But much has changed in the suburb since then, as half of Tinley Park's trustees lost their seats in the April election.

New trustees Jake Vandenberg, Brian Younker and Michael Pannitto have expressed doubts about the land purchase, asking why Tinley Park would need to do so to control development instead of using zoning regulations to help shape the land's future.

Village Manager Dave Niemeyer said Wednesday that trustees asked the village staff to review the cost of buying the land as well as the potential benefits of making the purchase. He said he expects a final decision to be made sometime in the next 60 days.

"They could say continue on the path you're going or they could say we're just not ready to buy it, and we'd obviously have to deal with it through our zoning," Niemeyer said.

Whoever buys the property will be purchasing troubled land because it's an environmental nightmare.

Village officials have previously estimated that it could cost up to $12 million to clean up the property, which is littered with asbestos, buried fuel tanks and "some sites where stuff was buried and nobody seems to know what was buried there," as Zabrocki put it last fall.

During the meeting Tuesday night, Assistant Village Manager Mike Mertens made a presentation to trustees, saying the land qualifies as a tax increment financing district because it's a blighted property. A TIF district offers significant tax breaks to facilitate development or redevelopment of such property.

"Without getting some TIF assistance, it's not gonna develop in the way we want it to develop," Niemeyer said.

Trustees took no action on creating the TIF district Tuesday night, but they may vote on it next month.

gpratt@tribpub.com

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