‘We can’t be bystanders’: Rolling Meadows mayor announces reelection bid amid Bears stadium saga

Touting her regional approach to the prospective Chicago Bears redevelopment just over the backyard fence, Rolling Meadows Mayor Lara Sanoica has announced plans to seek reelection next spring.

And in a town once beset by council wars, Sanoica also can tout the endorsements of all seven city council members.

So far, no one has lined up to run against the 35-year-old, first-term mayor. Candidates can begin circulating petitions in late August for the April 6, 2027, election.

Sanoica, a former alderperson who was unopposed in the spring 2023 mayoral election, will formally launch her reelection effort at a campaign kickoff event with supporters Sunday.

Her election came two months after the Bears closed on the purchase of the 326-acre Arlington Park property in neighboring Arlington Heights. She has been quick to point out that redevelopment of the old racetrack — whether with an NFL stadium or something else — will be “almost entirely encircled” by Rolling Meadows.

“And therefore the impacts would fall onto our community, even though we don’t have a direct voting stake on what may or may not happen,” she said.

That realization has led to her becoming a prominent Northwest suburban voice in the Bears stadium saga, navigating a fine line between cheerleading the economic development such a project could bring, and accountability.

In May, Sanoica took to the podium at her state of the city address to call for a “seat at the table” in discussions about infrastructure upgrades that would be needed in her town and others that neighbor the Arlington Park site.

Sanoica, along with the mayors of Palatine and Schaumburg, have also pressed the Bears to complete a transportation/traffic study that would substantiate the NFL club’s ask for $850 million in public infrastructure dollars.

“This development project, regardless of what happens, we recognize that Rolling Meadows is the city that’s going to be impacted, whether things go really, really well, or whether things go sideways,” she said. “So we’ve definitely recognized that we can’t be bystanders of this development in our backyard. We have to take responsibility for what is going to take place.”

Sanoica believes she has filled a “regional gap” by talking with counterparts in Arlington Heights, Palatine, Schaumburg, Hoffman Estates, Mount Prospect and Des Plaines, in addition to school and park districts, Cook County, and state representatives and senators.

“Rolling Meadows is part of that conversation because we have so much to lose, and so our regional leadership includes reengaging with our neighbors in a way that I didn’t really see Rolling Meadows doing in the past,” she said.

Besides the Bears, Sanoica is also expected to highlight other issues during the campaign: creating and funding a six-person human services department; modernizing municipal operations by transitioning from paper building permits to electronic ones; and sustainability initiatives such as installing electric vehicle chargers in the city hall parking lot.

Campaign season will be in the throes of Sanoica’s professional and personal responsibilities. By day, she is a financial regulator in the derivatives industry at CME Group. She has a 2-year-old, and she and her husband have another baby on the way in October.

If she wins next April, it will be her last 4-year term, since Rolling Meadows elected officials are limited to two consecutive terms.