Members of the Citizens for Tinley Park group say their complaint is not about the race of the Reserve’s future tenants, but about a lack of transparency in the process.

The Village of Tinley Park announced June 30 it was cooperating with a Dept. of Justice investigation into Tinley Park’s handling of the controversial proposed Reserve development to be built by Ohio-based Buckeye Community Hope.

The village said it was cooperating with the DOJ to turn over any information pertaining to the proposed 47-unit affordable housing development, which was to be built at 183^rd St. and Oak Park Avenue. The project was tabled in February by the Plan Commission and has generated citizen resistance with hundreds of residents showing up at village board meetings.

“At this time, the DOJ has made no determination as to whether any violations of the Fair Housing Act have occurred,” a statement posted on the village’s website said.

The letter, from Sameena Shina Majeed, chief of the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section of the Civil Rights Division says the DOJ is investigating whether the village has stayed within the rules of the Fair Housing Act in its refusal to allow the development to proceed.

The letter said the U.S. Attorney General can begin civil actions if she believes “any person or group is engaging in a pattern or practice of housing discrimination or that any person has been denied any of the rights” granted by the act.

The DOJ letter asks for documents related to the request and approval of construction of the Reserve by Buckeye, as well as all zoning and land-use ordinances, codes and plans enacted since 2009.

The letter also asks for any documents pertaining to an amendment of the village’s Legacy Plan and Downtown Legacy Code.

Citizen activists have asserted the former village planner conspired with Buckeye to tweak the village zoning code requiring commercial space on the first floor of any development in the Legacy Code zone. In October, 2015, the zoning board voted on an ordinance to change the wording of the rules from “first floor commercial required” to “first floor commercial allowed.”

A lawsuit filed by neighbors of the proposed project and members of the group Citizens for Tinley Park asserted the code change was improperly noticed in the local legal advertisements. The ordinance was declared void and the group dropped the suit.

Buckeye sued the village in April in federal court and then filed a revised complaint in June alleging the company has asked twice for the project to be put back onto the Plan Commission agenda, but the village has not responded. The company’s offer to buy the property for the project expired June 1. The company alleges they will now have to pay more for the vacant parcel.

The DOJ letter to the village asks for paperwork pertaining to other multi-unit projects that were proposed or built since 2011 including Union Square Townhomes (179^th St. and Oak Park Ave.); Bickford Senior Living (proposed near 17^th St and 80^th Ave.); Brookside Ridge Rowhouses (proposed for 191^st Street and Magnuson Lane); Anthem Memory Care (proposed for 178^th and South Harlem Avenue) and Thomas Place senior residences (proposed for Tinley Park in 2010, but built in Orland Park).

The letter asks for documentation of any variances to the Downtown Legacy Code. The feds also ask for any documents relating to fair housing or discrimination complaints made against the village, including its elected officials or employees since 2011.

The village has until July 6 to respond to the DOJ letter.

“Village attorneys have contacted the Department of Justice and intend on cooperating with its investigation so the DOJ can review complete and accurate information prior to making its final determination,” the village’s online statement says.

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— Feds investigating Tinley Park for possible Fair Housing violations  —