the daily

Developer provides details of its proposal to settle legal battle over sale of Gordon Park acreage

Atlantic Realty Partners (ARP) would purchase only three-quarters of an acre of land in Gordon Park from the Park District of La Grange and significantly scale back the density of its redevelopment of the former Rich Port YMCA site under a proposal the developer has offered in hopes of ending litigation that has held up the project, known as La Grange Place, for the past two years.

ARP President Richard Aronson Monday said he was awaiting a response to the proposal from La Grange Friends of the Park (LGFP), a group of park district residents who are opposing the park district’s latest petition asking a Cook County judge to directly approve the sale of 2.82 acres of parkland to the developer.

If ARP and the residents group come to terms on an agreement, Aronson said he will then meet with park district officials “to convince them that [accepting the compromise] is in their best interest.”

Roughly half of the 30-some LGFP members met Saturday morning to review and discuss ARP’s proposal, and reached a consensus on a response, Tom Beyer, one of three attorneys representing the group, said following the meeting.

Beyer declined to provide details but said he would release a written copy of LGFP’s full response later this week, after all its members have had a chance to review it.

The three-quarter parcel ARP would purchase—.78 acres to be precise—would be used to square off the northeastern corner of the former Y parcel, Aronson said. The land currently is occupied partially by maintenance sheds no longer needed by the park district.

ARP would forego its original plans to purchase an additional 2.04-acre parcel, consisting of a grassy slope and picnic grove, which is located north of the .78-acre parcel and Y parcel and is directly east of the La Grange Tower condominiums.

The developer had intended to construct 23 town homes on the 2.04-acre. No town homes are included in the revised development plan offered by ARP, Aronson said.

Also, ARP would reduce from 283 to 236 the number of units in a mid-rise apartment complex it plans to build, and would reduce the amount of commercial space in the project from 33,000 to approximately 18,000 square feet.

Downsizing the scale of the development is not intended to appease LGFP, Aronson said, although some of its members had reservations about the size of the original development plans approved last year by village trustees. The density of the development and the traffic it would generate were among chief concerns expressed by many village residents who attended plan commission hearings on the project.

Even if ARP were able to proceed with purchase of the entire 2.82 acres it originally sought, the project likely would be modifed to address the realities of a currently weak real estate market, Aronson said.

Click here to see a related story and video.

Public to get details of Gordon Park settlement talks this week, says attorney for residents group

An attorney for La Grange Friends of the Park LGFP), a group of residents opposed to the sale of 2.82 acres from Gordon Park to developer Atlantic Realty Partners (ARP), said Saturday that his group this week would issue a written copy of its latest proposal to end litigation that for two years has held up redevelopment of the former Rich Port YMCA site at La Grange Rd and Ogden Ave.

Tom Beyer, one of three attorneys, all La Grange residents, who represent LGFP, said that half of the groups 30-odd members met Saturday morning to consider a settlement scenario put forth by ARP.

Beyer said the group had reached a consensus on a response but wanted to circulate a written copy of their position to all members of the group for input before releasing the document to the public.

Beyer said he hoped to make the proposal available to anyone interested as early as Wednesday.

While he would not discuss details of the negotiations with ARP, Beyer indicated that LGFP and the developer are close to having an agreement in principle, but said that no final settlement was possible without the cooperation of the Park District of La Grange and village officials.

For more details on the negotiations. the legal action and what's at stake, watch the video provided 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.

Katie Justak talks about being groomed to pursue a leadership position in the Illinois Republican Party

Village resident Katie Justak is one of 10 women who this year were chosen by the Illinois Republican Party to participate in its Lincoln Excellence in Public Service Series.

Justak Sept. 30 completed the Lincoln Series' eight-month curriculum, the goal of which is "to increase the number of Illinois Republican women in elected and appointed governmental and political positions at the local, state and federal levels."

Participants pledge to seek a policy-making position in government or in the Republican Party within five years and to help other women achieve like positions, according to the Series' website.

In May, while midway through the Series, Justak was elected chairperson of the La Grange Citizens Council. While officially non-partisan, the group vets and endorses candidates seeking election to public office on the local level.

In a conversation last month with La Grange Today Publisher Thom Rae, Justak talked about her experience in the Lincoln Series, her role as chair of the Citizens Council, and whether she would consider running for local office herself someday.

Click here to view a video of that conversation.

Pension workshop follows tonight's board meeting

The La Grange village board of trustees tonight will hold the first of two workshops to examine the status of the village's police and fire pension funds, and explore what steps might be necessary to insure their adequate funding in coming years.

The workshop will begin immediately following the board's regular meeting scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in the Village Hall auditorium.

“The funded status of our police and fire pension funds has been declining over the last several years," Trustee Jim Palermo, who closely monitors village finances, said. "The weak financial markets in this decade have been a significant contributor the under-funded status, but are by no means the only reason. I look forward to learning what the Village must do to improve the status of our police officers’ and fire fighters’ retirement funds, and what impact that will have on the delivery of village services.”

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.

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."

Pilipiszyn explains the workings of village government in response to invitation from LG Citizens Council

Village Manager Bob Pilipiszyn last week addressed the La Grange Citizens Council at its monthly meeting with a talk on the workings of village government.

Pilipiszyn is the first of several local government officials the council plans to host in coming months.

The response of village officials this summer to citizen concerns about a proposed downtown pawnshop and issues arising from a number of recent  instances where village trustees have approved zoning variances counter to the recommendations of the zoning board of approval were among the examples Pilipiszyn cited in explaining how the village manager and staff work closely with the village board to address the concerns of residents and business owners.

Pilipiszyn also offered some examples of how the economic downturn has impacted the village's finances, but not to the point of alarm.

Click here to view video segments of Pilipiszyn's entire presentation, along with his response to questions and comments from members of the council.

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.