Bending the rules to head off a feared power shortage next summer, Orland Park officials have waived a one-year waiting period to allow ComEd to resubmit a controversial proposal to build a substation in the village.
The Village Board’s action paves the way for the utility to resurrect plans to build a $4.5 million facility on ComEd property at 137th Street and La Grange Road, behind the Orland Hills II subdivision.
ComEd attorney Bridget O’Keefe, of Altheimer & Grey in Chicago, said growth in the Orland Park area is creating heavy demand and asked that the rule be waived.
Orland Park is served by ComEd substations in Mokena, Tinley Park, Homer Township and Palos Heights, O’Keefe said. All but the Mokena substation are operating at capacity and could exceed capacity by next summer, ComEd officials said.
The Village Board rejected ComEd’s request to build the substation last December, in part because of objections to the location. At that time, village officials asked ComEd to research other options.
The village’s land development code requires a one-year waiting period before a rejected plan can be resubmitted. But ComEd officials said waiting until December to reintroduce the plan would push back construction beyond next summer’s feared shortage.
The first of three public hearings on the proposal is Sept. 25 at the village’s Plan Commission meeting. O’Keefe said she and ComEd officials will try to show why the La Grange Road site is a better location for the substation than two other options recently considered by ComEd.
The two sites, narrowed from eight originally suggested by the village, were the former Palos Driving Range at the southeast corner of 131st Street and Southwest Highway and a location on Southwest Highway occupied by a towing company, O’Keefe said.
