Brian Slodysko, TribLocal reporter
Woodridge and Downers Grove Community High School District 99 spent more than a combined $1.56 million in legal fees in dispute over land according to figures provided by the village and the school district.
Woodridge spent about $800,000, according to Peggy Halik, the assistant village administrator, which went to village attorney Tom Good, and the law firm Schirott and Luetkehans. About $760,000 came out of District 99 coffers for the litigation, which went to pay the law firm DLA Piper and the district’s attorney Franczek Radelet.
“Obviously it’s a lot of money,” District 99 Controller Mark Staehlin said of the legal costs. But Staehlin said the amount the district actually recouped by fighting for a higher sale price covered all the legal expenses incurred by the district.
The legal dispute started six years ago and recently closed when District 99 school board members decided not to challenge an Illinois Appellate Court ruling giving Woodridge the right to purchase a vacant 45-acre parcel of district property.
Woodridge had initially offered about $10 million to purchase the property, while the district maintained the value was as high as $20 million. The Illinois Appellate Court ruled in July that the village’s use of eminent domain to purchase the property adjacent to the village’s governmental center was legal.
District 99 once planned to build a third high school on the land, but did not have immediate plans for it. Under an agreement with the school district, Woodridge had used the site, on the east side of Woodridge Drive and north of 75th Street, through the years for various outdoor recreational programs and festivals.
In total, the two sides spent around six years tied up in litigation after Woodridge filed an eminent domain suit. By taking the matter to court the school district was able to boost the sale price to $14.2 million. And the interest accrued while that money sat in an escrow account as the matter was argued in court was enough to cover legal expenses, Staehlin said.
Staehlin said as much as $200,000 was spent by the district early on, in a battle with Woodridge over zoning of the property. He said Woodridge was trying to zone the parcels for single family use in an attempt to force down the property value.
When asked for comment Peggy Halik, the assistant village administrator for Woodridge said she wanted to move beyond the dispute and didn’t want to focus on the he-said-she-said of the matter.
“All I will say is that they marketed the property in the Wall Street Journal,” Halik said. “People can interpret that.”
School officials say the district started marketing the land merely as a way to gauge its value.
Staehlin said the legal costs were spread out over a six year period, which reduced the impact on current cash-strapped budgets. The district intends to use the sale money for construction projects.
The district, which operates both Downers Grove North and South, acquired the land in 1966 with the intent of building a third district high school or athletic fields. Those plans were abandoned after three failed referendums.
