It is starting to sound like a broken record: When one southwest suburb annexes so much as a sidewalk square, a neighboring community screams, “mine first.”
Such was the case again this past week when Orland Hills announced plans to annex 22 acres bordered on three sides by Tinley Park and on the west by a Cook County forest preserve.
Tinley Park officials are not happy with the news. Officials plan to forcibly annex the property later this month, Mayor Ed Zabrocki said Friday.
“We are pursuing our legal options,” Zabrocki said. “I think it’s fair to say that the matter will be settled in court.”
The property extends 600 feet east of La Grange Road between 175th and 178th Streets. It may be as late as mid-April before Orland Hills holds a public hearing on the annexation, said Orland Hills Trustee Cal Million.
“Tinley Park will be unsuccessful in this fight,” Million said.
The property is in a land trust and has multiple owners who are seeking commercial and multifamily development. Their attorney, Peter Coules, sent a letter to Tinley Park officials on Friday telling them to back off.
“We told them we do not want to be annexed at this time,” he said.
If Tinley Park takes legal action, it would be similar to pending litigation in which that village claims an Orland Hills annexation is invalid because the property is not contiguous to Orland Hills.
Another suit would bring to four the number of annexation-related lawsuits involving Orland Hills pending in Cook County Circuit Court.
Orland Hills sued Citizens Utilities and Tinley Park over water service last fall, just before annexing 11.5 acres that was included in Tinley Park’s comprehensive plan. Then Tinley Park trustees forcibly annexed the same 11.5 acres and slapped Orland Hills with a lawsuit.
Orland Hills’ aggressive annexations in the past six months have been with the help of a state statute that allows municipalities to extend their borders with the help of forest preserve property. Both the 11.5 acres on 171st Street and the 22 acres at 175th Street are across from forest preserve property along La Grange Road, which borders Orland Hills.
Million said that the law has been used successfully in the annexation battle with Orland Park over 33 acres near 167th Street and La Grange Road. Orland Park is appealing that court decision.
“That’s a tested law that not only Orland Hills has used but there are at least 30 other communities in the state that have used it successfully,” Million said.
Million dismissed further litigation by Tinley Park as hogwash and suggested that Zabrocki focus on border control.
“There are lots of reasons why Tinley Park is mad, and after what happened at 171st you would think that they would do a little better job protecting their borders,” Million said.
Orland Hills was in negotiations with the owners of the property at 175th Street for more than a year, Million said, adding that was an ample period of time for Tinley to make a move.
“If the Towne Center (shopping center) were to burn down, our tax revenue would be gone,” Million said. “We did this for the people of Orland Hills, and that property will always be under our control.”
