Some Oak Brook Village Board members discussed and criticized an anonymous postcard received by some residents, suggesting they call the village and ask that it help in a legal fight to prevent an approved apartment/natatorium development at the Hilton Oak Brook Hills Resort in Westmont.
Village President Gopal Lalmalani said an administrative assistant at Village Hall had received several phone calls from Oak Brook residents who had received the postcard, as the phone number of village offices was listed on the card.
Board members Philip Cuevas and Asif Yusuf said they were concerned the postcard gave no indication who sent it.
“If someone is going to send something like this out, they should let people know who they are,” Yusuf said, saying he believed it was politically motivated, noting municipal elections are scheduled in April 2019.
It turns out the postcard was sent by Village Board member Michael Manzo, who was absent from Tuesday’s Village Board meeting. Manzo called in for part of the meeting, but was no longer connected when the discussion about the postcard took place.
He said via phone after the meeting that some of the Oak Brook and Westmont residents who have a pending lawsuit to stop the apartment/natatorium development near the Oak Brook border had talked about sending the postcard out.
“I pulled the trigger on this,” Manzo said. “Some weren’t sure about putting the group name on it, so I asked the printer to take it off. I called the printer back to tell him to just put my name on it, but he had already printed it.”
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The postcard states, “It is time for action not words … ask the Village of Oak Brook to join its residents to protect property values & residential communities,” and adds that to date, the village has not assisted in the legal fight to prevent the nonconforming Oak Brook Hills Development.
Cuevas said there has been no reason for the village to get involved because no building permits have been issued for the project.
“If permits are issued, that’s when we would get involved and protect the interest of our residents,” he said.
Manzo said it would be too late at that point.
“You have 90 days after a development is approved to file any lawsuit against it,” he said. “Developers usually don’t ask for any permits until that 90 days is up because they want to get past that time period before they start doing anything. It would do no good if the village tried to get involved after permits were issued.”
Manzo said he would not have sent out the postcard had he known more-recent news that the natatorium may be moved to Ty Warner Park in Westmont, leaving the remainder of the development uncertain.
“It was printed and mailed at the end of April/beginning of May,” he said. “I am going to be sending out an update to the same people who got the first one, and including my name on it.”
Manzo said the already mailed postcard was sent to Oak Brook residents living nearby the Hilton Oak Brook Hills Resort at 3500 Midwest Road.
