If anyone sat through, or even just heard about, last week’s Forest Park Village Council hearing about the future of the village-owned Altenheim property and thought they detected even a smidge of actual direction on a path forward, well, Rachell Entler, the hard-working village administrator, wants to set you straight.
Of the hearing Entler said, “This is the very beginning of the process.”
Nearly a quarter of a century into the village’s ownership of this one, last piece of open land in Forest Park, it is not encouraging to hear that we’ve only just begun a process to figure out what to do with this land.
And now after multiple false starts, endless study groups, citizen surveys, property appraisals and astounding dithering, we’re ready to start a process. Good Lord!
Mayor Rory Hoskins, setting new markers for dithering, urged the commissioners to create a Request for Proposals from potential developers so the village can gauge interest and ideas on what real estate people think will make them the absolute most money off this golden goose.
This is a terrible idea. A fully backward idea.
What does Forest Park, through the actions of its elected representatives, want to happen here? What are the must-haves?
So far, we’ve heard multifamily (big, but not too big), commercial (but not too commercial), a bike path, a good place to plop new water reservoirs, selling back a portion of the site to the actual Altenheim senior facility, and, oh yes, maybe a small portion of the 11-acres saved for public use.
The village council must make decisions. And this is not something they are good at doing. Having a mayor who seems incapable of leading a discussion does not help.
We accept that circumstances have changed since the bold and optimistic purchase of this property was made by Mayor Anthony Calderone so long ago. Forest Park is in a financial pickle. It needs to raise revenue out of the Altenheim through both the sale of a portion of the site and then ongoing property and/or sales tax revenue.
The tough financials also mean Forest Park doesn’t have the funds to invest in a large-scale new public park or recreation venue. And in this dismal national climate, there will be limited opportunities to obtain grant funding.
So, here goes the Forest Park Review’s plan for the Altenheim:
Put new water reservoirs on the south end of the property; yes to a bike path that will eventually sync up with the Prairie Path and the Des Plaines River path; sure, sell an acre back to Altenheim if a thorough study shows that institution is financially viable for the long-term; hold back perhaps 3 acres, ideally on the north end nearest Madison, for low-key public use; sell the balance of the land to a residential developer for mid-rise apartments.
Just do it.