Orland Park trustees voted Monday to issue $40.5 million in general obligation bonds to finance capital projects and improvements, acquire various properties and provide incentives to developers.
The debt will be repaid from property and sales taxes, TIF revenues, water fees and existing taxes and revenues.
Village Manager George Koczwara said the amount includes the village’s portion of incentives for the Dick’s House of Sports, which is going into the former Sears building near the mall and money to purchase the Riviera Country Club.
“We don’t have a lot of property left on the east side of the village,” Koczwara said. “We have a tentative deal to buy the property and we would like to make it an athletic facility and senior center.
“The goal is to go out to referendum in 2027 and ask residents what they would like to see over there,” he said. “We want to put a plan together between now and then and get residents’ input on what they would support.”
Trustee Bill Healy, who lives on the east side of the village, agreed.
“That sounds right. I live over there,” he said. “Pretty much everything you need you have to cross 159th Street or LaGrange Road.”
The article says there’s not a lot of property on the east side Village, but on the west side, all the property on the east side of Wolf Rd between 167th and Southwest Highway needs attention. The recent issue with the repo that had to be reversed should warrant significant attention to this area. We did get a letter stating buried activities were being pursued, but I have not seen an update recently. My vote would be to make that area protected open land.