Arlington Heights voters will elect a new mayor on Tuesday, and there’s a big unknown for the village’s next leader: Will the Chicago Bears take over the former Arlington horse race track?
Arlington Heights voters will elect a new mayor on Tuesday, and there’s a big unknown for the village’s next leader: Will the Chicago Bears take over the former Arlington horse race track?
Current Mayor Tom Hayes is not running for a fourth term. Three candidates are vying to succeed him: Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jon Ridler, Village Trustee Tom Schwingbeck and Village Trustee Jim Tinaglia.
All three candidates vowed to continue Hayes’ work attempting to bring the Bears to Arlington Heights, as long as the deal benefits the village as well. They each laid out their visions for Arlington Park, the 326-acre site that used to be the Arlington International Racecourse.
The site sits empty two years after the Bears purchased the land for $197 million. Despite the team's later push for a stadium along Chicago’s lakefront, the Arlington Heights mayoral candidates each hope to be the one to transform the site as the home of the Bears. The team will soon submit traffic and financial studies to the village.
“We want to make sure that we're partnering with the Bears or a new developer in a way that it's going to be utilized and actually start to develop as soon as possible,” Ridler said.
Ridler sees himself as the "change" candidate in the race and names his top priorities as being more “small business friendly” and sustaining property taxes. As for the Arlington Park site, he would like to see a residential area on the south side of the property, plus businesses headquartered there and an entertainment district.
“We have a lot of young families in Arlington Heights and when they do the travel teams with their kids, they go three, four, five hours away and are spending thousands of dollars outside of our economy. We could bring that in,” Ridler said.
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Schwingbeck said he has concerns about mixed use development but wants Arlington Park to be a "regional destination."
"I would even entertain having a casino out there – but just some restaurants, hotels, things like that,” Schwingbeck said.
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Schwingbeck, who worked in engineering and manufacturing for more than 40 years, touts endorsements from current and former trustees. If elected, he said his top priorities would be affordable housing, keeping taxes low and continuing to provide quality village services.
In addition to the negotiations with the Bears, Tinaglia said his top priorities are to provide the best village services at the lowest pricing and to not overburden taxpayers. He has endorsements from Hayes, the Tribune Editorial Board and the Daily Herald. Hayes said Tinaglia is “uniquely qualified to hit the ground running” but was reluctant to make an endorsement because Schwingbeck is also on the village board, according to the Daily Herald.
As an architect by profession, Tinaglia’s vision is a third of the 326 acres being used by the Bears and the other two thirds as an entertainment district.
"It cannot be another downtown. It can't be a transit-oriented development of typical commercial and residential growth that you see here in downtown Arlington Heights,” Tinaglia said.
Traffic is the top concern all the candidates hear from Arlington Heights residents about the potential collaboration with the Bears. Schwingbeck also mentioned congestion, crime, short-term rentals and Airbnbs and parking in neighborhoods. Multiple candidates relayed concerns from downtown businesses that the stadium could impede their business. Schwingbeck’s solution?
“Maybe some of our local downtown businesses – I know they do it in other sports stadiums – could set up little satellite restaurants within the stadium itself for game day,” Schwingbeck said.
Ultimately, if the Bears decide not the develop the land there will be pressure on the team to sell the site, but Tinaglia expressed a hope that the process is not rushed so the right deal can be reached.
“Arlington Heights is open for business. We want something wonderful there. Our community is ready for something to happen,” Tinaglia said.
Arlington Heights voters will also elect three new trustees on Tuesday.
