Mount Prospect to pay $315,000 to settle litigation over downtown property

Mount Prospect will pay the descendants of one of the village's pioneers $315,000 to resolve a four-year legal dispute over ownership of a 1,800-square-foot property once used as a private alley in the downtown's "Busse triangle."

The alley once served businesses in the triangle, which is bounded by Northwest Highway, Busse Avenue and Main Street.

The land originally was owned by John Meyn, the village's first blacksmith. Meyn subdivided his property in 1931 and deeded the private alley to a family trust in 1947.

Over the years, the surrounding lots were sold. In 1979 and 1980, according to court documents, Cook County decided to assign 7.5-foot sections of the alley to six adjacent parcels and levied property taxes on them.

The village eventually acquired all six of those parcels, but a title company later discovered that the Meyn family had never relinquished the alley.

In 2019, the village took legal action against the trust to take ownership of the alley. The village argued that alley served no purpose and impeded redevelopment.

But the trust filed a counterclaim, seeking compensation. Attorney Riccardo DiMonte said at the time that the village was trying to take the trust's property without paying for it.

Mount Prospect officials said the settlement allows the village to use the property for critical public parking spaces and avoid the time, expense and uncertainty of a trial.

"I think all of us agree that we needed to get past this," village Trustee William Grossi said. "The title to the alley will be in the village. And it removes all cloud on title that existed within the triangle, so we can move forward and not worry about this in the future."

"It's a fair and reasonable cost based on the value of similar properties downtown," Trustee John Matuszak added.