Village officials are set to begin negotiations with Chicago-based McDonough & Associates for a design and engineering contract for the Main Street Triangle project and new Metra train station.
“We need to keep moving the project forward,” Village Manager R.J. Zeder told a Village Board committee last week.
The board still needs to approve the $1.4 million contract, but Zeder said design and engineering must be initiated soon to meet a $10 million December 2005 federal grant deadline.
“We want to take control of the project from Metra so that the project can be designed the way Orland Park wants it to,” Zeder said.
The contract will include $400,000 for the design of the train station and $1 million toward planning the entire project, said Trustee James Dodge, chairman of the Public Works Committee.
Some trustees, however, want more details before approving a plan, including total expenditures to date, proposed density and the exact design of a mixed-use development that will include a 600-space Metra parking lot, retail, office and residential components.
Trustee Bernie Murphy said he is concerned about further clogging an already congested area of town when the 38-acre Main Street Triangle project and the neighboring Orland Crossing, a 100,000-square-foot retail development, are built near La Grange Road and 143rd Street.
“This is already a congested area. An additional 600 parking spaces and 500 town homes will really screw up the traffic up to no end at this entrance point of town,” Murphy said.