Rolling Meadows hires consultants to prepare for potential Bears stadium next door

Seeking their own seat at the table in a prospective Bears stadium redevelopment of regional impact, Rolling Meadows’ elected officials voted Tuesday to retain three outside consultants now that the NFL franchise has shifted focus back to its 326-acre property in neighboring Arlington Heights.

The city council approved a series of resolutions to hire a lobbyist, traffic engineer and noise expert in anticipation of the team’s possible relocation to the sprawling Arlington Park site, which is bordered by Rolling Meadows to the south, west and a small side street to the north.

The Bears have a team of consultants and lobbyists, as does the village of Arlington Heights, which recently brought on traffic and financial experts to peer review the work submitted by the Bears.

In a press release announcing their own stadium project “starting roster,” Rolling Meadows leaders embraced their orange and blue fandom for what a Bears move could mean for the town economically, though acknowledged the challenges it would bring to the city’s roads and transportation infrastructure.

“We are on the cusp of achieving a dream that has captured Chicago’s Northwest suburban imagination since George S. Halas first proposed moving the Bears to Arlington Park 50 years ago,” Mayor Lara Sanoica said Tuesday night. “Working together with Arlington Heights, Rolling Meadows will be a proud partner to bring this game-changing stadium to life for our community and our region.”

Sanoica added she would work with Arlington Heights Mayor Jim Tinaglia, Palatine Mayor Jim Schwantz and Bears brass “to make the George Halas vision a reality.”

The council’s votes to hire Liz Brown-Reeves Consulting, Christopher B. Burke Engineering and Threshold Acoustics was perhaps foreshadowed by Sanoica during her state of the city address earlier this month, when she noted Rolling Meadows would be a key player in redevelopment discussions. Later that day, she met with Tinaglia for the first time.

“Anything that comes here is going to require cooperation with us, because no matter what happens, you have to get through Rolling Meadows to get there,” Sanoica said during the May 1 address.

To that end, city officials Tuesday called for “thoughtful” regional planning and said their lobbyist would advocate for transit and transportation investments, community benefits and fair cost sharing for public services needed to support the development.

The council ratified the $5,000 monthly retainer of Brown-Reeves, who City Manager Rob Sabo initially brought on May 15 under his limited purchasing authority. Time is of the essence because the General Assembly’s spring session concludes this week, and the Bears are making another pitch for enabling legislation that would pave the way to a long-term property tax break.

Brown-Reeves started her firm 16 years ago after nearly nine years as a staffer in Speaker Mike Madigan’s office, where she ran floor operations, oversaw committees, analyzed legislation and helped craft the 2001 legislative map as part of the redistricting process.

City officials say they expect to get a copy of the initial traffic study prepared by Bears consultants within days. For a $29,500 fee, the document and associated preliminary engineering documents and site plans will be reviewed by Rosemont-based Christopher B. Burke, which is already under contract as the city’s primary engineer.

The firm will also get help from Tyler Krage, an engineer who did traffic modeling for Inglewood, California in conjunction with the SoFi Stadium development. He notably developed a synchronized model for all 167 traffic signals within the city, and three event signal timing plans for traffic at the stadium that houses two NFL teams.

The scope of work calls for the engineers to review Rolling Meadows’ existing signals and recommend improvements to handle increased traffic. The review will also include projections of traffic at various times of day, including Sunday football games that overlap with local church traffic, and concerts around the evening rush hour.

For a $27,500 fee, the acoustic and audiovisual consultant will assess and minimize potential sound impacts, though the contract can be canceled if a stadium isn’t designed or built.

Though the initial 2022 site plan called for a stadium in the northwest corner of the property, city officials said if the venue is placed southeast it could be within a few 100 feet of Rolling Meadows homes.

Chicago-based Threshold Acoustics worked on the Obama Presidential Center and performance lawns at Navy Pier.