Tinley Committee To Oversee Mental Health Facility Property Cleanup

TINLEY PARK, IL — Nearly a dozen Tinley Park residents will begin work to collaboratively oversee a state-funded cleanup of the former mental health center property that has sat vacant since 2012 after being appointed to a newly formed committee established Thursday by the Park District Board of Commissioners.

The Remediate 280 Committee was formed to oversee the cleanup of the property, which was purchased by the Park District for $1 earlier this year. In addition, the group will also provide feedback and environmental remediation as work on the 280-acre plot of land begins, park district officials said.

The committee was established at Wednesday night’s Board of Commissioners meeting when Chairperson and Park District Commissioner Lisa O’Donovan and co-chair Ashley Rubino were assigned to head up the group, which is made up entirely of Tinley Park residents who are committed to ensuring a safe and proper clean-up of contamination at the site.

“The state-funded cleanup process is just beginning, but we are excited to finally get rid of this eyesore for Tinley Park,” O’Donovan said in a news release.

In August, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law House Bill 3743 to transfer the property to the Park District. The Park District is working through steps to officially own the property, including effectuating the land transfer and unlocking $15 million in state grant funding to pay for cleanup efforts, the news release said.

Under the new law, the Park District saved Tinley Park taxpayers over $4.5 million to purchase the site, which the Village of Tinley Park had previously offered to pay for the property. Village officials said previously that they were caught off-guard when the park district announced plans to purchase the property.

The property has been the site of two fires within the past six months, which remain under investigation. The most recent blaze took place on Oct. 20 and required firefighters from various departments to fight the blaze for two hours. Fire officials said that firefighters were hampered by overgrowth in the area and a lack of fire hydrants.

"This is the second significant fire that the Fire Department has responded to on this property within the last six months, with the last one back on April 28," Village Manager Pat Carr said in a statement after the fire. "This property has become a homeless encampment and poses an extremely high danger for these people and our firefighters due to the poor condition of the property."

After Pritzker announced that the park district had obtained the property, Sen. Mike Hastings said transferring the property to park officials “was one of the best decisions the State of Illinois made this year.”

The Park District also has leading environmental experts on board to help oversee cleanup, the group said. Renee Cipriano, the former head of the IEPA under two former governors, and Elizabeth S. Harvey, an environmental attorney with Swanson, Martin & Bell, LLP, will work with the group to ensure that the cleanup is done properly from an environmental standpoint.

The group said that the two experts’ immense knowledge will guide the Park District as it engages in an updated environmental study of the property and begins cleanup work to pave the way for redevelopment of the property. The work will be funded through the state grant that was awarded to the Park District in this year’s fiscal year state budget.

Other Tinley Park residents assigned to the committee include Tana Burhans, Bill Devine, John Gorajski, Amjad (AJ) Haj, Dan McAllister, Melissa Sanfilippo, Rona Szabo, Carmelita Wagner, and Sylvester Wilson.

“We are very grateful to the Remediate 280 Committee members for their contributions to this important cleanup work,” Rubino said in the news release. “Through our efforts, we will ensure the entire 280 acres of the property will be cleaned up and restored for our residents.”