Dear Cook County Board of Commissioners:
We all make mistakes. Sometimes its hard to admit it when it's our own fault. Sometimes, other people deceive us and we make decisions that are not based on facts, science, and the law. Please examine the information not provided to you when you voted to rezone Mission Hills' PUD for Red Seal.
In the rezoning of the 41-year-old Mission Hills' Planned Unit Development (PUD), you did not receive all of the facts. Most of you did not know the intended and unintended consequences of that February 10, 2015 vote that not only affects our formerly serene 781 home townhouse and condo development, but could have precedent-setting legal ramifications throughout the country with regard to the zoning of Planned Unit Developments.
When Mission Hills was built, PUD's were a relatively new concept. Legal language has evolved, but the concept has not. Our PUD did not "expire" as the Cook County States Attorney wants everyone to believe. The Building & Zoning Department has blamed the States Attorney for the "expiration" that allowed the wheels on this County machine to go into motion in 2012 or early 2013 at Cook County Building & Zoning Commissioner Tim Bleuher's office.
There is no documented opinion before the September 2014 SA's opinion that was thrown out by the Board in January 2015. Then, they wrote a new one for the Board's meeting three weeks later!
Ask Yourself:
Why is the SA's office trying to prevent key Cook County officials and staffers who have been subpoenaed from being deposed in the lawsuit filed by Mission Hills' owners in May 2015?
Why did some officials urge you to vote for the rezoning?
- It won by one vote in a Super-majority vote only after the SA's office wrote a retroactive February 2015 opinion on a rezoning matter that had been in play for at least two years.
Why did Mission Brook Sanitary District, which does not have storm water jurisdiction, sign the permit application?
- The Township has storm water jurisdiction.
Remember when the Township Road Commissioner, his engineer, and his foreman testified against the rezoning due to their flooding concerns at the Board's January 21, 2015 meeting?
- Red Seal "handled" that objection by removing the Township's signature block on the Plat of Subdivision dated August 5, 2015 AFTER Cook County Board President Preckwinkle signed the earlier version on June 10, 2015.
- The Township's storm water jurisdiction is still on the new version.
Why didn't Red Seal disclose known hazardous chemicals on the golf course in their permit application to Cook County?
- Would you have even voted against the rezoning if you had known about the toxic chemicals that would be released?
- Would you have at least required IEPA remediation so those chemicals don't become airborne and spread contamination as they are doing right now due to the MWRD storm sewer line they are digging?
Why doesn't Cook County or the State of Illinois require proper remediation of a golf course that contains hazardous chemicals (arsenic, & likely DDT, chlordane, glyphosate, dieldrin, lead, mercury and a toxic stew of other hazardous chemicals used on old golf courses) as it does for a gas station or manufacturing plant ? This was a farm prior to the 1926 golf course.
- Minnesota requires ALL golf courses that are converting from commercial to residential property to go through supervised remediation to protect public health and safety.
Why didn't the Cook County ZBA allow our experts and attorneys to fully testify and interrogate?
- A fair and impartial hearing with unrestricted testimony by our experts did not happen, as shown on YouTube channel.
The biggest question is: How can the Cook County Board grant a PUD in 1971 and take it away in 2014 when the primary purpose of a PUD is to allow buildings to be clustered and more dense in one area in order to preserve open space in the entire 144 acre PUD?
- The PUD ordinance the Board was elected to enforce is on a link below. Please read it and consider it carefully.
Facts
- The County Board voted on incomplete facts and some board members appear to have been misled.
- Commissioners Boykin, Butler, Fritchey, and Suffredin did NOT vote to rezone Mission Hills because they said PUD's do not expire. The rezoning won by one vote under questionable circumstances.
- The States Attorney's office has been involved in the "expiration" from the beginning. Now, the SA's office is trying to quash the subpoenas for county officials and staff members involved in the rezoning so what they know does not become part of the record.
- The Plat of Subdivision process did not follow the required steps in the Cook County ordinances and avoided people who had the duty to stop what was happening.
- Based on new information, the Board has the power to request a review of this rezoning and halt the permit process for Red Seal's Provenance. The Board's duty is to enforce the law and protect the public.
The deposition phase of the Chancery lawsuit filed by hundreds of Mission Hills' owners against the County and Red Seal is in progress and is costing Cook County taxpayers a lot of money (while the County claims financial problems) to defend the Board's rezoning decision AND is costing our owners a lot of money, too.
The trial does not start until February. In the meantime, Red Seal is tearing apart a P2 Environmentally Sensitive Open Space Opportunity Area with the MWRD storm water permit that they have. They're ready to roll IF Cook County issues final permits.
Red Seal knows that they would have to restore the property if they lose the lawsuit and are operating at their own risk.
Chancery Judge Rita Novak won't render a verdict in this bench trial for many months, but that has not stopped Red Seal from tearing apart the PUD easement property from the owner of the other portion of the golf course and clear-cutting hundreds of trees with a letter that does not seem to have followed the Cook County Tree Preservation Ordinance.
Therefore, we respectfully request that you review the July 21, 2014 ZBA public hearing testimony of the late Presiding Chancery Judge Richard L. Curry who was also a Mission Hills' resident.
We hope that his testimony and a review of the issues will allow you to consider a complete administrative review of how the Mission Hills' rezoning could have possibly happened in unincorporated Cook County!
