VOTERS APPROVE PARK LAND SALE

Park District of La Grange voters have apparently given the Park Board the green light to go ahead with its plans to sell 2.82 acres of the 17.5-acre Gordon Park for a rumored $6 million, despite a contentious battle fought by a vocal opposition to the proposal.


According to unofficial results released late Tuesday night by the Cook County Clerk's Election Department, the referendum question was approved by a 54.73 to 45.27 percent margin. With all 16 precincts reporting, there were 4,164 yes votes and 3,444 no votes.


Although the proposed sale of public green space quickly gained opposition more than a year ago and spurred a lawsuit from resident Orlando Coryell (the president of the Citizens' Council of La Grange) and a vitriolic Internet blogging campaign by other opponents (with a little help from the Citizens Advocacy Center in Elmhurst), a pro-referendum group -- Citizens for a Great Gordon Park -- organized late in the game, with a $30,000 startup donation from Atlantic Realty Partners.


ARP is the proposed developer of the former Rich Port YMCA site, which will include the controversial 2.82-acre site in question based on an auction bid already negotiated with the Park District. Park officials believe the amount will be significantly higher than any other bid when the land is put on the auction block, as required by law. The development, to be called La Grange Place, is a mixed-use apartment and townhome complex with more than 30,000 square feet of retail space.

The land for sale is on the northwestern edge of the park, according to the Park District, just east of La Grange Towers and south of the Plymouth Place retirement community, comprised of two parcels. The larger parcel is on a hill and not used for many activities, the district maintained, and the smaller, 1.1-acre piece, has an empty maintenance shed -- the contents of which are now located in the new community center on East Avenue.

In a separate deal, the Park District has already agreed to swap a vacated .7-acre Shawmut Avenue (which splits the 2.82 acres) with the village. Shawmut will become a street and in exchange the village will give the district the east side of the Locust Avenue parking lot between the Y building and the park, which will become green space in a new 14.7-acre Gordon Park. That project will be heavily financed with proceeds from the land sale.

No official Election Night gatherings were held, partly because of the belief it may have taken too long to determine the final results. As a matter of fact, a glitch in the county's computerized vote tally equipment or software caused just that to occur.

Long before the results were known Tuesday, pro-referendum activist Kate Brogan said it was such an odd ballot question in the first place.

"A 'no' vote (is) not going to stop anything," she said, speculating the La Grange Road and Ogden Avenue property would be redeveloped one way or the other and perhaps with a big-box retail giant instead. "In my mind, (ARP) made a wise business decision."

Brogan's group had the same color signs as the opposition -- one green on white, the other white on green. Over the weekend, vandals stuck duct tape over the word 'yes' on many of the pro-referendum signs, according to police.

The next step? The closing on the land deal and property exchange and final approval of the agreement by the village, which still is finalizing redevelopment plans before it issues demolition or building permits for the project.