Vote scheduled on sale of Elk Grove Township sites
Elk Grove Township residents will decide later this month whether to sell the township's remaining properties as part of a long-term consolidation plan.
A public vote on selling of the township's headquarters building and community day care center is set for 7 p.m. Jan. 30 in the Elk Grove Village council chambers, 901 Wellington Ave.
Since late 2014, township officials have been mulling plans to move out of existing facilities and return the properties to tax rolls. Officials haven't decided where new public facilities would be located.
An appraiser valued the headquarters, 2400 S. Arlington Heights Road in Arlington Heights, at $955,000.
The township's former school building, 711 Chelmsford Lane in Elk Grove Village, was valued at $2.5 million - if the buyer uses the property for its current purpose. The appraiser has not yet calculated the value of the property if a buyer develops it as housing, which likely would yield a lower price, Township Supervisor Mike Sweeney said.
The site currently is leased to a nonprofit day care center.
A simple majority of at least 15 voters who attend the meeting is required to authorize the proposed sales. If voters decide to list the sites, the township must get at least 80 percent of the appraised value in order to sell.
If the voters approve the measure and the township sells the properties, officials have several options to replace the buildings: purchase an existing building, buy undeveloped property and construct offices, or keep the land at 2400 S. Arlington Heights Road and build a more functional facility with profits from the sales.
While developers haven't approached the township about buying the two properties under consideration this month, a buyer has shown interest in the youth services building at 401 W. Golf Road in Mount Prospect. In November, voters authorized the township to sell the property.
DiMucci Cos., a real estate development firm, sought to buy the property and potentially use the 25,000-square-foot lot to improve traffic flow in and out of the neighboring Golf Plaza II shopping center. The firm owns the shopping plaza located east of the youth services building, as well as open land to the south and west.
The property was appraised at $245,000 and the township could decide whether to accept bids on the property during a meeting Feb. 27, Sweeney said.
The township will be mailing postcards to voters with information about the hearing and vote Jan. 30, Sweeney.
"We want people to be there," he said. "We don't want to fly under the radar."