Tinley Park trustees have approved establishing a special taxing district to facilitate redevelopment of the former site of the Tinley Park Mental Health Center.
Trustees voted 4-1 Tuesday night to create a tax increment financing district for the 565-acre property northwest of Harlem Avenue and 183rd Street.
Trustee Michael Pannitto who was elected to the board in April, was the opposing vote. Trustee Jacob Vandenberg, also elected in April, was absent due to the birth of his second son.
Pannitto offered no explanation during the Village Board meeting for his vote but said later that he disagreed with establishing Tinley Park’s fourth TIF district as well as the village buying the 280 acres where the state mental health center and the Howe Developmental Center were located.
“I am not convinced it won’t develop without government intervention,” he said.
A TIF district offers major tax breaks to encourage development but prevents the affected taxing bodies, such as towns and school districts, from fully gaining the extra tax income from development for as long as 23 years.
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Village officials are considering acquiring the 280 acres for $4.16 million so they can control its redevelopment. Howe, a state-owned center for the developmentally disabled, closed in 2009, and the mental health center closed in 2012.
An outside financial consultant’s review of the property for the village says it “offers an enormous redevelopment opportunity” but that there are “substantial challenges” to overcome before redevelopment can take place.
Pannitto said after the board meeting that the added expense of cleaning up the property, which includes tearing down buildings that have asbestos and removing underground petroleum storage tanks, would bring Tinley Park’s total cost closer to $16 million.
The 280 acres include an abandoned sewage treatment plant, the leaking storage tanks and soil contaminated with mercury and lead, according to the consultant’s report.
Pannitto, who previously served for 19 years on the Tinley Park Park District Board, termed TIF districts a “shell game with tax receipts” because they divert property tax revenue from local governments into “incentives for businesses and developers.”
Also Tuesday night, trustees accepted David Seaman’s resignation as trustee so he can serve as mayor until the April 2017 election.
Trustees on June 2 selected Seaman to succeed Ed Zabrocki, who resigned as mayor after 34 years, citing health issues.
Seaman, the senior trustee with 30 years on the board, said a new trustee would be appointed “hopefully, in August.”