We held a Committee Of the Whole (COW) and regular board meeting on February 21st.
The big item discussed at the COW was the master plan for Schussler Park, Centennial Park and Centennial Park West and John Humphrey Complex. You can see these plans here https://www.orlandpark.org/departments/recreation-parks/parks-master-plan.
These plans went through four revisions based on a public survey, eight public meetings and meetings with all the youth organizations in town. The Parks & Rec Advisory board unanimously recommended these plans, and the board did as well. I will briefly summarize the plans below.
Schussler Park was clearly the highest priority by our residents due to its deteriorated condition. There will be added parking along 88th Avenue and the sledding hill will be moved to the other side of the park and will have ADA access. Parking will be added along the east side of the park, the pond will be dredged and made larger and two turf multi-purpose fields will be installed. These changes will address the drainage issues, and installing turf fields will accommodate football better than grass fields and also allow for better drainage. The goal for these fields is to provide a football-focused area and additional usable fields for other field sports. The fence around the field is to stop vehicles from driving over the fields. The estimated cost for these improvements is ~$9M.
Centennial Park will add a permanent parking lot at the overflow lot by the pool. Additionally, the area the village used previously for material storage will be added to the park. This area will have four full-size turf baseball fields that will be large enough to host field sports like soccer as well. It also adds parking in that area. In the future, the ice rink will be replaced with pickleball courts after the downtown triangle adds the proposed new park that will have an ice skating facility. The estimated cost for this is $19M.
Centennial Park West will add a permanent stage, electricity, walkways and areas for vendors. Additionally, it will move the hill back to add more capacity and put fencing around the facility. The cost for this upgrade is ~$10M and will give the village a facility to use for many events such as Taste of Orland in the future.
There are two John Humphrey Complex areas. One is along West Avenue, where the goal is to put an all-access ADA field and park. The cost is approximate $3M and we plan to do this once we can find grants to fund it. The complex area behind High Point is owned by District 135 but the village has an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) with D135 to schedule, use and provide all maintenance for the field. These are usually renewed every 3 to 4 years. The plan calls to make three high-quality usable baseball/softball fields and a soccer field because the schools are considering inter-scholastic soccer. The cost of this is approximately $3.2M which the village will cover in exchange for a 20-year IGA. Additionally, we can upgrade one ball field and the soccer field to turf for $1.2 million if D135 covers this cost.
We have set aside COVID relief money for this project and will bond for the rest. However, we will not be able to do all the projects. Since Centennial Park is as much as Centennial Park West and Schussler, and Schussler is the top priority, we are going to do everything except Centennial Park now. Also, we borrow at 2-3% and costs escalate more than that annually so we will go out for a bond to complete these projects. The original plan was to do this next year, but we are expecting interest rates to rise significantly so will be doing this now with the goal of starting Schussler and Centennial Park West this year and a completion of goal of 2023/2024. Additionally, if D135 approves the IGA, then we will start on that project as well.
Five years ago, I promised we would upgrade our parks. Not only have we upgraded 16 neighborhood parks, over 20 basketball courts and tennis courts, and the north part of JHC, but we now are in position to refurbish our larger parks. That is a testament to the fiscally responsible actions we have taken in the last 5 years to put us in this position.
At the board meeting, we proclaimed Café Gaston the Orland Park business of the month. If you have not been to this gem across from the post office, I recommend giving it a try.
We also approved an IGA with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms (ATF). ATF will use the Village of Orland Park to process evidence for them. As part of the agreement, this will be done on overtime and the ATF will cover all those costs. This is another example of the respect everyone in law enforcement has for our police department.
We also approved a proposal for engineering of the roads in Laguna Woods. Like Fernway, the roads in this area were built to different standards than the rest of the village and need to be completely rebuilt. This is the start of that process.
In the Mayor’s Report, I called for the end to mandates. You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wTPwbBHEa4. My closing part of those comments were as follows: “It is time to stop trying to control other people’s lives. The facts are very clear that the lockdowns and mandates have not halted the spread of COVID. However, everyone has options available to them to help protect themselves including vaccines, N-95 masks and/or isolating from people. Just as we have since the beginning of human history, we all must weigh the risks and benefits when we decide for ourselves what is the best way to live with COVID.”
Fortunately, after the governor losing again in the State Supreme Court, the mandates have all been lifted. Let’s never go back down this road, a road driven by politics over facts, again.
In closing, I commented on the “catch and release” program operated by Kim Foxx and called for the Safe-T Act (HB3653) to be repealed before “no cash bail” becomes required in IL in January of 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euigIiIb2to
In the last two weeks a lot has happened in the village. Chief Mitchell has decided to retire. He will be missed. It is not easy to follow a legend and national hero like Chief McCarthy, but Chief Mitchell did a phenomenal job. The results speak for themselves, the lowest index crimes in Orland Park in 27 years, named the 8th safest small city (30,000 to 100,000 residents) in the United States, and the lowest violent crime rate for cities over 50,000 in Illinois. Under his leadership, we saw new programs like the Mobile Response Unit and Youth Supervision Program and our recent agreement with ATF. Deputy Chief Eric Rossi has been named Interim Chief and we are confident that the department will continue its great work under his leadership as well. https://www.orlandpark.org/Home/Components/News/News/298/65
Additionally, on March 3rd we reopened 143rd Street. When IDOT indicated they had no plan to do anything until pulling their equipment out of storage in April, they agreed to let us open THEIR road. I want to remind you there is a fully engineered, shovel ready project on the books to fix this problem. It could start construction this year! Not only that, it is the number one priority project for the entire Southwest Conference of Mayors and even Will County allotted some of its “points” to this project even though it is in Cook County. We also offered to take over jurisdiction of the road after it is complete since it is not a numbered route. The village and federal government have engineered it. It is time for Illinois to step up and fix it with some of the $1.7 billion they have from the federal government for infrastructure. The village will be working with legislators in an effort to get IDOT to start this project as soon as possiblehttps://www.orlandpark.org/Home/Components/News/News/300/65
On the campaign trail, I would like to thank the over 70 volunteers who helped get my petitions signed. I will be filing on Monday for US Congress with nearly 2,500 signatures (more than 6 times the required number).
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