Bears stadium plans draw excitement, caution from Arlington Heights trustee candidates

From excitement to calls for a referendum — with a measure of caution in between — views vary among the Arlington Heights village board candidates on the possibility of the Bears building a stadium in town.

Eight candidates are running, with only four trustee positions on the ballot in the April 1 election. Early voting is set to begin Monday.

Here is a summary of the opinions expressed during recent interviews with the Daily Herald Editorial Board:

Jim Bertucci, the only incumbent trustee in the race, said he would ensure that any financing tools used as part of a Bears-to-Arlington Park deal, such as tax increment financing or a so-called Payments in Lieu of Taxes, would have a net return back to residents in the form of sales, property, hotel, ticket and parking tax revenues. “We will continue to move forward and make sure that the residents are not being taken advantage of, but we would also be remiss if we didn’t take a look at this opportunity,” Bertucci said. “That doesn’t mean we’re going to give away the store.”

Martin Bauer, one of the early critics of possible Bears public subsidies three years ago, said village officials — particularly Mayor Tom Hayes — “were a little bit too excited” about the Bears coming to town initially, and Bauer believes that caused some of the challenges the deal ran into. He said it’s clear the possible redevelopment will require a public-private partnership and agreement around infrastructure, but he maintains the financial risk must lie with the Bears and not residents. Bauer renewed his call for a local referendum for voters to decide if the Bears project should happen.

Argie Karafotias is one of the founding members of Touchdown Arlington, the pro-Bears-to-Arlington Heights business coalition that formed in 2023. He believes the group’s lobbying efforts at village and school board meetings led to the December 2024 memorandum of understanding that resolved a protracted property tax dispute between the Bears and schools. Karafotias said he supports the Bears move for the “tremendous” revenue possibilities, but added that the redevelopment has to make sense for the residents and village. “If it doesn’t make sense, we’re not going to move forward.”

Colin Gilbert described the Bears as a “customer” who wants to invest in Arlington Heights, and he said he hopes to be a partner with the NFL club to help shape redevelopment of the prospective non-stadium acreage “not in any sort of power position, but in a position of, let’s try to get this done together.” He vowed to be a strong voice for residents and let the team know “what we need, what we expect and what we hope to happen,” he said. “But I really want this to start being a happy time in Arlington Heights. I think we should get excited about the Bears coming here. I think we should get excited about this development.”

Bill Manganaro said a deal to bring the Bears to the village has to be a fiscal net positive, and the team has to be “good neighbors.” But pending studies on traffic and other impacts, they “haven’t put enough in front of us for the board to be able to assess whether it’s a good deal or not,” he said. Manganaro supports the property tax break concept the Bears had lobbied for in Springfield, but also thinks the Arlington Park site should move up to its fully assessed rate for property taxes as quickly as possible “so that it can be a productive contributor, like the rest of our good neighbors,” he said.

Michele Hunter says she’s “pro Bears” development, as the NFL has unique funding opportunities and capabilities that other developers don’t, and doesn’t want the village to be “overly prescriptive” in potentially stopping a project that would benefit the town. At the same time, Hunter said she also wants to protect downtown Arlington Heights businesses. “We want to protect the local flavor, the mom and pop feel. We don’t want to create at Arlington Park Arlington Heights 2.0.” Still, she said she believes “there’s enough to go around.”

Greg Zyck said he would push against any plan that isn’t a “financial win,” hinders the downtown or improperly manages traffic. He acknowledged that any developer of the sprawling property would ask for help with infrastructure, such as roads, sewers and electricity, and there will be increased costs for police and fire protection and other services. “But the expenses that we have coming out have to be outmatched by the property tax, sales taxes, water taxes, different things like that. It has to be, financially, at the least, a win situation for the village. My gut tells me it probably will be, but it has to be,” he said.

Carina Santa Maria said the village board and staff were “forward thinking” in crafting an overlay zoning district for the 326-acre property in 2021 that guides what uses are and are not allowed there. She called for studies on infrastructure, environmental impact and market impact on how a Bears mixed-use district could affect the downtown. She said she thinks there will be different audiences going to each location, but wants “to have the data to make sure.”