Orland Park's Main Street Triangle

Your headline of June 20th relates to another chapter in the continuing saga of the Main Street Triangle. The Orland Park Administration has run into difficulties with their quest to demolish the Orland Plaza. The Request For Proposal appears to have been unsuccessful in finding a developer who would meet the Administration’s plan or requirements to re-develop The Orland Plaza. One reason may be the economy, but isn’t it possible that the controversy surrounding the demolition of Orland Plaza is a major reason? The OP Administration continues to paint a rosy picture of their vision and an unrelenting policy of no compromise.

It is my opinion, the once star studded image of Orland Park is beginning to fade. Why is it beginning to fade? The Administration has failed to communicate and work with the businesses that made OP a desirable place to live, shop and work. The Village has lost The Andrew Corporation, Beatty Lumber and is now working hard to destroy the property taxes and sales tax revenues generated by the Orland Plaza. Will the planned condo’s, townhomes and restaurants replace the tax base generated by these businesses?

Part of the problem rests with the State’s TIF Act which has given municipalities the power to re-develop areas with little or no control. The municipality freezes the tax assessments for the designated TIF area and accrues any dollars generated from increased assessments and new properties for a period of 23 years. The municipality provides little or no information on budgets, operating costs and the real affects on taxing bodies such as schools and the county. The TIF is not shown on your property tax bill or in the municipality’s budget. TIF’s are good when used to re-develop blighted or areas that are losing property tax dollars. To demolish the Orland Plaza will erase the tax dollars needed to support the Village, State and County Budgets. The Orland Park Administration has become reckless in its failure to take a realistic long term financial analysis of its vision of what’s good for the Village.

The Illinois TIF Act needs to be rewritten so that municipalities such as Orland Park cannot be given free rein to manipulate the use of property tax dollars.