Dan Rose and Justin Ozinga hold Press Conference: 'Closed for Business,' Frankfort’s Leadership is Driving Away Development

On Thursday, February 27, 2025, at 10 AM, Daniel Rose of The Gardens of Frankfort modern manufactured housing development and Justin Ozinga, candidate for Mayor of Frankfort, held a press conference at Sensō, located at 3 N. White St., Frankfort, IL 60423. 

Daniel Rose spoke about his family's long history of developing manufactured housing on land adjacent to Frankfort, dating back 30 years. His father, Mike Rose, co-developed the successful Gateway manufactured housing community in the 1990s before enduring a lengthy legal battle with the Village of Frankfort to develop what is now the proposed site for The Gardens of Frankfort. That battle culminated in a 2003 Will County Court ruling granting the Roses their zoning rights to proceed with the project and verified this development was an extension of the Gateway development. This ruling also recognized that as part of the Gateway housing development, the Roses had paid for water and sewer capacity in the Village of Frankfort that was to extend across the street to the Gardens of Frankfort. 

However, despite assurances from Mayor Keith Ogle—known by many as "Controlling Keith"—after his 2021 election that he would not be an obstacle to securing water and sewer access, the Roses have faced years of deliberate roadblocks, costly delays, and bureaucratic obfuscation under his administration.

During the press conference, Dan Rose exposed the dysfunction and lack of transparency within Village Hall. His investigation into the local government revealed that Mayor Ogle tightly controls the flow of information, often withholding key details from his own Trustees. In a stunning revelation, at least two Trustees recently admitted they had never even heard of The Gardens of Frankfort development until Rose personally informed them—despite the issue having consumed village resources and taxpayer dollars for years. Rose emphasized that the obstacles they faced were not just bureaucratic inefficiencies but the result of a deliberate effort by the mayor to stifle growth and progress in the village.

His experience mirrored that of Justin Ozinga, who, with the mayor’s initial encouragement, had invested substantial time and at great financial expense into developing a much-needed luxury boutique hotel in downtown Frankfort, only to discover that Ogle had been deceptive about his support despite the project comporting with the Village’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan. Ultimately, the project was killed because the mayor’s wife preferred the lot remain "a green space." "Apparently the Mayor’s wife decides what gets approved in this town,” stated Justin Ozinga. 

Justin Ozinga took the podium to discuss his campaign for mayor and his commitment to making Frankfort a place where businesses can thrive. In talking to other developers and business owners, Ozinga repeatedly heard the same message: "Frankfort is closed for business!" The village’s reputation for being hostile to businesses has driven entrepreneurs and investors to neighboring towns, including the much-beloved Frankfort KidsWork Children’s Museum, which was forced to relocate to New Lenox in the summer of 2024 after Mayor Ogle refused to even grant them a hearing about personnel concerns. Ozinga emphasized that Frankfort needs new leadership that is transparent, accountable, and genuinely committed to serving the community. "The time has long since passed for Frankfort to have new, transparent leadership that doesn’t treat its own residents, businesspeople, and taxpayers as 'second-class citizens,'" Ozinga declared at the press conference. With a clear vision for a more open and business-friendly Frankfort, he reaffirmed his commitment to leading the village in a new direction.

“There is no trust at the top of Frankfort leadership right now, they’re not speaking to each other, there are decisions being made in closed-door rooms and when developers come to Frankfort and want to get a project approved, it is decided by the mayor or the village administrator on their own volition. The trustees never find out about these projects and the residents never find out about these projects. Just this past year everyone’s taxes went up, mostly by over a thousand dollars… the only way to get that down is to bring in more businesses that help offset those taxes and Frankfort doesn’t want that apparently they want the town to apparently die off! I started talking to national developers that are all over the place and the word on the street is that Frankfort is closed for business!” – Mayoral Candidate, Justin Ozinga

View a news cut of the press conference here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zhul7sSOik