Arlington Hts. OKs TIF funds for decontamination

Up to $300,000 of tax increment financing money will be spent to decontaminate soil at 212-220 N. Dunton Ave. in Arlington Heights, the village board agreed Monday.

Lloyd Baldwin and North Dunton Properties, who plan to develop the now-vacant land, must pay $350,000 toward the project before funds from the village's TIF II are made available.

The cleanup, called a remediation, must be finished by April 30 when TIF II ends. However, most of it will be completed by January, said Steven J. Lemon, an attorney representing Baldwin.

The remediation, which has been approved by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, will involve removing contaminated soil and sealing off some of the less-contaminated soil, according to a report to the village board from the Department of Planning and Community Development.

The contamination was caused by dry cleaning establishments that once occupied the site, according to papers filed by Chris Tanner of Tanner Environmental of Libertyville, the project engineer.

Norge Village coin laundry, which had 16 dry cleaning machines, operated from 1962 until about 1985. Eastman Cleaners was on the site from then until 1998.

The four buildings on the property long stood vacant before they finally were demolished in June.

Baldwin has a contract with developer Bernard Katz and Associates, and, in 2007, the village approved their plans for an eight-story residential building with retail on the first floor.

But, Lemon said, it is not known when anything might be built on the site, due to current economic conditions.

Baldwin, who lives in Carmel, Ind., once lived on the second floor of one of the buildings and considers Arlington Heights his hometown, Lemon said. Baldwin never has never been ordered to clean up the property, Lemon added.