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Video: Highlights of La Grange Halloween Walk 2009

The La Grange Halloween Walk 2009 started last Saturday morning under sunny skies that quickly clouded over. But the rains that drenched the village for much of October stayed away.

Temperatures dropped but spirits remained high for the hundreds of children who followed a winding, sugar-laden route of treats offered by downtown merchants.

View highlights of Halloween Walk 2009 by clicking the image below.

Pawnbroker files lawsuit against village, landlord

A Berwyn man whose plans to open a pawnshop in downtown La Grange were derailed when village officials withdrew their support in response to an outcry from residents and business owners, filed a lawsuit Friday against both the village and his landlord, Chicago Breakings News, an online news service of the Tribune company, reported this evening.

In his lawsuit, filed Friday in Cook County Circuit Court, pawnbroker Andrew Grayson, seeks an amount greater than $50,000 from the village plus legal costs, the news service reported. Grayson also is seeking to recover a security deposit and rent totaling $15,470 from his landlord, Fifth Avenue Properties.

Grayson has not responded to a phone message left this evening by La Grange Today.

The lawsuit should come as no surprise to village officials. Legal action was threatened in two letters they received in late June and early July as the village plan commission and village trustees considered and eventually adopted changes to the downtown zoning ordinance which effectively prevented Grayson from following through on plans to open All-Star Jewelry & Loan at 71 S La Grange Rd, just south of Village Hall.

However, the inclusion of Grayson's landlord as a defendant is surprising because Fifth Avenue owner John Brannen initially was on Grayson's side against the village, co-signing the two letters in which the men proposed the village pay $250,000 or face a "likely lawsuit."

Village trustees July 7 met in a special closed session to discuss a response but made no public statement. A review of disbursements made by the village since that meeting disclosed no payments to either Grayson or Brannen.

Negotiations between attorneys for the parties apparently broke down when a settlement figure could not be agreed upon, Chicago Breaking News reported.

Grayson and Brannen apparently parted ways sometime during the summer. Shawn Temple of Belcaster Realty Group, who initially served as a consultant and representative to both men, last month said that Brannen "decided to move on."

Grayson in June said he felt betrayed by village officials, whom he said initially embraced his idea for the pawnshop. Grayson was issued a business license in May.

But after Village Hall in early June was besieged by dozens of residents and business owners, angered upon learning of Grayson's plans, officials did an about-face, hastily drafting changes to the downtown zoning code that outlawed several previously allowed business uses, including pawnshops. The ban applied to Grayson because he had not yet been issued a building permit.

At hearings held by the village plan commission June 29 several residents expressed concern that that the pawnshop would attract an undesirable clientele and spark a crimewave throughout the village from which stolen goods would conceivably be sold to the pawnshop.

But some residents also expressed sympathy for Grayson and were critical of village officials for the way the matter was handled. Some said they supported the idea of reimbursing Grayson for money he spent related to the store, including hiring an architect and making initial rent payments.

A status hearing for Grayson's lawsuit is scheduled for Feb. 24, 2010 before Judge Ronald F. Bartkowicz.

New hours for Halloween Walk & door-to-door treating, both scheduled for this Saturday

The annual Halloween Walk in downtown La Grange has a new starting time—10:30 a.m. this Saturday, Oct. 31.

Children are invited to don their costumes and visit a variety of merchants to receive free treats until 12:30 p.m.

A map of the suggested route can be found on the website of the La Grange Business Association, sponsor of the Halloween Walk.

Afterwards, the kids might as well keep their costumes on as trick or treating door to door throughout the neighborhoods occurs from 3:00 until 7:00 p.m. this year.

The new hours were decided upon by village officials based on feedback from residents.

Park board meets tonight but without Gordon Park settlement terms it wanted from sale objectors

Attorneys for La Grange Friends of the Park (LGFP) this morning said they will not provide the Park District of La Grange with a written settlement proposal on which park commissioners can act at its regular monthly meeting scheduled for tonight.

Park Board President Tim Kelpsas Tuesday told the Suburban Life newspaper he hoped LGFP would provide a document detailing a proposal presented verbally to park district attorneys in a meeting held Sept. 21 in the chambers of Cook County Circuit Court Judge Susan Fox Gillis, who convened the closed session in hopes the parties could reach a settlement and avoid a possibly lengthy trial over the park district's latest petition to sell 2.82 acres of Gordon Park to developer Atlantic Realty Partners (ARP).

Upon hearing this morning that no document was forthcoming, Kelpsas said he was "frustrated" by the news.

Tom Beyer and Mark Wohlberg, attorneys for LGFP, a group of some two dozen residents who filed objections to the parkland sale, this morning said it would serve no purpose to reiterate the group's original proposal in light of a counterproposal it received last week from ARP.

While Beyer would not elaborate on the specifics of the counterproposal, he said it contained "creative thinking" on ARP's part that could significantly alter the scenario initially proposed by the residents group.

Beyer said LGFP was awaiting the outcome of ongoing talks between ARP and village officials regarding the viability of the developer's ideas for reshaping its plans for La Grange Place, a major mixed-use redevelopment of the former Rich Port YMCA parcel.

Now that the settlement talks have expanded to include ARP and the village, "it's like a game of Chinese checkers," Beyer said. "ARP has presented its ideas to the village so, right now, we are waiting on the village to move its ball."

Under plans approved in April 2008 by village trustees, ARP intended to incorporate the 2.82 acres of Gordon Park adjacent to the Y site INTO the project, which as currently designed would comprise 284 mid-rise apartments, 23 townhomes and 30,000 of commercial space.

But ARP President Richard Aronson said Tuesday that his company now was looking to reduce the scope and cost of the project to reflect a retracted real estate market.

In that light, LGFP's original proposal, which would have ARP purchase the development rights to the park acreage rather than the land itself and transfer its density allowance to the Y site, was "not workable," Aronson said.

"Densifying the project doesn't make sense," Aronson said.

ARP's involvement in the settlement discussions was encouraged by Judge Gillis during a second round of talks between the judge and attorneys for both LGFP and the park district held Oct. 5.

Immediately following those talks, LGFP's attorneys gave the park district's attorneys copies of an email Beyer had sent to ARP that he said reflected the specifics of the verbal proposal made in the closed-chamber meeting two weeks earlier.

ARP at that time had not yet responded with its counterproposal. Beyer said he hoped the document would prod park district officials to more actively participate in the negotiations, as no discussions had taken place between the parties outside of court.

Kelpsas this morning said the park district did not respond to the document because it was not specifically directed to the park district and did not structure the proposal in a manner that indicated what specifically was being asked of the park district. Thus, it was not a document on which park commissioners could act, the park board president said.

Kelpsas also said that the Suburban Life story did not accurately quote a statement he made to reporter Joe Sinopoli and gives readers the mistaken impression that he and other park officials are unaware of the general substance of LGFP's proposal.

"One of our very strong board values is that each Park District of La Grange board member is fully aware of our attorney communications and any receipt of information," Kelpsas said.

With no document on which to act at tonight's meeting, Kelpsas said he was not certain if the park board would meet in closed session to discuss the settlement negotiations.

The park board held its last meeting Sept. 17, four days prior to the first round of settlement talks.

Park commissioners at this point may feel as if they are "outside looking in through a window" at the negotiations ongoing between LGFP, ARP and the village, Beyer said.

But that is a choice park officials made on their own, Wohlberg, his co-counsel said. 

Park officials had ample opportunity to present their own alternative to LGFP's proposal in the month that has passed since it was verbally presented to their attorneys in Judge Gillis' chambers, Wohlberg said.

"Our proposal was met then with a brick wall and nothing appears to have changed," Wohlberg said.

At that most recent hearing this past Monday, John Shapiro, an attorney for the park district, told Judge Gillis that a settlement with LGFP was not likely. He urged her instead to proceed with a hearing on the merits of the park district's petition.

Park board looks for details of settlement proposal; Residents' attys say document was given weeks ago

The president of the Park District of La Grange board of commissioners this week said he was still waiting for details of a settlement proposal from La Grange Friends of the Park (LGFP), a residents group that filed an objection in Cook County Circuit Court to the park district's latest petition seeking approval to sell 2.82 acres of Gordon Park to developer Atlantic Realty Partners (ARP).

The news surprised LGFP's attorneys, who said they provided the park district's attorneys more than two weeks ago with a written document that contained details of the settlement proposal.

“The only information we have heard from the objectors is in court," Park Board President Tim Kelpsas told the Suburban Life newspaper in a story published in Tuesday's edition. "We have no idea what the proposal is, and we very much wish they would send it to us before the Thursday (Oct. 22 Park) Board meeting."

Bob Ashby, park board vice president, in a conversation Monday night with La Grange Today said that he, too, was waiting for some communication from LGFP.

"All I know about the proposal is what I read in The Doings," Ashby said, referring to a story published in that newspaper earlier this month.

Tom Beyer, an attorney for the residents group, said that during a court hearing held Oct. 5 in which Judge Susan Fox Gillis directed attorneys for both sides to involve ARP in settlement negotiations, park district attorneys Rob Bush and John Shapiro each were handed copies of a memo Beyer said he emailed to ARP containing details of the settlement proposal.

"It was a written summary of what we had verbally presented to Bush and Shapiro two weeks earlier during our meeting with the judge," Beyer said, referring to a closed-chamber session held Sept. 21 in which all of the attorneys met with Gillis in their initial settlement talk.

Ashby and another park commissioner, Mary Ellen Penicook, were present in the courtroom during the Oct. 5 hearing, along with Dean Bissias, the park district's executive director.

"We expected their attorneys would forward the document to them," Beyer said.

The document, a copy of which was obtained by La Grange Today and can be read by clicking here, proposes that ARP purchase development rights to the acreage from Gordon Park rather than the land itself, and then transfer the density allowance to the adjacent former Rich Port YMCA site, on which ARP has plans approved by the village to build a major mixed residential and commercial development known as La Grange Place.

La Grange Today on Tuesday emailed a copy of the document to both Kelpsas and Ashby, and asked each of them if, given their earlier statements, they had been unaware of the document's existence.

"No, you are not correct," Kelpsas said in an email response. "One of our very strong Board values is that each Park District of La Grange Board member is fully aware of our attorney communications and any receipt of information."

When asked in a subsequent email how that answer reconciled with his statement to Suburban Life, Kelpsas did not respond.

Ashby did not respond at all to the email inquiry, nor to a followup phone call to his home on Tuesday night.

Richard Aronson, president of ARP, Tuesday said that he had received the copy of the document emailed to him by Beyer, and that he had responded with a counterproposal, the details of which Aronson would not discuss other than to say that LGFP's proposal was "not workable" because "densifying the project doesn't make sense" given the currently weak real estate market.

"We are looking to reduce the scope and cost of the project," Aronson said.

Beyer Wednesday confirmed that he had received Aronson's counterproposal in verbal form last week during a phone conversation the two men had. Beyer also would not divulge its details, but said he had received nothing in writing concerning the counterproposal.

Beyer said he informed Shapiro of his conversation with Aronson during a court hearing held this past Monday. Shapiro appeared surprised to learn about the existence of a counterproposal, Beyer said.

At that hearing Monday, Shapiro told Judge Gillis that a settlement with LGFP was not likely. He urged her to proceed with a hearing on the merits of the park district's petition.

Beyer said Aronson made no mention in their conversation of having talked with park commissioners or their attorneys about the counterproposal. But Beyer said that Aronson did say he had been in talks with Village Manager Bob Pilipiszyn and Patrick Benjamin, the village's director of community development.

Beyer also said that ARP's attorney, Brad Block, had contacted him earlier to ask if the developer could discuss the contents of LGFP's proposal with representatives of the YMCA.

Jim Palermo, a village trustee credited by Beyer with suggesting the idea of having ARP purchase the development rights, said Monday he has had no communication with any park district officials regarding settlement talks.

Village President Elizabeth Asperger Monday said she had only an informal conversation regarding the matter with Penicook, whom Asperger said initiated the discussion.

The park board has not met in any formal session since Sept. 17, four days before the initial closed-session settlement talks. Its next scheduled meeting is tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the recreation center, located at 536 East Ave.

ARP offers counterproposal in Gordon Park talks

The president of Atlantic Realty Partners (ARP) today said that his company had offered an alternative scenario to a settlement proposal made by La Grange Friends of the Park (LGFP), a residents group that opposes plans by the park District of La Grange to sell 2.82 acres of Gordon Park to the developer.

Richard Aronson would not reveal the specifics of the counterproposal but said the scenario offered by LGFP, in which ARP would purchase only the development rights to the park acreage, not the land itself, and transfer the density allowance to the adjacent former Rich Port YMCA site is "not workable."

"Densifying the project doesn't make sense," Aronson said. 

Under a plan for the project, known as La Grange Place, approved by village trustees in April 2008, ARP would construct 284 mid-rise apartment units situated mostly on the Y site and partly on the adjoining park acreage. Twenty-three two-story townhomes would be built on parkland north of the Y site. Some 30,000 square feet of commercial space would be built solely on the Y site.

Under a scenario involving purchase and transfer of development rights, the density allowance for both the Y site and parkland conceivably could be combined on the Y site, possibly resulting in an increased number of apartment units. The townhomes would not be built under that scenario.

Increasing the density on the Y site does not appeal to ARP given the downturn in the economy since the project was approved more than two years ago, Aronson said.

"We are looking to reduce the scope and cost of the project," he said, given the currently weak real estate market.

Aronson said that his counterproposal is contingent on a number of issues being resolved between the developer, the park district, the residents group and the village.

Tom Beyer, an attorney for LGFP and Tim Kelpsas, president of the park board, were not immediately available for comment regarding ARP's counterproposal.

LGFP formally objected in Cook County Circuit Court to a petition filed earlier this year by the park district asking judge Susan Fox Gillis to directly approve the sale of the 2.82 acres to ARP. The settlement talks were initiated by Gillis in hopes of avoiding a lengthy and costly trial.

An attorney for the park district Monday told Gillis that a settlement was not likely and asked her schedule a hearing on the merits of the petition.

Knead to receive village's first BYO liquor license

UPDATE: As anticipated, the La Grange village board of trustees Oct. 26 approved a new BYO license for Knead Marketplace.

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Knead Marketplace received a recommendation of approval Monday night from the La Grange liquor commission for the village's first-ever "bring your own" license.

A final o.k. from the village board of trustees likely will be granted at its next meeting Oct. 26. Liquor licenses routinely are listed on the board's omnibus agenda, whose items generally are approved without discussion.

Knead's proprietors, Chris Spagnola and Mary Libsch, who opened their  downtown bakery/deli/cafe at 13 S La Grange Rd two years ago, said they will begin offering BYO service early next month in conjunction with the introduction of their first dinner menu, which will be available Thursday through Saturday nights.

The BYO option is among several new liquor license categories approved in August by the village board. The new licenses are effective Nov. 1.

"When we first heard about the [BYO license] we thought it would be a perfect thing for us because we only have 20 seats," Spagnola said.

Knead does not have adequate room or staff to operate with a full-service bar like the one the couple had as owners of Emilio's Sunflower Bistro, he said. They closed that restaurant, which also was located downtown, earlier this year to focus their efforts on Knead.

Spagnola said BYO service would offer diners a low-cost alternative in today's tight economy.

He said the couple plans to approach a fine-wine retailer, possibly Trader Joe's, with the idea of doing some cross-market promotions encouraging patrons to pick up a bottle of wine while on their way to Knead for dinner.

Spagnola said they will carry "dram shop" insurance to cover alcohol-related liability, and also will have their employees undergo TIPS training for intervention procedures in handling intoxicated patrons. Both are required by law for full-service license holders, but not for a BYO license.

To help defray those costs, he said BYO patrons will be charged a service fee of "two or three dollars" per bottle.

"We'll see what kind of feedback we get," Spagnola said.

"We'll be curious to see how it goes, what works and what doesn't," Mark Langan, a village trustee who is one of three members of the liquor commission, said. Langan voted to recommend approval of Knead's license, as did Elizabeth Asperger, who also serves as village president.

The liquor commission's third member, Trustee Mark Kuchler, could not attend Monday's meeting. But Asperger said Kuchler asked her to express his support for the application, adding that Kuchler believed Knead's plans "were exactly what our BYO ordinance hoped to attract."

No action yet on "likely lawsuit" over pawnshop

A pawnbroker who threatened La Grange officials with a "likely lawsuit" if the village board approved a zoning amendment prohibiting his business from opening said last week that he has yet to take any legal action against the village.

Andrew Grayson, of Berwyn, would not comment on what legal action if any he still might take, saying said the matter was "in the hands of my attorney," whom he declined to identify.

Village trustees July 13 approved revisions to the zoning code outlawing several business uses deemed undesirable, including pawnshops. Village officials then denied Grayson a building permit for his All-Star Jewelry & Loan, which he planned to open in a vacant storefront at 71 S La Grange Rd, just south of Village Hall.

Shawn Temple, a broker with Belcaster Realty in La Grange, who had represented Grayson and his landlord, John Brannen, in an apparently unsuccessful effort to obtain $250,000 from the village for alleged damages, or launch a "likely lawsuit," last week said that he and Brannen had withdrawn from the matter.

"[Brannen] has decided to move on," Temple said.

Village trustees met in a closed session July 7 to consider the legal threat posed by Temple, Grayson and Brannen in two letters sent to village officials prior to that meeting.

Village officials have offered no public comment on what was discussed in the closed session, but acknowledged that it dealt with the threatened lawsuit in a response Village Attorney Mark Burkland gave to the Cook County State's Attorney, which conducted an investigation to determine whether or not the closed session was proper in light of the fact that village officials had at the time of the closed session not yet approved the zoning changes upon which a lawsuit would be based.

Assistant State's Attorney Jim Belgratis Sept. 22 sent a letter to Burkland saying his office believed the threat of legal action was sufficient to convene the closed session under an exception to the Illinois Open Meetings Act dealing with "probable or imminent" litigation.

Village officials in May issued Grayson a business license for All-Star Jewelry & Loan in July but did an about-face after they were besieged by numerous residents and business owners who feared the pawnshop would attract an undesirable clientele and be a magnet for stolen goods.

While the pawnshop never opened, the village ironically suffered a rash of home and car burglaries over the summer.

Closed meeting OK says Cook Co. State's Attorney

A closed meeting of the La Grange village board of trustees held on July 7 to discuss “probable or imminent litigation” satisfied the requirements of the Illinois Open Meetings Act (OMA), the Cook County State's Attorney has determined.

In a letter to the village's attorney, Mark Burkland, dated July 22 and received last week by La Grange Today, Assistant State's Attorney Jim Beligratis wrote that village trustees had sufficient reason to believe that a lawsuit was likely if they voted to approve changes to the village zoning code that would prevent a pawnshop from opening in a storefront just south of Village Hall.

Trustees voted unanimously to adopt the zoning amendments on July 13, six days after the closed session. Consequently, the village refused to issue a building permit to pawnbroker Andrew Grayson even though it had in May granted him a business license to operate his pawnshop, All-Star Jewelry & Loan.

According to Beligratis, the minutes of the closed session, which La Grange officials have not made public, reveal that the village received two letters indicating Grayson and his landlord, John Brannen, "were prepared to file a lawsuit against the village in light of the proposed zoning changes."

In those letters, copies of which were obtained from the village by La Grange Today under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the two men proposed that the village pay them a total of $250,000 to avoid litigation.

The two men believed they were entitled to the money to partially compensate them for expenses incurred and potential income lost in the event the pawnshop was not allowed to open, the letters said.

In testimony May 27 before the village plan commission, Grayson said he had signed a year lease with Brannen and hired an architect to design his store after receiving his business license and being warmly received by Community Development Director Patrick Benjamin.

Nonetheless, the plan commission recommended adoption of the zoning code amendments, which had been hastily prepared after village officials were besieged by outraged citizens and business owners only after they saw storefront window signs posted by Grayson announcing a July opening.

The timing of the trustees' approval of the zoning changes on July 13 and the closed session held six days earlier was relevant to the State's Attorney's investigation, which was undertaken in response to a request made by La Grange Today Publisher Thom Rae.

Rae questioned the validity of the "probable or imminent litigation" exception to the OMA cited by La Grange trustees after reviewing a 1983 opinion written by then-Illinois Attorney General Neil Hartigan which found the City of Springfield to have misused the same exception when its commissioners met in closed session prior to approving a land annexation over which they likely could be sued.

Hartigan determined that the Springfield closed session was premature, and the exception invalid, because the action upon which any litigation could be based had not yet been taken.

The Cook County State's Attorney considered Hartigan's opinion in conducting its investigation, but determined that it did not apply in the La Grange case.

"We believe it significant that the Attorney General's opinion notes that the attorney for the opponents to the annexation [subsequently approved by Springfield city commissioners] declared that litigation was not contemplated at the time and that there was nothing in the information provided to the Attorney General that would contradict this statement," wrote Belgratis in his letter to Burkland.

Belgratis also noted that while La Grange trustees convened the July 7 closed session prior to approving the zoning changes, they "could reasonably have believed plan commission's recommendations regarding pawnshops would be adopted, thus triggering the threatened lawsuit(s) against the village."

Belgratis wrote that the board's belief could be presumed because, as Burkland had stated in a discussion during the investigation, "the recommendations of the plan commission have been approved by the board of trustees in the overwhelming majority of instances."

His letter also said that the closed meeting minutes "indicate that the ensuing discussion concerned potential legal claims that could be brought by the pawnshop owner and his landlord against the village; the village's potential defenses and the respective strengths and weaknesses of each.The minutes do not reveal that any discussion was held on the issue of whether or not to approve the zoning amendments recommended by the plan commission."

A review of disbursements made by the village during the months of July, August and September, also obtained under a FOIA request, do not indicate that any payments have been made to either Grayson or Brannen, nor to Belcaster Realty Group, which has represented the men in their negotiations with village officials.

While the matter is closed as far as the Cook County State's Attorney is concerned, an inquiry by the Illinois Attorney General into the same closed session is still in process.

Heather Kimmons, an assistant state's attorney in the office of the public access counselor, said last Thursday that Burkland responded in August to a letter of inquiry she wrote July 15. However, staff shortages in her office had delayed further action on the matter, she said.

Judge wants developer to join talks seeking to settle lawsuit over petition to sell Gordon Park parcels

The judge overseeing settlement negotiations between the Park District of La Grange and a group of residents who oppose the sale of 2.82 acres of Gordon Park wants the prospective buyer, Atlantic Realty Partners (ARP), to join the talks.

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Susan Fox Gillis today said she was not ordering ARP to participate in the negotiations. The developer is not a party to Gillis' hearing on the park district's latest petition requesting court approval of the sale. But all parties seem to agree that any settlement would have to be blessed by ARP, which wants to include the park acreage in a redevelopment of the former Rich Port YMCA parcel, known as La Grange Place.

"I would suggest all of you sit down and talk with ARP and see if there is an arrangement acceptable to them," Gillis said to the attorneys on both sides.

Tom Beyer, one of three attorneys representing La Grange Friends of the Park (LGFP), a group of some two dozen residents who filed objections to the proposed parkland sale, told Gillis that he already had been in touch last week ARP's local attorney, Brad Block.

Beyer said Block was "guardedly" receptive to his invitation to discuss the developer's participation in a settlement. 

Beyer told the judge he also had a discussion with Jim Palermo, a La Grange village trustee. Beyer said Palermo indicated he and other trustees might support a scenario put forth by LGFP in which ARP would purchase development rights to the parkland rather than the acreage itself.

Through a purchase and transfer of development rights, Beyer said, the developer could achieve the density of units it wants on the Y parcel, the park district would receive money it wants to improve Gordon Park, and the public would not lose scarce and invaluable parkland.

"It would be a win-win-win situation for all involved," Beyer said.

However, the proposal has not been embraced by park district officials, whose attorneys today told Gillis they were instead ready for a trial to decide whether the park parcels can be sold outright to ARP.

"We have no settlement proposal," John Shapiro, one of two attorneys in court today representing the park district. "Seems like we should push forward [to trial]."

If no settlement appears underway by Oct. 19, the date of the next hearing, Gillis said she will schedule a trial.

A trial easily could last for months. Hearings on a similar petition to sell the same parcels, filed by the park district in Sept. 2007, lasted nine months until Judge Gillis dismissed the petition on the grounds that the sales contract and title insurance policy described not 2.82 acres of parkland but 3.5 acres, more than the court is authorized to approve.

During those nine months, the trial never progressed to the point that the actual merits of the sale were addressed by the court.