printed by the Citizens for Tinley Park group. (Courtesy Facebook)

Matt Coughlin of Tinley Park credits the power of Facebook and youth baseball with the stalling of an Ohio developer’s plan to build The Reserve, a 47-unit for-profit affordable housing development in the village’s “legacy code district” at 183^rd and Oak Park Avenue.

“It’s really amazing how the community was just brought together by this project and it went viral.” Coughlin said. “[Organizers] met as dads coaching baseball.”

The Facebook page of Citizens of Tinley Park exploded to 4,000 members within two weeks as Coughlin and others complained Buckeye Community Sixty-Nine-LP circumvented board approval for the multi-unit project. Several hundred residents attended meetings and complained the town already had plenty of affordable housing.

The episode has eroded trust of the local board, residents say.

“We’re done taking a backseat, cruising along thinking our elected officials had our best interest in mind,” said 11-year Tinley Park resident Ben Desnoyers. “If this whole development is such a great thing for community, why was it swept under the rug?” he asked.

To a packed house at the Planning Commission meeting Feb. 4, Mayor David Seaman acknowledged the zoning approval process was flawed.

“The process that was used to get to where we are probably fell short,” Seaman said. “We need to get as much input as possible on all our projects, not just this one.”

Coughlin was one of four citizens picked by Seaman to join a professional development expert and the planning staff to review the village’s development-friendly fast-track “Legacy Code.”

At issue was a tweak to the village code passed as a text amendment last fall. The vote changed zoning language for the first floor of any new buildings from “street-level commerce required” to “street-level commerce allowed.” Critics of the plan say the change allowed Buckeye to slip past zoning variances so they did not have to appear before the Village Board for final approval. Coughlin said the change in wording —presented as a way to block liquor stores and hookah shops — may possibly have been coordinated by village planning staff as part of a larger plan to sweep through the Reserve project.

At the Feb. 4 Plan Committee meeting, committee liaison Trustee Jacob Vandenberg urged the committee to put on the brakes. He claimed trustees were “excluded from information” by “back-door maneuvers that caused the entire zoning process to be circumvented.”

The proposed $16.5 million Reserve would be an 80,400-square-foot curving three-story corner complex with landscaping, solar panels and a tot-lot behind. The proposed buildings would feature mostly two- and three-bedroom units with one parking space for each unit. Monthly rents would range from $400-$1,500, according to village documents. The project would generate around $80,000 yearly in property taxes.

Tinley Park Mayor David Seaman speaks at a Feb. 2 Village Board meeting. (Courtesy Village of Tinley Park)

The Illinois Housing Development Authority awards low-income housing tax credits that can be sold on the open market. Developers, like Columbus, Ohio-based Buckeye Community Hope Foundation, use the funds to finance construction.

Buckeye Vice President of Business Development David Petroni at the Feb. 2 Village Board meeting said the company had already invested “hundreds of thousands of dollars in the project.” He said the project “precisely complied” with legacy code zoning. Petroni said the code required high-end finishes and materials, and the company would employ 60 workers during construction.

The audience jeered when Petroni asserted that first-floor business offices and laundry facilities for the project qualified as “commercial use.”

Petroni said the units were meant to serve an existing population, including low-income families of several dozen local children who attended nearby schools who received free- and-reduced lunch. Literature from the company says the units would suit veterans, beginning teachers and young families.

“We’re excited to be here and we look forward to being a well-needed resource to the community,” he said.

The parcel has been an empty lot for many years. Special fast-track zoning created by Tinley Park in the early 2000s was meant to encourage development. Early plans for the intersection included a traffic circle and high-end mixed-use commercial retail with condos above, according to planning documents posted on the Citizens for Tinley Park Facebook page. Those plans never came to fruition, and the village has sought developers for the empty parcel.

Coughin said in an interview that opposition to the project was unfairly painted as Tinley Park residents opposing low-income residents.

“We have lots of affordable housing here. The developer’s motive is money at the end of the day.”

Trustee Jacob Vandenberg also said Feb. 4 his objections were to the zoning process, not the proposed residents of the Reserve.

“We are a diverse community that welcomes all. We provide services and housing for working-class families on a regular basis,” he said.

The Plan Commission voted Feb. 4 to table the project indefinitely until they knew whether zoning procedure had been properly followed.

Meanwhile, the Citizens of Tinley Park Facebook page is organizing a showing in the Tinley Park Irish Parade. Buttons have been minted, yard signs purchased and door-to-door distribution of 1,000 fliers is being coordinated.

“We’re building community involvement,” Desnoyers said. “The more transparency the better.”

— Tinley Park affordable housing flap ignites new community engagement —