Title
Orland School Districts 135 and 230 Threat of Litigation Update
History
At the April 1, 2024 Board of Trustees meeting, staff provided an update regarding the Downtown Orland Park project. During the discussion, the matter of the threat of litigation against the Village was also discussed. Below is the text of the agenda from the April 1, 2024 meeting.
As directed by the Village Board, a proposal was sent to the superintendents of D135 and D230. As of this writing, the Village has not received a response to the attached proposal.
The purpose of the discussion at this April 15, 2024, meeting is to provide the Village Board with any applicable updates.
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At the May 2, 2022 Village Board meeting, the Village Board approved the Conceptual Master Development Plan for Downtown Orland Park. Downtown Orland Park is approximately 27 acres. The Conceptual Master Development Plan outlines the proposed development for the remaining 9.15 acres of Downtown Orland Park.
The approved conceptual plan was the foundation for the specifications for a Request for Proposals that was issued seeking a master developer. Two proposals were received, and at the August 15, 2022 Village Board meeting, the Village Board approved initiating negotiations on the Redevelopment Agreement (RDA) for the Downtown Orland Park project with Edwards Realty Company.
For this redevelopment to happen, the Village plans to:
1) amend the existing Main Street Triangle (MST) TIF District boundary to include only a subset of the parcels currently in the MST TIF District, and;
2) designate a new TIF District on some of the parcels currently in the MST TIF District, to be known as the Downtown Orland Park (DOP) TIF District.
At the October 16, 2023 Board of Trustees meeting, the Village Board authorized the execution of a Term Sheet with Edwards Realty for the Downtown Orland Park Redevelopment. Since the October 16, 2023, Term Sheet Approval, Village Staff have been meeting regularly with Edwards Realty to finalize the redevelopment agreement and to initiate the entitlement processes.
Previous Intergovernmental Agreement Attempt with School Districts 135 and 230
Since 2021, Village staff had been working with staff from D135 and D230 on an Intergovernmental Agreement for the Downtown Orland Park (DOP) TIF District. The Village previously drafted an IGA and provided it to D230 and D135 when it appeared that objections from the school districts had been overcome relative to student reimbursement. Previous Village correspondence highlighted the Village’s continued good faith efforts in resolving any looming objections. However, after multiple attempts by the Village, no response was received. At the December 19, 2022, Board of Trustees meeting, the Board directed staff to make one additional attempt to come to an agreement and set a deadline of December 31, 2022. This was a last attempt to work collaboratively in the best interest of the school districts and all the residents of Orland Park. The date came and went without any response; therefore, the Village altered its plans in order to keep the project moving forward.
As part of the proposed intergovernmental agreement, instead of extending the MST TIF, a new Downtown Orland Park (DOP) TIF would be created and the existing MST TIF boundaries would be decreased through an amendment. Under the initial iteration of this plan, the 9750 On The Park Apartments were not going to be part of either the DOP TIF nor the MST TIF. This would have resulted in all taxing bodies, especially the school districts, capturing the MST TIF increment five years earlier than if the current TIF district remained in place for its full life. Since the 9750 On The Park Apartments are currently the only property tax generator in the entire MST TIF, the original plan of excluding 9750 from either the MST TIF or the DOP TIF would have resulted in $4.3 million in new non-tax cap revenue to School Districts 135 and 230 over five years. However, by rejecting the intergovernmental agreement, this revenue is now no longer available to the school districts since the TIF District has a fixed term and only three years remain.
2007 Intergovernmental Agreement
Subsequently, the school districts presented a 2007 Intergovernmental Agreement that was signed by the Village, D135 and D230. Village staff were unaware of the IGA and promptly provided it to the Village’s legal counsel for this matter, Michael Roth of ICE Miller. Mr. Roth’s attached opinion makes clear that was previously approved contradicts State law, and as a result, the Village cannot fulfill the terms of the 2007 Intergovernmental Agreement. The opinion is punctuated by the fact that the Main Street Triangle has a deficit of $27.5 million as a result of loans made to the Main Street Triangle from the Village’s General Fund. This opinion was made available to all of the taxing bodies as part of the Main Street Triangle TIF Joint Review Board meeting on November 7, 2023.
An element of the 2007 IGA was a per student reimbursement. The Village has and continues to agree to follow all State laws regarding per student reimbursements in TIF Districts. However, since the school districts have not made requests in accordance with State law, and because student enrollment has decreased since 2007, the Village is limited in what it can reimburse according to the Illinois TIF Act. Here are the enrollment figures since 2007.
Year D135 D230
2007 5,601 8,742
2023 5,181 7,595
At the November 7, 2023 Joint Review Board meeting, the Village also presented a draft ordinance amending the Land Development Code in regards to development impact fees. This Ordinance was first presented to the various taxing bodies on November 16, 2021. At that same meeting, the Village also sought collaboration by highlighting the efforts underway to design and procure easements for a proposed 143rd Street Widening/Park School Secondary Access Driveway as well as a willingness on the part of the Village to improve the High Point/Orland Junior High fields at a cost of $3.1 million. In exchange for the $3.1 million in improvements, the Village only sought a long-term field use arrangement. The Village did not seek any reimbursement for its efforts to design and secure easements for the 143rd Street Driveway.
With regard to the new Impact Fee Ordinance, it was drafted to be in line with statutory requirements and industry standards. These impact fees would be applicable to new residential developments. Residential developments can cause increased demands upon public facilities and services that are specifically and uniquely attributable to those new residential developments. Affected facilities and services include public schools, libraries, parks, playgrounds and recreation facilities, open space, police, fire and emergency facilities and services, and public works facilities and services. The provisions of the draft ordinance require that any school district, fire protection or library district shall have entered into a valid and enforceable intergovernmental agreement with the Village.
Another accommodation that the Village had proposed during this period was the willingness of the Village to sell the Cultural Art Center to the D135 for $1. After completing a facility analysis, D135 determined to pass on acquiring the building.
Threat of Litigation
Despite all of the Village’s attempts at collaboration, on February 20, 2024 the Village received a threat of litigation from D135 (attached). The Village’s previous collaboration attempts have included:
• $4.3 million in new non-tax cap revenue by amending the Main Street Triangle TIF
• $3.1 million in improvements to the High Point/Orland Junior High fields
• Cultural Arts Center donation
• Design and easements for a proposed 143rd Street Widening/Park School Secondary Access Driveway
• New Impact Fee Ordinance
After receipt of the threat of litigation, the Village requested a meeting with D135 and D230 in order to meet and discuss this matter to avoid the unnecessary cost of litigation, which would only serve to harm our shared constituents and of which the Village would undoubtedly prevail. The respective representatives of the Village, D135 and D230 met on March 19th to discuss this matter. At the meeting, the Village indicated that it would provide a response to D135’s litigation threat following this Village Board meeting.
Recommended Action/Motion
Discussion only.