The Chicago Bears are close to finalizing a deal to buy Arlington Park for $197.2 million, but the village could put up a goal line stand and thwart the team’s plans to relocate.
A move to Arlington Heights has been in the works since the team entered a purchase agreement for the former Arlington International Racecourse last September. Now, after a year of discussions and debates, it seems as though some village residents aren’t cheering on the idea, the Daily Herald reported.
The village held a meeting to publicly discuss the Bears’ $5 billion redevelopment plans for the first time last week. A majority of the board has spoken in favor of the project, but public sentiment isn’t uniform.
Resident Roberta Fisher questioned if locals like herself actually have any say in the decision.
“If they vote on it to come here, what else can the residents do?” she asked the mayor. “Our taxpayer money is involved, and our neighborhoods.”
In response, Hayes reiterated that this decision would only allow the team to buy the property, while the future plans would still need time to be finalized.
“The village has quite a bit of say in terms of what will go there ultimately and how it will be built and how it will impact our community,” Hayes said at the meeting. “We’ve got a long way to go.”
Fisher pushed back more and asked the mayor if there was any chance the village board would still reject the proposal, to which Hayes replied, “It’s certainly possible.”
“This predevelopment agreement does not provide a formal approval of the preliminary concept,” Village Manager Randy Recklaus said at the meeting. “It may not be even the concept that is formally proposed by the Chicago Bears when we’re all said and done. We don’t know because we’re just in the very early stages.”
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— Victoria Pruitt