Arlington Heights park board approves 39-year Melas lease

The Arlington Heights Park District Board unanimously approved an agreement Tuesday that would extend its control of Melas Park until 2051.

Control of the park, which is leased from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicagoland to the Village of Mount Prospect, is split between the Arlington Heights Park District and the Mount Prospect Park District, which was expected to approve the agreement Wednesday night. The last lease on the park, agreed to in 1991, expired at the end of last May. At that time, all parties agreed to a one-year extension of the deal.

While some concerns were raised about the possibility that the Arlington Heights Park District’s control of the land could be revoked — the lease grants the MWRD the ability to terminate the lease as long as 90 days notice is given for any additions made to be removed — Steve Scholten, executive director of the park district, said there was no reason to foresee such an occurrence when detailing the 39-year agreement.

“That was an interest for all parties,” Scholten said of the almost-doubled lease period. “MWRD is proud to lease some of its land for recreational purposes, and all parties are now committed to making this land serve the recreational needs of the citizens of Arlington Heights and Mount Prospect for 39 more years.”

The park district has felt comfortable with its standing under the prior deal, investing $1.5 million in Melas Park initially and spending around $500,000 on improvements such as lights for the baseball fields, Scholten said.

And on Tuesday, the board approved spending of more than $270,000 on synthetic turf for the four baseball diamonds at Melas Park. The expenditure is part of a larger project to install artificial turf at the Melas baseball fields. Bids will be fielded for the rest of the work, the development of a base on which the turf will rest, beginning June 5.

One new provision of the agreement is the option for the MWRD or the Village of Mount Prospect to terminate the lease of only one of the park districts should they deem it necessary. In the past, any termination would have removed control from both park districts.