La Grange Today

Belcaster is park board's pick to replace Metzger

Brad Belcaster was chosen last night to serve the remaining year of Rob Metzger's term on the Park District of La Grange board of commissioners.

Belcaster's appointment was unanimously approved by the park board at its regular monthly meeting. The appointment, and Metzger's resignation, which he announced in January citing personal reasons, are both effective immediately, Board President Tim Kelpsas said.

New Park Commissioner Brad Belcaster
Click photo for larger image

The park board's selection of Belcaster from among five candidates who submitted applications in March appears to have been significantly influenced by his having served for the past three years as an adviser to the board during its prolonged, and so far unsuccessful, attempt to sell 2.82 acres of Gordon Park to developer Atlantic Realty Partners (ARP).

Belcaster, a commercial real estate broker in La Grange, initially was engaged to help the Park District negotiate its sales contract with ARP. While park officials have never publicly described his role as extending beyond that task, Belcaster subsequently became a key player as a liaison between the park board and the two law firms that have represented it in legal battles with various residents who oppose the sale of park land, according to documents that surfaced during the litigation, as well as detailed invoices submitted by his firm, Belcaster Realty Group LLC.

Belcaster also has represented the board in working with the Village of La Grange and engineering firm Cody Braun to develop a master plan for renovating Gordon Park, according to remarks he has made at various park board meetings.

With his appointment to the board, Belcaster's paid relationship with the board will necessarily end, Kelpsas said.

As of March, the Park District had paid Belcaster's firm nearly $85,000, at an hourly rate of $200, according to documents obtained last month from the Park District under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.

Below are remarks each of the park commissioners made last night in support of their decision to appoint Belcaster and also in praise of the departing Metzger: 

Mary Ellen Penicook

"I have found Brad easy to work with. He has strong opinions. They are not always the same as my opinions, but his opinions tend to be very rational and very reasoned, and I have seen him change his opinion based on someone else's rational opinion and discussion.

"It seems like he would be a good consensus builder. I know from discussions with him that he has a strong sense and understanding of the financial dealings of the Park District. Maybe a part of it is that he has spent some time working with us. He seems to have a good financial background and I think that is something we will miss when Rob Metzger is gone. So I would like to see someone with that kind of a background fill those shoes."

Chris Walsh

"I think that the departure of Commissioner Metzger means that we will be lacking certain things, among them someone who is articulate, passionate and can disagree without being disagreeable, is comfortable with different points of view and different constituencies, has a financial background, thinks clearly, quickly and sort of dispassionately about important topics that affect the community.

"I think we were lucky in our process that we had several applicants that, to varying degrees, could have filled that gap well. I have to think that Brad was the best among them and I'm glad he decided to make himself available."

Bob Ashby

"We certainly appreciate all the interest we got in terms of filling this position. We were in the enviable position of choosing the best potential option. I am extremely confident that there were any number of the applicants who would be very valuable board members. We simply had the luxury of choosing the one who maybe could make the biggest impact and move us best and most quickly in the directions we are hoping to get to."

Tim Kelpsas

"This is a decision that none of us took lightly. I think that is a testament to our belief that, a long time ago, the public decided that this should be a board of five commissioners, and that the five of us would be charged with giving direction to the policies of the Park District of La Grange.

"So in order to fill that appointment carefully, comprehensively and thoughtfully, we did take a number of months to do that, and we did collect a number of strong applicants and, of all those applicants, I am personally quite happy to be able to announce that appointment tonight.

"The moment will be be bittersweet because, according to the way that Commissioner Metzger submitted his resignation, his resignation becomes final upon the appointment of another commissioner to fill that seat. So I would just like to conclude with a big 'thank you' to Commissioner Metzger for all of his years of service, which were many, and for all of the things he did which have made a big mark on the Park District, including having a big hand in this building [the recreation center] that we are sitting in today."

Belcaster was not in attendance at last night's meeting.

To retain his seat beyond the appointed term, Belcaster must win re-election at the public polls next April.

YMCA finally confirms demolition plans for Rich Port

A contract to demolish the vacant Rich Port YMCA building has been awarded to Heneghan Wrecking Co. of Chicago, Chris Ganschow, a spokesman for the Metropolitan YMCA of Chicago, said this afternoon.

Heneghan "very shortly" will apply for a demolition permit from the Village of La Grange, Ganschow said.

The announcement follows by a week a public statement from Village President Elizabeth Asperger, who said demolition of the five-story Rich Port facility, which has stood vacant for more than three years, likely would begin following this year's Pet Parade, to be held June 5. Work would begin with removal of asbestos from the building and an underground fuel tank at the site, Asperger said.

During the past week, YMCA officials declined repeated requests to confirm its demolition plans, stating only that discussions with village officials were ongoing.

Heneghan's name surfaced Monday in a story published online by the Suburban Life newspaper, in which Patrick Benjamin, the village's director of community and economic development said YMCA officials were "reviewing a proposal" from the wrecking company, which has been in operation for more than 30 years.

Reached by phone this afternoon, Benjamin said YMCA officials told him last week a contract with Heneghan was in the hands of its general counsel. Benjamin also said he had been told expect a permit application for the demolition in time for work to begin in June, following approval of the permit.

Shortly after learning of Benjamin's remarks, Ganschow announced the contract.

Ganschow said the YMCA had no specific plans for the parcel once the site remediation was completed.

"We will listen to any good idea someone brings forward," Ganschow said.

At the time the YMCA vacated the Rich Port facility it had a contract to sell the parcel to Atlantic Realty Partners (ARP), who planned to handle the demolition and construct a major residential and commercial project, known as La Grange Place, on the site.

But ARP's plan, approved by the village board in Spring 2008, was thwarted by legal action from residents opposed to the sale of 2.82 acres of Gordon Park, which ARP hoped to include in the project.

Asked if YMCA officials would consider building a new facility of its own on the site, Ganschow said that no options had been ruled out.

Former Rich Port YMCA building to be razed in June

UPDATED May 18:  After a week of evasion, YMCA officials today finally confirmed their plans to demolish the vacant Rich Port facility. Click here for details.

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After sitting vacant for more than three years, the former Rich Port YMCA has a date with the wrecking ball.

Demolition of the five-story structure is scheduled to begin in early June, La Grange President Elizabeth Asperger said in her opening remarks at Monday night's village board meeting.

The former Rich Port YMCA building will be torn down in June Click photo for larger image

"Our staff is working with officials from the Metropolitan YMCA, and we understand that work should begin after the Pet Parade (June 5)," Asperger said. "It will begin with asbestos and fuel tank removal and, following that, demolition of the building."

The YMCA moved out the building early in 2007, relocating its recreation and day-care programs to a temporary facility on 31st St in La Grange, after negotiating a sale of the Rich Port parcel to developer Atlantic Realty Partners (ARP).

YMCA officials at that time said they intended to use the proceeds from the sale to purchase land elsewhere in the area on which to build a new facility.

In September of that same year, ARP announced plans to construct La Grange Place, a major residential and commercial development, on the site and an adjoining 2.82 acres of Gordon Park, which the Park District of La Grange in July had agreed to sell to ARP.

But legal challenges raised by residents opposed to the sale of parkland so far have thwarted the deal.

Last November, ARP announced that it was significantly downscaling its redevelopment plans in response to deteriorating conditions in the real estate market brought about by the recession that engulfed the nation in 2008.

A subsequent attempt by ARP to renegotiate its purchase price for the Rich Port parcel prompted YMCA officials to withdraw from the sale. The revised sum offered by ARP was insufficient to proceed with plans to buy land for their new facility, they said.

Rumors have circulated recently that YMCA officials are giving thought to building the new facility on the Rich Port parcel.

Judge ready to rule on latest Gordon Park sale petition, but action is at least a month away

The judge hearing the latest petition from the Park District of La Grange to sell a portion of Gordon Park to a developer today said she is ready to make her ruling, but that action will not occur until mid-May at the earliest.

At a status hearing held this morning in Cook County Circuit Court, Judge Susan Fox Gillis told attorneys for both the Park District and a group of residents who oppose the sale that she had spent the weekend reading motions for summary judgment that each side had recently filed with the court.

"I think I can rule on this rather quickly," Gillis said, without having to entertain additional arguments from either side.

But the judge acquiesced to a request from Tom Beyer, an attorney for the residents group, La Grange Friends of the Parks (LGFP) that both sides be allowed to file written responses to each others' judgment motions. Responses should be part of the court record in the event the losing party chooses to appeal the ruling, Beyer told the judge.

"They [Park District attorneys] took 40 days to write this thing," Beyer said, referring to a 34-page memorandum supporting the Park District motion, whose length required special dispensation that Gillis granted just last Thursday. Beyer asked for two weeks to prepare a response.

"Just because someone has talked for 34 pages doesn't mean they have said anything," Gillis quipped. But she cautioned the attorneys not to take her comment as any indication of how she might rule.

Gillis scheduled the next status hearing for May 10 at 2:00 p.m. in Room 704 of the Daley Center in Chicago.

In the motion filed on behalf of the LGFP, Beyer and co-counsels Mark Wohlberg and Joan Johnson argued that the sale petition should be dismissed because the amount of parkland involved in the sale still exceeded three acres, the maximum sale the court can approve under the Illinois Park District Code.

Gillis in June 2008 dismissed an earlier petition presented by the Park District on similar grounds, ruling that the legal description contained in the sales contract included a vacated portion of Shawmut Ave that adjoined the 2.82 acres the Park District proposed to sell to Atlantic Realty Partners (ARP).

Attorneys for the Park District, Robert Bush and John Shapiro, in their motion argued that the inclusion of the vacated roadway was an error that has subsequently been corrected with a land swap executed in Nov. 2008, whereby the Park District gave the .7-acre vacated roadway to the Village of La Grange in exchange for a village-owned parcel of similar size adjoining Gordon Park along Locust Ave.

But LGFP attorneys contend the roadway is still part of the transaction because both the sales contract with ARP and the land swap agreement contain language linking the two deals. If either one falls apart, the other does as well.

The LGFP motion also argues that the reasons cited by the Park District board of commissioners in declaring the parkland no longer useful or needed are flawed. Further, it contends that the propose sale violates the Public Trust Doctrine, which states that land dedicated for use by the general public cannot be disposed of casually.

In their motion, Park District attorneys argue that the reasons commissioners cited in determining that the parkland was no longer needed are outside the jurisdiction of the court.

While the Park District Code states that the court must decide whether or not the sale is in the public interest, Park District attorneys argue that the court's focus is confined to the outcome of the transaction and cannot include the legislative process itself, which they claim is privileged. The only exception, they said, would be if the commissioners' action was "arbitrary and capricious," which is not the case, they said.

Affidavits submitted with the Park District's motion include resolutions from the Village of La Grange and School District 102, along with statements from numerous local officials and businesspersons supporting the sale. Many of the some 27 affidavits express belief that the loss of a 2.82 acres of parkland is far outweighed by improvements to facilities in the remaining portion of Gordon Park that the sale will afford, and by redevelopment of the parkland and the adjoining former Rich Port YMCA parcel.

Park District attorneys also note that voters approved the sale of the parkland by a 55 to 45 percent margin in a Nov. 2008 referendum.

That successful referendum authorized the Park District to attempt to sell the same 2.82 acres of parkland at a public auction, which it held in Jan. 2009. But in a separate lawsuit brought by La Grange resident Orlando Coryell, another circuit court judge, Leroy Martin Jr., voided the sale when ARP emerged as the sole and winning bidder. Martin ruled that the Park District's pre-existing contract with ARP, and special zoning it received from the village for its planned redevelopment of the Rich Port Y site, and the adjoining the park acreage, gave the developer an unfair advantage over other potential bidders. That ruling is being appealed by the Park District.

Beyer this morning told Judge Gillis he intends to file a motion to strike most of Park District's affidavits related to its latest petition on the grounds that their conclusions are based on beliefs not facts.

Beyer later noted that the redevelopment of the Rich Port Y site is no longer a certainty as ARP has said the current economic recession has forced it to significantly downsize its plans for La Grange Place, a major mixed residential and commercial that would have been the largest private development project in the history of the village.

An attempt last November by ARP to renegotiate its purchase price for the Rich Port parcel was rejected by YMCA officials, who said the reduced offer was "insufficient" to allow them to proceed with plans to acquire land elsewhere in the area on which to build a new facility.

Here are links to view PDF copies of...

• La Grange Friends of the Parks motion for summary judgment
• Park District of La Grange motion for summary judgment
• Memorandum in support of Park District motion

Park District reveals names of five applicants for board vacancy, but withholds all other information

The Park District of La Grange today disclosed the names of five individuals it said expressed formal interest in being appointed to fill a vacancy on its board of commissioners.

But the district refused to disclose any additional information regarding the applicants, including their home addresses, despite a state requirement that board members reside within the boundaries of the park district.

The five individuals are listed here, along with addresses obtained from whitepages.com, an online phone directory:

• Bradley Belcaster, 124 N Edgewood Ave
• Jim Boo, 1327 Mason Dr
• James Fornaciari, 930 S Spring Ave
• Dan Shoemaker, 116 N Stone Ave
• Julie Workman, 233 S Park Ave

Belcaster is a La Grange real estate broker who was contracted by the Park District in 2007 to help negotiate the sale of a portion of Gordon Park to developer Atlantic Realty Partners (ARP). He has continued on as a consultant during the Park District's repeated, and so far unsuccessful, attempts to complete the sale, which has been blocked in Cook County Circuit Court by residents opposed to the loss of parkland. Belcaster is paid $200 an hour for his services, according to his own court testimony.

Boo unsuccessfully sought election to the park board in 2009. He finished fourth behind incumbents Tim Kelpsas, Rob Ashby and Chris Walsh, all of whom were re-elected. Boo, along with Ashby and Walsh, received the endorsement of the La Grange Citizens Council.

Workman, an attorney, was a paid spokesperson for Citizens for a Great Gordon Park, which successfully advocated voter support for a Nov. 2008 referendum approving sale of the parkland to ARP. For her services, Workman received $3,500 from a contribution of $30,000 made to the organization by the developer, according to the group's filing with the Illinois elections board. 

Fornaciari and Shoemaker have no public record of recent activity related to the Park District.

The Park District released the names of the applicants only after La Grange Today publisher Thom Rae March 3 filed a request under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.

The Park District withheld the applicants' addresses citing an exemption to the Act that protects an individual's "private information" from disclosure.

As defined by the Act, "private information means unique identifiers, including a person's social security number, driver's license number, employee identification number, biometric identifiers, personal financial information, passwords or other access codes, medical records, home or personal telephone numbers, and personal email addresses. Private information also includes home address and personal license plates, except as otherwise provided by law or when compiled without possibility of attribution to any person."

Under the Illinois Park District Code, "Each member of the governing board of any park district shall [...] be a legal voter of and reside within such district."

The Park District also refused to disclose any additional information provided in writing by the applicants, stating, "The Park District does not have an application to fill board vacancies. Accordingly, the Park District does not have a document to provide."

Rae said he requested copies of "any application data" provided by the individuals, not simply a copies of a non-existent standard form.

For example, the Park District did not provide a copy of Boo's letter of application, which is known to exist because Boo on his own sent a copy to La Grange Today.

The Act clearly states, "All records in the custody or possession of a public body are presumed to be open to inspection or copying."

Rae said he likely will ask the Illinois Attorney General's office to review the Park District's decision to withhold records in this case.

State grant will allow Park District to proceed with its plans for redevelopment of Gordon Park

The Park District of La Grange has been awarded a grant of $400,000 from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Open Space Land Acquisition and Development (OSLAD) program, Dean Bissias, the Park District's executive director, said today.

The money will be used to construct several new amenities in Gordon Park including a picnic area, splash pad and soccer field.

Bissias said he learned of the award at last month's conference of the Illinois Association of Park Districts.

An OSLAD grant must be matched with funds from other sources and must be spent within three years of the award, he said.

The Park District in 2007 announced plans to pay for its redevelopment of Gordon Park with $4.6 million in cash and other considerations it expected to receive from the sale of 2.82 acres of the park to developer Atlantic Realty Partners (ARP).

The developer in turn intended to incorporate the park acreage into its redevelopment of the former Rich Port YMCA site, a major mixed-use residential and commercial project known as La Grange Place.

But sale of the acreage has been blocked by legal action taken by residents who are opposed to the loss of parkland.

Bissias said use of the OSLAD money is not constrained by the ongoing lawsuits. He hopes that work on the redevelopment of the park will begin later this year.

While $400,000 won't come close to paying for all the amenities included in its master plan for Gordon Park, it enables the Park District to begin work on some key amenities, Bissias said.

When asked how the construction of amenities could proceed without first laying down fill dirt the district hoped to obtain from ARP in order to raise the level of the park and improve drainage, Bissias said that clean fill was available from other sources.

Related story:

• Township board funds $508,000 in Denning Park improvements from bonds voters approved in 2004

Kelpsas apologizes to Citizens Council for supporters' attacks during last year's Park District elections

Park District of La Grange Board President Tim Kelpsas last week apologized to the La Grange Citizens Council for attacks on the organization made by his supporters during last year's Park District election.

"If I have offended you, or anyone in this room, I apologize," Kelpsas told Council Member Rob Pierson, who raised the issue Feb. 10 during a question-and-answer session following a presentation by Kelpsas and Executive Director Dean Bissias regarding the role and operations of the Park District.

Citizens Council Member Rob Pierson told Tim Kelpsas that attacks on the group last year by his supporters were offensive and unwarranted.

Pierson recalled letters published in local newspapers and other communications accusing the Citizens Council of deliberately withholding an endorsement of Kelpsas' re-election bid because of undue influence from its then-chairman, Orlando Coryell, who at the time was actively suing the Park District to prevent the sale of a portion of Gordon Park to developer Atlantic Realty Partners (ARP).

Watch the video at the end of this story to witness the entire exchange between Kelpsas, Pierson and other Citizens Council members.

"It came as a shock to see the blowback from people whom I would view as friendly to the [Park District] commissioners, to see a concerted effort made by some of those people to paint the Citizens Council in a negative light simply because you weren't slated," Pierson told Kelpsas. "That's how it was perceived by a lot of people in this room. The reason you weren't slated is because Orlando had this ongoing feud with the Park District board. You just need to know that was not the case."

Pierson said the lawsuit was never discussed in any of the Council meetings leading up to and including its slating session. 

Pierson added that he personally supported the Park District's efforts to sell land from Gordon Park. "I'm definitely not an Orlando apologist," he said, drawing a chuckle from Kelpsas.

Kelpsas acknowledged that some of the people who made the accusations against the Council were affiliated with the Park District and its successful effort to convince district voters in Nov. 2008 to approve by a margin of 55 to 45 perent a referendum authorizing the sale of 2.82 acres of Gordon Park.

Coryell's lawsuit blocked sale of the land to ARP when Cook County Circuit Court Judge Leroy Martin Jr. voided the required public auction that followed the referendum, ruling that ARP, and its La Grange Place redevelopment project proposed for the former Rich Port YMCA site, had been given preferential treatment by the Park District and the Village of La Grange.

But Kelpsas denied that his re-election campaign organization was responsible for the actions of those individuals attacking Coryell and the Council. 

"[We] did not organize anybody to detract from the integrity of this organization," Kelpsas said. "As a matter of fact, I received multiple phone calls from lots of  influential people in the village that specifically asked me not to.

"I was specifically counseled by a number of people not to hurt this organization, and I personally never did," Kelpsas said. "At least, I don't think I did."

Another Council member in attendance, Tim O'Connell, defended Kelpsas. "I think it's a pretty easy leap for the people who made those accusations, with the leader of the Citizens Council leading the litigation,'" he said. "I can see both sides of the story. It wasn't just the Park District firing the ammo there, I don't think."

"I wasn't firing any ammo," Kelpsas insisted. "I think Orlando acted as a great lightning rod for that controversy ... once it came out that he was suing the Park District, and was also chairman of the slating body that was going to pick candidates."

But Kelpsas also empathized with Pierson's concerns, noting that "it makes me crazy when the public ... crafts an assumption and then runs with it."

Kelpsas said that during the park-sale referendum campaign in 2008, some residents attacked him for supporting ARP's redevelopment plans, wrongly believing that housing in the project would be marketed to tenants they considered undesirable. 

"There were people who ran up to me and asked, 'How could you have voted for that? I don't want people moving in that I don't like,'" Kelpsas recalled. "[They] crafted asssumptions that offended me greatly, that were very racist.

"The rumors that start don't make me very happy at all because I would rather have people basing their judgments and the way they execute their values on the veracity of the situation," Kelpsas said.

"So again, my apologies," he said. "I never fired any ammo in that direction."

Related story & video:

• Park sale supporter caps tirade aimed at objectors with vulgar taunts at a former park commissioner

Park district still waiting for first applicant to fill board vacancy created by Metzger resignation

UPDATED 02/18: The Park District still has received no applications for the vacancy on its board, but continues to get inquiries, Dean Bissias, its executive director said today.

Two weeks after Rob Metzger resigned his seat on the Park District of La Grange board of commissioners, no one has yet filed an application seeking to be appointed to fill the remaining year in Metzger's term, Park Board President Tim Kelpsas told the La Grange Citizens Council Wednesday night.

But there have been some inquiries, Dean Bissias, the Park District's executive director, reminded him.

"That's good, I was worried maybe nobody wanted the job," Kelpsas responded with a chuckle.

There may be some truth in his statement.

Metzger's replacement would immediately become a participant in a legal battle over the Park District's plans to sell a portion of Gordon Park to developer Atlantic Realty Partners. The litigation has consumed more than $400,000 in district funds over the past three years. No immediate resolution is in sight. Last week, Steve Paczolt, the Park District's treasurer, said $1.3 million was needed to replenish its capital reserves.

Kelpsas said his goal is to have at least five applicants.

"If we don't ... then what do I do?" Kelpsas wondered aloud. "Do I help to suggest [candidates]?"

That action of last resort has serious drawbacks, he said.

"If I pick someone specifically—or if any board member picks someone specifically—then we get chastised for trying to forward our own agenda rather than the people's agenda."

After the Citizens Council meeting concluded, Bissias said that while no applications had been submitted, he had received inquiries from a half-dozen interested residents.

The board's intention is to appoint a successor to Metzger at its regular meeting March 18, Bissias said.

The deadline for submitting an application is March 1, he said. Additional information is available on the Park District website, pdlg.org.

Village trustees mull taking more proactive role in redevelopment of former Rich Port YMCA site

The La Grange village board of trustees last week agreed to extend its Gordon Park land swap agreement with the Park District of La Grange. The agreement to trade a village-owned parking lot abutting the park for a vacated stretch of Shawmut Ave, which is to be paved and improved to serve the redevelopment of the former Rich Port YMCA site under a plan approved by trustees in April 2008, was set to expire Dec. 31, and ownership of the properties revert, because developer Atlantic Realty Partners (ARP) has not yet begun construction on its major mixed-use project, known as La Grange Place.

Village trustees unanimously approved a one-year extension of the agreement, which already had been extended for 30 days by Village Manager Bob Pilipiszyn. They did so without any discussion by placing the item on their omnibus agenda, usually reserved for pro forma action on routine items such as monthly disbursements, thereby passing up an opportunity to share with its televised-meeting audience their views on the uncertain future of the Y site redevelopment resulting from a controversial legal battle over the sale of parkland to ARP for inclusion in its project and a decision in December by Y officials to terminate their sales agreement with the developer after ARP substantially reduced the dollar amount of its purchase offer to reflect the downsized project it now seeks to build given a significant downturn in the real estate market, and the nation's economy, since the original contract was signed three years ago.

Perhaps the village board's silence stems from the fact that trustees already had expressed their views on the matter during a weekend strategic planning retreat they attended Jan. 8-9 at the conference center operated by Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital.

During a portion of the retreat in which more than two dozen short-term goals were identified and enumerated, trustees indicated they may take a far more proactive role regarding the Y site than had previously been publicly considered.

Watch the video below to see and hear that discussion.

Village staff is now preparing recommendations and action items related to all of the goals set at the planning retreat, Andrianna Peterson, assistant village manager, said last week.

The village board will consider those recommendations at a special public workshop to be held in the next four to six weeks, Village President Liz Asperger said at last week's regular meeting.

Park District names 51 witnesses it may call upon for testimony in support of Gordon Park land sale

At least 51 witnesses may be called upon by the Park District of La Grange to provide testimony in an upcoming Cook County Circuit Court hearing in support of its petition to sell 2.82 acres of Gordon Park to developer Atlantic Realty Partners, according to a document filed this week with the court.

In addition to the five members of the Park District board of commissioners, Executive Director Dean Bissias, Treasurer Steve Paczolt and four employees, the witnesses named in the document include:

• Richard D. Aaronson, president, Atlantic Realty Partners.
• Brad Belcaster, broker/advisor, Belcaster Realty; Jeffrey Braun, president/landscape architect, Cody/Braun & Associates, Willowbrook; Thomas A. Heuer, engineer, Heuer & Associates, Westchester; Patricia L. McGarr*, real estate appraiser, Integra Realty Resources, Chicago; Brian L. Paupore*, real estate analyst, Integra Realty Resources; Dean Rousso, Prime Property Partners; and Tod Stanton, president/landscape architect, Design Perspectives Inc, Naperville.
• Shawn Gunst and Don Robertson, American Youth Soccer Organization; Thomas Cushing and Jim Farnan, La Grange Little League.
• Peter M. Murphy*, president, Illinois Association of Park Districts; Michael Selep*, interim CEO, Illinois Parks & Recreation Dept.
• La Grange Village President Elizabeth Asperger; Village Trustees Mike Horvath, Mark Kuchler, Mark Langan and Tom Livingston; Village Manager Robert Pilipiszyn; Community Development Director Patrick Benjamin; Assistant Community Development Director Angela Mesaros; Finance Director Lou Cipparrone; Police Chief Michael Holub; Administrative Police Sergeant Tom Cimbalista; and Fire Chief David Fleege*.
• David May, board president, Elementary School District 102.
• Michael Lapidus*, former president, La Grange Business Association; Bob Ware*, executive director, West Suburban Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
• La Grange residents Dave Bier, Kate Brogan, Jack Gleason, Mark & Jennifer Ostrowski, David Shannon, Shawn Temple, Jeff Valenzuela, James & Julie Workman; and former resident Ralph Gutekunst, who now lives in La Grange Park.

The individuals whose names are followed by an asterisk (*) also are identified by the Park District as "expert witnesses" in their particular fields. Witnesses recognized by the court as experts may include opinions in their testimony where appropriate, whereas other witnesses may only speak to the factual nature of any evidence presented.

The Park District reserved the right to add additional witnesses at a later date.

Judge Susan Fox Gillis has not yet set a date for the presentation of testimony, but the next status hearing is scheduled for Feb. 19.

View a PDF of the Park District document containing additional information about each witness and the subject about which he or she is likely to testify.