Arlington Heights Trustees Nix Corporate Welfare Measure For Stadium

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL — A proposal that would have created an ordinance banning the use of public subsidies for a proposed new stadium development for the Chicago Bears was unanimously rejected Monday night by Arlington Heights trustees.

The 9-0 vote came in response to a petition that was signed by 565 local residents asking the board to reject using tax dollars to fund the proposed $5 billion project that would not only include a new domed Bears stadium but public spaces, hotels, restaurants and other venues in the former Arlington Park Racecourse space.

The Bears signed a $197 million purchase agreement last year to buy the property and said at a meeting with local residents last month that they would not be seeking public funding for a new stadium. But team chairman George McCaskey said at the two-hour meeting that the team would “need help” in funding the rest of the 326-acre project.

The Bears expect the deal to close either later this year or early in 2023 but said last month there is a long road ahead. Team officials said that they were approached by Churchill Downs, which owns the former racecourse property about building a new stadium on the property. But outside of saying the stadium would have a dome, officials have been slow to unveil too many details of the stadium itself and are choosing to wait until after the deal becomes official.

The team has said the site is the only property it is focusing on.

The petition called for the creation of an “Anti-Corporate Welfare Ordinance” after libertarian group Americans For Prosperity collected signatures on a petition rejecting the use of public dollars for the project. The group, led by Illinois deputy director Brian Costin, pointed to the way Chicago taxpayers footed a $400 million bill when the Bears renovated Soldier Field in 2003.

Americans For Prosperity is a conservative libertarian group backed by the Koch Brothers. Costin told Patch on Monday that the group believes this project poses a bigger risk to Arlington Heights residents than the renovation project of Soldier Field did for Chicago voters.

The group collected 677 signatures to get the proposed ordinance in front of the board. But village officials rejected 130 of the signatures, which came from people living outside of the village limits or who weren’t registered to vote. The group collected 30 new signatures was enough to get them over the threshold for the proposed ordinance.

However, Arlington Heights Mayor Thomas Hayes said the ordinance would create a “negative economic impact”, the Chicago Tribune reported. He also said that residents were misled about the purpose of the proposal. Hayes did not immediately return a phone message on Tuesday seeking comment.

Costin said that the infrastructure costs for the project could be “enormous”, including new exits and a tunnel off of Route 53 that would direct fans to the stadium on game day and for other events.

Costin told Patch before Monday’s meeting that the group expected the board to reject the measure – probably unanimously. He said such a vote could be a “blessing in disguise” and would allow the group to go before the board at a later time to further explain its position. Costin has told Patch previously that the group does not want the Bears to get any special favors from the village and wanted the team to be treated like any other business seeking funding. He said that the creation of a tax increment financing (TIF) district would increase property tax revenues in a specific area.

Those funds would help to pay for improvements to the area, which the Bears have speculated could bring an estimated $9.4 billion in revenue to not only Arlington Heights, but to the surrounding communities and to the state of Illinois while creating 48,000 jobs. Costin said this project could represent one of the biggest TIF districts in the history of the state of Illinois.

The project is also estimated to generate $16 million in annual tax revenue in addition to property taxes for Arlington Heights, $9.8 million for Cook County, and $51.3 million for the state of Illinois, team officials said last month.

By Costin’s calculations, the TIF district could draw over $1 billion over 23 years, a proposal that Costin says presents an enormous risk.

However, opponents of the proposal said that the ordinance would not only affect the Bears but would not allow for any group to receive public funding when dealing with the village. During Monday’s meeting, Village Trustee John Scaletta was direct in speaking to Costin, saying he was wasting the village’s time.

“I’m hoping this is the end of this,” he said.

He added: “I'm sure that there's municipalities out there that do not use incentives properly, and I would urge you to start going and talking to those municipalities," Scaletta said at Monday’s meeting, according to the Daily Herald. "Because we have a lot of work to do, and there's a possibility of a new NFL stadium in our town, and you're wasting our time."

But Costin told Patch Monday evening that this won’t be the end of the road for the group. Instead, it plans to collect even more signatures — to be exact — from 12 percent of local residents (roughly 6,500 signatures) which would allow the group to override Monday night’s vote and get a referendum on the ballot.

Costin said he believes the measure deserves to be voted on by Arlington Heights residents but said that village officials need to be clear with residents about what their intentions are for allowing the Bears to develop the property and what their limits are in allowing the Bears to take over the property.

But Costin said that ultimately, the decision of whether the Bears come in to build a stadium and reimagine the 326 acres of property should belong to the residents.

“We really hope that they have the final say on this really important issue down the road in a future election,” Costin told Patch.

“I think people overall are excited about the potential of the Bears coming to Arlington Heights, but they don’t want to pay for it.”

More Bears stadium coverage from Patch:

• Chicago's Soldier Field A 'Bizarre Mix Of Past And Present': Report
• Sweet Dome Chicago: Lightfoot, City Announce Soldier Field Plans
• Bears Hire Architect For Arlington Heights Stadium Design
• Bears Sign Purchase Agreement To Buy Arlington Park For $197M