OP_092718

4 | September 27, 2018 | The orland park prairie NEWS
opprairie.com
Village of Orland Park Board of Trustees
Consultant: ‘Orland Park could become a thriving sports hub’
Feasibility of new
athletic facility, more
discussed
Jon DePaolis
Freelance Reporter
Village of Orland Park
Board of Trustees members
didn’t just go through another
walk in the park on Sept.
17. They may down the line
vote to build a new park for
sports after listening to a
report on possible improvements
to John Humphrey
Complex and the feasibility
of developing a new athletic
facility.
D.J. Wabick, of Kreshmore
Group — the consultant
the Village contracted
with to analyze three of Orland
Park’s existing sports
facilities, and to investigate
the economic impact and
market demand for construction
of a new athletic complex
— delivered the report
to the board members.
Kreshmore focused on
four factors at Centennial
Park, Cachey Park and John
Humphrey Complex to see
what upgrades and merits
there were to renovating and
expanding these facilities
with a $500,000 budget in
place. The factors were: the
current quality of the facilities;
the current residential
rental policies; the current
usage rates; and the current
footprint at each facility.
Seeking tournaments
“With those four points in
mind, all three agreed upon
complexes are in need of
facility upgrades,” Wabick
said. “Both Centennial and
Humphrey need fencing replaced;
backstops upgraded
on their baseball and softball
fields; and all three facilities
are in need of playing surface
upgrades.”
Wabick said the current
residential rental and scheduling
policy “puts serious
constraints on the ability for
the Village to bring in thirdparty
events with the goal
of creating outside spending
within the Village.
“Third-party organizations,
especially in the peak
of a season, will pay top dollar
for sole facility usage on
a given weekend, which will
be between $80-$150 per
game slot, depending on the
quality of the facility.”
In terms of footprint, Wabick
said Centennial was designed
with a resident-first
mindset, as evidenced by the
walking paths, separation of
fields and a water park. Centennial
also has “drastically
sloped fields,” which he said
would take a lot of money to
correct.
Wabick said Cachey Park
does, however, have the
space needed to make the
upgrades and turn it into a
desired facility. But he said
the current footprint “is not
conducive for a high-traffic
facility.”
Wabick said of the three
facilities analyzed, John
Humphrey Complex was the
one with the most “sportsfirst”
footprint, with its design
layout being conducive
to hosting athletic events.
That included easy access to
amenities, such as concessions
and restrooms.
Humprhey facelift could
benefit Village
Ultimately, the Kreshmore
Group concluded that
all $500,000 would be best
suited to be put toward upgrading
John Humphrey
Complex. Some of these upgrades,
per Wabick and the
report (which was provided
on the Village’s website), included:
refurbishing fields 2
and 4 to “adult-sized fields,”
which Wabick said were
in high-demand by tournament
organizers; adding
net backstops to fields 1-4;
re-configuring fields 1 and
6 to accommodate 70-foot
baselines; eliminating Field
5; adding spectator netting
and improving new mounds,
pegs and other equipment;
and extending outfield fencing.
The Kreshmore Group
recommended the Village
keep certain weekends open
in order to attract larger tournaments
to use the facility.
Assistant Village Manager
John Keating brought
up how some of the current
field conditions in the Village
impacted the ability for
tournaments.
“A perfect example was
this weekend there was a
large tournament at Centennial,
and half of the other
part of the tournament was
based out of town — only
because they weren’t satisfied
with the field conditions
at John Humphrey,” Keating
said. “That is something that
we want to bring back to Orland
and to our facility, because
the direct and indirect
spending for a field rental for
the entire weekend is significant
— and we did not capture
[it].”
Trustee Patricia Gira said
she believes the priority
needs to remain on Orland
Park residents.
The John Humphrey Complex could get a huge overhaul in order to entice Midwest and
national sports tournaments to come to Orland Park. JEFF VORVA/22ND CENTURY MEDIA
“[Kreshmore] discussed
the fee schedules, and that
would take a lot of discussion,
because I know it took
a lot of time to get it where
it’s at,” Gira said. “Clearly,
our residents have priority.
Outside tournaments and
working with the different
groups is possible to bring
them in, but not to the detriment
of our residents.”
Mayor Keith Pekau said
he saw an opportunity with
the proposed improvements
to the John Humphrey Complex
as it related to tournaments.
“I can speak to playing in
men’s softball tournaments,”
he said. “On six fields like
this, you can run a 60-team
tournament over the weekend
— which is a lot of people
coming in. Those tournaments
go into October.
There is some opportunity
to start picking up some of
these and becoming somewhat
of a little destination.”
A new facility?
In regard to a new athletic
facility, a multi-sport complex
could be feasible on an
estimated 75 acres of available
land in the village.
Wabick said youth sports
is a multibillion dollar industry
and the Chicago area
is in a desirable geographic
region in the Midwest.
“There is little doubt that
Orland Park could become a
thriving sports hub,” Wabick
said.
The recommendation
from Kreshmore was to develop
an outdoor, eight-field
complex — all fields having
artificial turf — costing approximately
$8.5 million,
with a contingency of approximately
$850,000.
According to the report
the consultant provided,
Round it Up
A brief recap of action from the Sept. 17 meeting of
the Village of Orland Park Board of Trustees
• At the start of the meeting, Mayor Keith Pekau
recognized Sandburg senior students Carson Krol and
Aristotle Vainikos for achieving perfect 36 scores on
the ACT.
• A public hearing was held on the possible annexation
agreement of a property located at 10851 W. 167th St.
in unincorporated Cook County. The 11-acre property
would be used to construct a 21-lot subdivision with 38
duplexes. No one from the public commented on the
project.
• Board members voted 7-0 to approve the purchase
of a 2019 Ford Utility Police Interceptor from Currie
Motors of Frankfort in an amount not to exceed
$27,915. This was recommended to the board
because in August, the police department received an
award valued at $30,000 to cover the cost of up-fitting
new equipment on the inside of a police car.
Kreshmore Group estimated
that a possible Orland Park
facility could generate approximately
$9.9 million annually
in indirect economic
spending.
Trustee James Dodge said
this idea comes on the heels
of the economy moving toward
less in-store retail and
more entertainment uses.
“When this idea [of developing
a new athletic complex]
came up, it seemed
like a pretty good idea for us
as an organization to look at
something like [this] to go
after the tournament business,”
Dodge said. “It just
seems to me that we’re close
to two major highways,
well located and we’ve got
a lot going on in Orland for
these families to do between
games during the tournament
for the entire weekend
… and it just felt like we had
a lot of natural advantages.”
Please see board, 6