Why Palatine is not hiring consultants to study Bears’ effect on village

Palatine stands to feel the effects of the Bears relocating to Arlington Heights.

But unlike another similarly affected Arlington Heights neighbor, Rolling Meadows, Palatine has no plans to hire independent consultants.

“At this point, I don’t see the need to hire (a traffic engineer). I don’t see the need to hire a lobbyist. I don’t see the need to hire a sound engineer,” Village Manager Reid Ottesen said.

His remarks came days after the Rolling Meadows City Council recently approved a series of resolutions to hire a lobbyist, traffic engineer and noise expert.

The Bears also have a team of consultants and lobbyists, while Arlington Heights has hired traffic and financial experts to peer review the work submitted by the Bears.

“I think you run the risk, if you get so many people involved in it, that it starts to dilute everything, and things get lost,” Ottesen said.

He pointed out Arlington Heights is looking at the situation from a global perspective that includes Palatine and Rolling Meadows. He would like to see the results of Arlington Heights’ efforts.

“I want to see what that is before I'm going to start spending our taxpayers’ money,” he said.

Both Ottesen and Mayor Jim Schwantz, a former Bears player, have spoken publicly about the pressure a Bears move would put on the area’s infrastructure.

“We are supportive of this if it is done right,” the mayor said during the Palatine Area Chamber of Commerce state of the village address in February.

But he also said local streets like Rohlwing Road, Northwest Highway and Algonquin Road are not built to handle the traffic on game day.

“So what's going to happen when there's a traffic jam on Route 14? They're going to duck and dodge through the local streets,” he said.

Rolling Meadows hired Liz Brown-Reeves Consulting, Christopher B. Burke Engineering and Threshold Acoustics to perform various roles as the Bears explore the potential move to the former Arlington International Racecourse site.

The Rolling Meadows council approved a $5,000 monthly retainer for lobbyist Brown-Reeves, Burke is getting $29,500 and a $27,500 fee was approved for Threshold.