Arlington Heights village departments to update leaders on Bears project Monday night

Arlington Heights officials will take stock of the Chicago Bears’ proposed redevelopment at Arlington International Racecourse and look ahead to the project’s next steps Monday.

The plans for the site are still in the development stage. Staff are set to present to the village board at Monday’s committee of the whole meeting information about the work they have already done regarding the project.

“The vision and master planning for the property, as well as implementation, will take many years and will not happen overnight, but represents a unique property in Arlington Heights and the region,” a report from the village Planning and Community Development department states.

The department is presenting as part of the village’s biannual practice of briefing newly seated and returning board members on the work of the preceding term and looking ahead to coming priorities, a staff memo states. The Arlington Heights Fire department is also set to give its report Monday evening.

The meeting agenda also states that there will be an interdepartmental presentation on work related to Arlington Park thus far.

The Bears officially purchased the 326-acre site in February, more than a year after signing a $197.2 million purchase agreement for the property. The team’s opening volley for redeveloping the racetrack is a domed NFL stadium, entertainment complex and mixed-use commercial development expected to cost at least $5 billion.

The planning department’s report states that department staff will work toward a “unique regional ‘one of a kind’ redevelopment opportunity that provides for the highest and best use for the property.”

The document gives a rundown of milestones in the project beginning in May 2021 and ending with the Bears finalizing their purchase of the site.

“Redevelopment of 326 acres of prime real estate creates a center of opportunity for a dynamic and unique redevelopment,” the report states.

It also lists a familiar set of next steps that echo village and team leaders’ reminders that the project is still in its earliest stages. The team hasn’t yet committed to building a stadium on the property, while village officials have reminded residents that any plan the Bears submit needs their thumbs-up.

Village officials are still awaiting the economic impact and transportation studies they commissioned in October. The planning department report looks ahead to using the results of those studies, along with studies from the Bears, to create a more concrete vision for the site culminating in a comprehensive plan for the racetrack to guide eventual zoning decisions. Those broad milestones are in a nonbinding “predevelopment agreement” that lays out broad terms on which the parties expect to work together.

The report also spends some ink on the relationship between a future Bears development and the village’s existing downtown. Local business leaders and owners have greeted the prospect of an NFL stadium district with a mix of optimism and concern. Some have worried that a new commercial and retail district will “cannibalize” Arlington Heights’ beloved downtown area.

Others see the project as an unalloyed opportunity for the village and the region and have taken it upon themselves to build bridges between the team and the community.

Business owners on every side of the issue have expressed faith in village officials to protect existing economic interests, who in turn have said they don’t want to see an eventual development replicate downtown Arlington Heights. The planning and development department report reiterates that goal.

“It has been made clear that one of the Village’s goals is ‘the ability to enhance and connect the new development to Downtown and not detract from it,’” the report states. “In other words, new development should be complementary and synergistic to the Downtown.”

The fire department report forecasts the potential impact of a stadium district on the demand for emergency services, though it notes that the nebulous plans for the site currently make it hard to pinpoint specific asks.

“The type and size of the development around the stadium could impact the needs of the department in terms of apparatus, facilities, and personnel,” the document states.

The report also refers to a recent trip for some fire personnel to Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium, meant to “identify potential operational impacts to the department.”

Police department brass also visited SoFi and a handful of other stadiums and developments to observe other police departments working games and mass entertainment events, Pioneer Press has reported.

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