As the City of Park Ridge continues to negotiate stormy financial seas with an economically rudder-less City Council, watching the folks over at 505 Butler Place waste even $25,000 is no fun.
Which is why a recent article in the Herald-Advocate (“Planning and Zoning Commission: “Long-range plan has offices, townhouses along Higgins,” February 1) about the Planning and Zoning Commission (“P&Z”) spending $50,000 on a “long-range plan” for the Higgins Corridor annoys us, even though $25,000 of that amount purportedly came from some kind of grant.
One reason for our annoyance is that it sounds like this “long-range plan” is just more activity without achievement, the typical result of far too many consultants’ studies we’ve seen. In this case, the likely uselessness of the work product from two of the City’s “usual suspect” consultants, Camiros Ltd. and Valerie S. Kretchmer Associates, Inc., was effectively conceded by Camiros’ principal consultant, Jacques Gourgechon, who admitted that the plan they proposed “is a reach, there’s no question about it.”
The stupidity of this way of proceeding, however, is highlighted by the fact – as reported in the H-A article – that the City’s adoption of this new Higgins Corridor “plan” would make it part of the City’s 1996 comprehensive plan, but potential developers are not obligated to follow it.
So what’s the point?
What we’ve seen repeatedly in Park Ridge and in other communities is the simple fact that, despite whatever grand designs government bureaucrats and politicians can muster, the person paying the bill – a/k/a, the “developer” – is the one that ends up pretty much calling the tune. Which is why, for example, the Uptown complex is effectively six (6) stories even though the “plan” that the Uptown Advisory Task Force devised back in 2000-01 called for only five (5) story structures.
This current exercise in stupidity also ends up costing the City not only the $25,000 it donated to Camiros and Kretchmer to match the grant funding, but also the time and effort P&Z and City staff already has sunk into it, and is continuing to sink into it.
But if anyone needs one more reason to be skeptical about this kind of governmental exercise, one need look no further than the comment from Carrie Davis, the City’s director of community development, who claims the purpose of the plan “is to explore opportunities to create a more vibrant southern gateway to Park Ridge.”
When bureaucrats start using the term “vibrant” in describing some project or another, you can be pretty sure the project already is being set up to cost the taxpayers a bundle.
Meanwhile, the hired-gun consultants like Camiros and Kretchmer just keep diddling away on the public dole.
14 comments so far
“townhouses along Higgins”, brilliant. Build more residential density under an O’hare flight path. Brilliant.
10:52:
I understand your comment, but I think you are forgetting one thing. It is not as if there is a long list of things to choose from. How about we just let it sit there with nothing on it??
This weekend I heard some discussion by residents about the proposed new Chase Bank going in. It was the usual, “why do we need so many banks?” I apologized for listening in, but asked what else is there we have to choose from for that spot??? Zippo!!!!!
medical centers
hotels
malls/shopping centers
big box stores
office buildings
warehouses
banks
garages
anon on 02.15.10 12:44 pm, keep telling yourself you don’t have choices besides more residential.
The ONLY thing that should be OFF the table for Higgins road is RESIDENTIAL!!!!
We don’t need no more stinking residential, especially multi-family. Condos and townhouses are the absolutely lowest hanging fruit, and they take more away from the community than they contribute, unless you think we’d be better off with even more people crammed into our packed area.
the name “gourgechon” sounded familiar, so i looked around and discovered that he was one of the zoning code rewrite consultants back in 2007. what does this guy, or camiros, have on the city of park ridge that they keep getting all these assignments?
12:546:
One of us is missing something. Either you missed the point of my post or I have completely missed the amazing amount of interest in developing that space. If that is the case I will offer mty apology. Are you telling me that there nare people and/or developers who have an interest in building all of the wonderful things on your list???
anon on 02.15.10 1:35 pm, you’re missing something. I hate to even guess what that is. You said “It is not as if there is a long list of things to choose from.” I listed things to choose from. There are developers interested in building some of those things. I accept your apology. Are you telling me there are developers who have said they want to build townhouses on Higgins so we don’t have any choice? If that is the case I will offer my apology.
1:51:
If what you say is true, you have my humble apology. I guess all I can say is that I have heard and read all this jibberish about development simce moving here. Higgins is an example, or the car dealer/CVS fiasco, or the Baileys fiasco. People scream about all the things they do not want. Than is fine but guess what? I have not lived here as long as most of you……but there is still no development on Higgins and the old car dealer is still empty (although not a Pharmacy). So where exactly is all this interest in building all these things you mention??
The folks who I heard this weekend talking about a bank at Greenwood and Busse do not like the idea. That is all well and good, but as far as I can tell there is not a single other developer or business who is interested in doing anything there.
Anon 2/15 at 2:04 p.m.
From what I hear around town, there is a decent amount of “interest” in developing various properties in Park Ridge, but the prices being asked by the owners aren’t “realistic” (according to the developer community).
Does that mean the city should step in? I don’t think so, which is why I also question the value of the Camiros/Kretchmer work and the effort being spent by city staff and P&Z.
As PW asks: “What’s the point?”
Hoover:
Far from an expert here but it seems to me that if developers are not willing to pay what people are asking there is not a decent amount “interets”. I mean I have decent amount of “interest” in new house for sale near Uptown but there is not a shot in hell I am going to pay anywhere near what they are asking.
It seems to me a decent amount of interest is defined in part as when the asking price versus the perceived value is at least in the same neighborhood. One might argue decent interest could even include multiple developers having interest in the same property.
On the continuum of interest, it would appear we are a hell of a lot closer to “no interest” than to “decent interest”.
Anon 1:54, you are dead right. Commercial property (warehouses, office buildings) is in the garbage; any glance at any newspaper would tell that. Hotels are already a modest presence in the area; don’t know how they’re doing but probably not gangbusters, given the offloading of employees as recreational and business travel stay in the loo. Shopping centers and big-box stores don’t want to be there; many efforts were made by several parties who are not nincompoops to interest big-box and shopping center retailers and developers and they all said Park Ridge is served nicely by Old Orchard, Woodfield, the mall up on Touhy toward Skokie, whatever it’s called, where the Barnes and Noble or Border’s we tried to get is housed. The big-name retailers we want see us as an affluent island in a blue-collar stream, if there actually were such things as blue-collar jobs anymore. So no dice.
Any other ideas?
How about a water park? Just kidding, PubDog Dear!
Regarding what “should” be built along the Higgins corridor or any other place in Park Ridge, let the market decide — within our elected government’s zoning regulations.
The elected government doesn’t need to spend $25,000 or any other amount of our people’s money helping someone decide whether or what to build.
Rorschach… case and point….The Uptown of Park Ridge.
Rorschach agrees.
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