The Oak Brook Park Board voted unanimously Monday to put a referendum on the Nov. 6 election ballot for a $17.9 million bond sale to fund the purchase of 34 acres of McDonald’s-owned property at Jorie Boulevard and Kensington Road.
A successful referendum would add about $266 a year to a home with a fair market value of $1 million, park officials said, noting that the bonds would be paid off over a 20-year period.
The park board originally planned to vote on a referendum for $16.9 million, but decided to up the ante.
“Our research and study indicates we’ll probably need the $17.9 million to possibly purchase the land,” board President Sharon Knitter said. Increasing the amount of the bond sale to $17.9 million from $16.9 million means about $16 additional, annually, for a home worth $1 million.
A 2016 appraisal of the property done by the park district and McDonald’s resulted in an amount of just over $15 million.
McDonald’s purchased about 14 acres of the property in 1996 from the park district, which used the $10 million it collected to build the Family Recreation Center, longtime board member Tom Truedson said. Another part of the deal had McDonald’s paying about $2 million to purchase the Dean Nature Sanctuary, which was then turned over to the park district.
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While the board voted unanimously to put the referendum on the ballot, board member Frank Trombetta first spoke out against about the amount being sought and what might be offered to McDonald’s.
“If it was me, I would offer them $10 million,” he said. “That’s what we sold it to them for. We’re a public entity.”
Truedson didn’t think that was the answer.
“I think we need to be competitive,” he said. “I don’t know what that number will be.”
Truedson said park district representatives met recently with McDonald’s officials and were told that another entity has expressed interest in purchasing the property for residential development.
The land has been vacant and used for soccer for several years, something the park district would continue, possibly along with cricket, if it is able to buy the land.
“There is not a lot of open land left in Oak Brook, and we have an opportunity to acquire property and maintain open space,” Knitter said. “It’s our responsibility to pose the question, but ultimately, it will be up to the residents to decide if they want to make that investment. We want to give them the opportunity to make that choice.”
Park district officials previously reached out to McDonald’s representatives in 2016 about the vacant property.
“We approached them when we found out they were going to be moving to see if they would be interested in donating the property, but they said they planned to sell it,” said Laure Kosey, the park district’s executive director.