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Tinley Park asks state to remove contaminants from abandoned mental health center

The SouthtownStar - 12/13/2019

Dec. 12--State-owned property in Tinley Park that, until recently, was proposed as the site of a combination harness racing track and casino is in such a deplorable state that it presents "an imminent and substantial endangerment" to the environment and public health, the village contends.

In a recent letter to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, the village asks the agency to step in and rid the 280-acre site of contaminants and secure the site with a fence.

The mental health center, northwest of Harlem Avenue and 183rd Street, closed in 2012.

Tinley Park had been in negotiations with the state to acquire the property, with initial plans for a large housing development there and more recently a racino.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker, however, stepped in and blocked a possible sale of the site after the Chicago Tribune reported on one of the developer's longstanding business ties to a banking family with reputed mob connections.

The Nov. 22 letter from the village to the IEPA and U.S. EPA notes hazards on the property including fuel storage tanks, asbestos and containers of hazardous materials. Because the property is not secured, it is open to vandalism and theft, according to the village.

In response to the letter, the IEPA's deputy director contacted the village to say the agency is working to schedule testing on the site, village manager Dave Niemeyer said Thursday.

An IEPA representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In 2015, Tinley Park planned to pay the state what was then an asking price of $4.16 million for the property in a bid to gain greater control over what might be built there, then backed away from that idea.

The village had previously estimated the cost of getting the site ready for development, including environmental cleanup and demolition of the many buildings on the property, at $12.4 million.

Testing completed in 2014 revealed environmental issues such as asbestos, an abandoned sewage treatment plant, leaking underground storage tanks holding gasoline and other petroleum products, drums containing chemicals and soil contaminated with mercury and lead.

Tetra Tech, an environmental consultant that had worked with Tinley Park, previously reported that, in the mid-1990s, several underground tanks containing gasoline or diesel fuel were removed from the property, but there are other underground tanks on the site and their condition is not known.

There also is a small area on the property where fluorescent light bulbs were broken up and discarded leading to a concern for some mercury contamination of soil, according to Tetra Tech documents.

Stored in buildings are containers, some missing labels, of cleaning chemicals as well as motor oil and other lubricants, according to the consultant.

The village's letter says there are at least 45 buildings on the property along with miles of tunnels containing asbestos.

Rick Heidner and Timothy Carey, general manager of Hawthorne Race Course in Stickney, had proposed the racino project on the state-owned property.

Heidner, a commercial real estate developer, is also owner of Gold Rush Gaming, which leases video gambling terminals to businesses such as bars and restaurants.

Previously, Heidner had been part of a group proposing a $350 million development that included more than 400 single-family homes described as active, adult-age restricted housing targeting buyers 55 and older, as well as a 200-unit luxury senior apartment building.

mnolan@tribpub.com

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