A much-argued, long and tortured path toward selling land in Gordon Park in La Grange is advancing despite opposition and another legal hurdle still ahead.
The La Grange Village Board voted unanimously Monday to rezone the property for construction of a senior living center. The park district wants to sell 2.8 acres on the park’s northwest corner for $3.45 million to a division of Des Plaines-based Pathway Senior Living, which would build assisted living and a memory care center on the property.
“I know it’s a step closer. But I know it is not the end. We’re not at the finish line yet,” Park Board President Mary Ellen Penicook said following the vote.
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Opponents to the proposed sale of park land have been fighting it for nearly a decade and they are not giving up. They mailed an anonymous flier to residents over the weekend describing some reasons for opposing the sale and questioning the district’s financial need to sell the land. One of the opponents, Orlando Coryell of La Grange, also has filed a new lawsuit to stop it.
Coryell, contends that the park district should again seek voter approval for the sale in a new referendum. Most voters said yes to 2008 ballot question that asked them if they wanted to sell part of the land. Coryell believes voters approved that measure because the park district promised it could get $6 million for the land rather than the current $3.45 million offer.
Penicook said the park district did not specify in the referendum question that it could get $6 million for the property. A $6 million price tag may have been attainable at one time, but isn’t now, she said.
“Six million was in the boom. Nothing is worth that much now,” she said.
Coryell disagrees.
“Commercial property has bounced back. There’s no reason they couldn’t get $6 million,” he said.
Coryell asked the board to table the vote on the rezoning. He also filed a lawsuit in February challenging the district’s right to sell the land. A summary judgment is expected in May.
This is not Coryell’s first lawsuit against the land sale. He filed another lawsuit in 2007 to block the sale to a previous developer. The conflict eventually reached the Illinois Supreme Court in late 2013, but a lower court’s ruling in favor of the park district from 2010 was upheld.
Coryell said he and others put together the flier that was mailed anonymously to residents with the intent to inform people about the history and the objections to the proposed land sale.
“There are a lot of new people in town,” he said.
Penicook was not impressed by the flier.
“It was kind of jumbled. They’re mixing issues. It’s a lot of nonsense,” she said.
Coryell maintains the price the park district is getting for the land is too little.
“They’re not getting their $6 million. If the park district had gotten the $6 million I wouldn’t be in court,” he said.
Penicook said the money generated from the land sale would be used for upgrading other parks, purchasing more park land and making capital repairs.
Although they voted in favor of the rezoning, several board members said they are sorry to see a loss of green space. At the same time, they said the village needs more assisted living for seniors.
“I hate to see green space torn up, but this is a great use for it,” Trustee Bill Holder said.
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