La Grange residents may have the final say on whether a portion of Gordon Park can be sold to a developer after a Cook County judge today ruled that the amount of land involved is more than three acres, the maximum for which the court can grant approval.
Under Illinois law, the sale or conveyance of more than three acres of public parkland requires approval by a majority of voters in a public referendum.
Judge Susan Fox Gillis made her ruling in granting a motion for summary judgment submitted by Mark Daniel, an attorney for Orlando Coryell, a La Grange resident who opposes the sale.
In his motion, Daniel contended that the Park District of La Grange intends to sell 3.5 acres of Gordon Park, not the 2.82 acres that district officials have publicly cited since they voted to pursue the sale last July.
Daniel told the judge he based his calculation on a land survey prepared on June 16, as well as documents contained in the sales contract between the Park District and Atlantic Realty Partners, a Georgia-based company that would include the parkland in a redevelopment of the former Rich Port YMCA site, known as La Grange Place.
The land survey, conducted by Ridgeline Consultants of Montgomery, and paid for by Coryell, indicates that the parkland to be sold to the developer includes 0.69 acres not publicly acknowledged by district officials. The additional land comprises a portion of Shawmut Ave. that was vacated by the Village of La Grange in the 1950s.
Daniel also noted that the contract between the Park District and the developer, which has never been publicly disclosed, also supports the calculation. It contains a legal description of the land to be sold that includes the 0.69 acres within the vacated roadway, and also contains a title insurance policy affirming the legal description, he said.
If the contract is consummated as submitted to the court, Daniel concluded, 3.5 acres of parkland would transfer to Atlantic Realty, more than what the court is allowed to consider.
Attorneys for the Park District insisted that it had no intention of selling the vacated roadway to Atlantic Realty, a position maintained in several public statements by Park District officials during lengthy hearings held by the Village Plan Commission and Board of Trustees, which resulted in a conditional approval April 14 of Atlantic Realty's redevelopment proposal.
Although the developer's site plan shows that Shawmut Ave. would be reconstructed to provide access to La Grange Place and Gordon Park from La Grange Ave., Park District officials have repeatedly said that it was their desire to retain ownership of the roadway and transfer it back to the Village at some future date in exchange for land the Village owns adjoining the south end of Gordon Park.
Daniel, however, pointed out that in order for the Park District to retain ownership of the roadway, the land first would have to be subdivided from the parcels to be sold to Atlantic Realty. The land survey shows no such subdivision.
While acknowledging the Park District's stated intention not to sell the land within the vacated roadway, Judge Gillis said that the documents presented in Daniel's motion persuaded her to find otherwise.
Thus, Gillis granted the motion for summary judgment, stating that her ruling was based not on material facts but on the legal evidence presented.
Dean Bissias, executive director of the Park District, and Tim Kelpsas, one of its commissioners who has spoken out frequently and vigorously in support of the sale, were present when the judge made her ruling. Both left immediately after the hearing without making public comment.
Another commissioner, Mary Ellen Penicook, also was in attendance, accompanied by family members. She left before the judge ruled.
Adam Simon, an attorney for the Park District, declined to comment on what actions might now be taken, which could include challenging the judge's ruling in the Illinois Appellate Court.
Any appeal must be initiated within the next 30 days.
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