The battle in Lemont over the acquisition of open space moved into Cook County Circuit Court on Wednesday as three village officials filed suit seeking to void Lemont Township’s first open-space purchase.
The suit, filed by Mayor John Piazza and Village Trustees Peter Coules and Jeanette Virgilio, charges that the township violated state law in January when it purchased 29.5 acres at 127th Street west of Timberline Drive in Lemont.
Piazza and others have complained for weeks that the township paid too much for the land, which was purchased for $3.2 million. They also said the township acted without enough input from the village or from residents who had worked for passage of an open-space referendum proposal.
State law requires that open space be purchased in 50-acre parcels, Piazza said. The township’s first purchase “doesn’t meet the terms of the open-space state statute,” he said.
Township Supervisor Robert Porter was not available Wednesday for comment.
Township Trustee Frank Wozniak, however, pointed out that the suit was not filed by the village.
“The village is not doing this,” he said. “It’s just three individuals. I don’t know what their motives are–maybe they’re against open space.”
Wozniak defended the purchase and said the township’s intent has been to buy additional land near 127th Street and Timberline Drive to make up the 50 acres required by the state.
“There are pieces of land that are adjacent to the 29 acres. You get the first one and then you start working [on negotiating] with the other owners,” Wozniak said.
However, Piazza said the law requires that purchases totaling 50 acres be made simultaneously. The lawsuit also charges that the township’s plan for acquiring open space is illegal because it does not include a timeline for making the purchases.
As a practical matter, not making the purchases simultaneously will only increase the price that the township pays for adjacent properties, Piazza said. “It just drives the prices of those other properties up,” he said. “And what happens if they can’t acquire those parcels? They should have lined those purchases up and acquired them simultaneously.”
Piazza also has charged that the township overpaid for the land by about $700,000 and relied on only one appraisal.
Wozniak disagreed that the township paid too much for the land, which is near the route of the proposed Interstate Highway 355 extension connecting Bolingbrook and New Lenox.
“What’s a fair price?” he asked. “We offered our price and the owner wanted his price and we came to a happy medium. Property in Lemont is sky-high. You can’t buy a [single-family] lot in Lemont for $80,000.”
He said the price paid for the land–$109,000 an acre–was justified.
The village’s comprehensive plan calls for commercial/retail development on the property. The village also had extended water and sewer lines to the area.
However, Wozniak said the land is needed as a buffer between a nearby subdivision and the proposed I-355 extension.
“It will be a good buffer between the residential and the school [Old Quarry Middle School] and the tollway,” he said. “I hope it never gets built on. You could put bike or walking paths on it.”
Kathy Henrikson, a resident who has served on an open-space advisory committee, said she and others have felt shut out by the township.
“It’s unfortunate that this has gotten to litigation,” she said. “If the township had been upfront and answered our questions, they wouldn’t be in this position.”
Wozniak said the land the township acquired was identified as a possible purchase by the open-space committee.
“It’s on the master plan developed by the committee. It [the purchase] was on their recommendation,” he said, adding that the township would defend itself with open-space funds.
Henrikson criticized the township’s decision to dip into open-space funds to defend the suit.
“The township has set aside $100,000 for litigation instead of buying land with that money,” she said. “In the end, we [taxpayers] are being punished.”
A ballot question allowing the township to spend $10 million to purchase open space was approved in April.
