Daily Herald opinion: Phillips is probably right that public money would be spent if Bears move

After incoming Chicago Bears President Kevin Warren, during his introductory news conference last week, presented hopeful if vague assurances about giving all parties what they need (their "why") in a new development at Arlington Park, we talked to outgoing President Ted Phillips, and he was not shy about providing a dose of reality: The Bears will indeed seek some sort of public assistance with the project.

Phillips was only repeating what he and Bears Chairman George McCaskey said in a community meeting in September. The Bears won't seek any kind of tax help with the development of a new stadium itself, but "we do know that without infrastructure support and property tax certainty, the project ... will not be able to move forward," McCaskey said. Phillips repeated the notion last week: "The idea of getting property tax certainty and getting infrastructure funding as part of a public-private partnership - anybody would need that and want that," he said.

Phillips is probably right. It's hard to see how public funds wouldn't be spent at least as a result of the project.

Phillips said the public money would be for infrastructure costs - roads, sewers, stormwater and utilities to hook up all that's being proposed at Arlington. Tax assistance from the village could come via tax increment financing that steers property tax money away from local governments or other tax mechanisms. We've certainly seen suburbs provide this kind of help with all kinds of new development (see Schaumburg), though we agree that TIFs in particular bring special problems that have to be considered and accommodated.

But even if the Bears didn't get any kind of property tax help, it certainly looks like public funding would have to be spent somewhere. We've all wondered, how would the roads surrounding the Arlington Park property handle the traffic? Drivers from the city would travel on I-90 to Route 53 to Euclid Avenue; maybe that's not terrible, though officials from Rolling Meadows (a different suburb!) have asked why IDOT isn't already addressing traffic flow at Route 53 and Euclid. How about people coming from other suburbs in all directions and flooding surrounding suburban roads? Even in Arlington Heights itself, the prospect of added traffic around downtown, even on Northwest Highway, is frightening.

Then there's public transit. As we well know with Soldier Field, public transit would help greatly; it's why stadium builder Bob Dunn, who's advising Mayor Lori Lightfoot's administration on how to revamp Soldier Field to keep the Bears in Chicago, really is envisioning a large surrounding development complete with a new transit hub.

Metra of course has an Arlington Park stop, but there's talk of adding parking, improving access with a pedestrian underpass or grade-separated crossing, and remote parking that would require Pace buses. Yet there's still no L nearby and no public transit particularly from the West and Southwest suburbs.

Let's face it: If this big development gets built, even without tax aid, public money would have to be spent. The big question would be, again, would it be worth the investment?