With a Cook County panel to soon hold another hearing on a proposed vehicle repossession lot in Orland Township, township officials are studying their options for battling it.
The business is proposed for property at 17101 S. Wolf Road in unincorporated Orland Township. Asset Biz Corp. officials said the lot would have the capacity of nearly 300 vehicles, and would receive 25 to 30 cars daily.
The property had been used as a bus terminal but has been vacant for many years.
The township hired a bus for the May 7 Cook County meeting, where some township residents spoke in opposition, and Township Supervisor Paul O’Grady said a bus could be booked for the next meeting.
The ZBA continued the hearing to 11 a.m. Aug. 6.
Township Supervisor Paul O’Grady said he believed the petitioner would ask for more time, and that the next ZBA session will be pushed back.
Former Country Club Hills Mayor Dwight Welch, representing the petitioner, and Orland Park have talked in recent weeks about an alternate site, Orland Park Mayor Jim Dodge said recently.
The site in the township is adjacent to homes, and at the May 7 zoning board meeting some residents said they feared the repossession business would worsen flooding and affect property values.
Asset Biz has similar lots in Crestwood and Lyons.
The petition seeks a county permit that would allow a vehicle repossession operation that would ship vehicles back to dealers and to vehicle resellers.
Paula Pries, who lives near the site, told the Cook County Zoning Board of Appeals at its May meeting there are expensive homes to the east and west of the proposed lot, which she said was better suited for an industrial area and “not within a beautiful community setting like ours.”
The township attorney, Tiffany Nelson-Jaworski, told the audience at a recent township meeting that Orland Park is trying to find a alternate site away from homes, such as in an industrial park.
The village would like to encourage Asset Biz to find a spot within Orland Park that would come under control of the village’s planning and zoning regulations.
Should the zoning board recommend approval, Orland Township could file an objection, which would require the full Cook County Board to approve the plans by a three-quarters vote.
“That mark can be hard if it’s something controversial,” the attorney said.
Commissioner Sean Morrison, whose district includes the business property, is opposed to the plan and can possibly muster support from other commissioners if the ZBA makes a recommendation for approval, Nelson-Jaworski said.
Nelson-Jaworski, senior counsel at the Del Galdo Law Group, said that it might be possible to “get a few buses” for the next county ZBA meeting.
She urged township residents to try to attend the meetings, whenver they are held.
Let them know “that the residents of Orland Township are not OK with this development going in,” she said