Posted on 09.07.17
Litigation Over Contamination?
Source: http://www.journal-topics.com, September 6, 2017
By: Tom Robb
Township Says Former Dry Cleaners To Blame; Also, Deal In Works To Remove Tollway Restrictions
Elk Grove Township trustees scheduled a special meeting for Wednesday, Sept. 6 in which possible litigation for the township’s Youth Services building at 401 W. Golf Rd., Mount Prospect — a site currently for sale — was expected to be discussed.
Separately, a deal involving the Illinois Tollway and Elk Grove Village is in the works which could lift a restriction blocking the sale of the township hall building at 2400 S. Arlington Heights Rd., Arlington Heights.
About two years ago, Elk Grove Township Supervisor Mike Sweeney announced a plan to sell all three township buildings (the Youth Services building, township hall and Community Day Care Center at 711 Chelmsford Ln., Elk Grove Village) and move into one consolidated township center.
The Youth Services building sits on contaminated land. Sweeney said the contamination came from a former dry cleaners located on the Youth Services site when that land was owned by the DiMucci Companies, which owns the adjacent Golf Plaza II shopping center. Township officials have long wanted the contamination cleaned up, but have not had success with DiMucci. Sweeney said Wednesday’s closed door meeting would be to discuss legal options in an effort to compel DiMucci to clean up the site.
Part of the impetus for the consolidation plan came when DiMucci officials approached Sweeney with an unsolicited offer to purchase the Youth Services building for $350,000, Sweeney said.
At the time, Sweeney said selling the property to DiMucci, who he and former township Supervisor Nanci Vanderweel say is responsible for the contamination, would have solved the issue for the township.
By law, township officials must undertake a public meeting process to receive direct authorization from voters to enter into a sealed bidding process to buy or sell land.
Sweeney said when the formal bidding process for the property was conducted, DiMucci’s bid was only $245,000. Township trustees rejected that bid.
A land swap with Elk Grove Village disposed the township’s day care center in Elk Grove Village and established space for a new township hall in a former Elk Grove Village Public Works building at Landmeier and Tonne roads. That land swap is being held up by restrictions by the Illinois Tollway.
In July, the Journal learned that efforts to sell the township hall were being hampered by stipulations in a 1977 agreement in which the Illinois Tollway sold the hall site to the township. That agreement said, if township officials ever wanted to sell the land, they would be required to first offer it to the Illinois Toll Authority for right of first refusal to sell the land back to the tollway for $38,000. The agreement also stipulated that any building constructed on the property would not exceed 25 feet in height. The township hall was recently appraised for $955,000.
Sweeney said Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson said there was village land, used for stormwater detention, which could be offered to the tollway in exchange for lifting sale restrictions on the township hall at Arlington Heights Road and I-90. Johnson also sits on the Illinois Tollway Board.
Sweeney said tollway officials are evaluating the proposed detention site. He said he hopes to hear back from tollway officials this month.
