By Sally Ho, Chicago Tribune reporter, June 21, 2013
After a five-hour meeting in which some residents expressed fear of having mentally ill neighbors and others pleaded for homes for their disabled adult children, the Palatine Plan Commission recommended approval of a $10.5 million housing development for people with disabilities.
Of the safety concerns, the commission's chairman, Dennis Dwyer, said: "It's based on fear rather than data."
The preliminary hearing was held June 18 to discuss Catherine Alice Gardens, a proposed 33-unit apartment building at 345 N. Eric Drive for people with mental and physical disabilities.
The 1.6-acre lot includes a warehouse that has been vacant for more than a decade, and the area is zoned for manufacturing but is adjacent to other residential homes and some commercial businesses.
Some neighbors, business owners and parents told the commission that they had concerns about safety, property values, rezoning and the long-vacant lot's proximity to the popular Illinois Shotokan Karate Club.
"We feel it would impede our businesses to have to look over our shoulder for fear there could be a pedestrian there," said John DiPasquale, owner of the karate studio. "It's unfair to the businessmen and unsafe for the residents."
Of the 150 people who attended the meeting, about two dozen speakers said they didn't support the development, while another dozen told the board about the urgent need for such housing in the village.
Some older residents gave emotional pleas saying that, should they die, they want a place for their dependent adult children to live. With sizable groups from both sides, the hearing was also at times hostile with shouting, booing and bickering among the crowd.
Commissioner Gavin Muldowney supported the proposed location, saying "it's a good use of the property, given that there's no other use."
UP Development, the Chicago-based affordable housing development company behind the proposal, offered an hourlong presentation. The session included expert testimony and statistics showing property values aren't affected by supportive housing, as well as research indicating that violence and emergency services use aren't correlated with such developments.
Jessica Berzac, the project manager, said the opponents' reactions were based on emotions, not on facts.
"This is a proven, safe, effective and wonderful solution," she said.
The proposed apartment building is billed as permanent, affordable housing that also offers residents case management services through partnerships with the Kenneth Young Center and Alexian Brothers Center for Mental Health. Case managers would check in with residents and counsel them on their independent-living goals, which might include things such as getting education or job training, or reconnecting with estranged family members. An on-site property manager would also live in the building.
If the project ultimately meets approval, adult tenants could apply for one-year apartment leases for studios, one-bedrooms or a few two-bedrooms. The admission criteria are strict, Berzac said, and would exclude those who have intensive medical needs or criminal backgrounds.
More than half of the $10.5 million housing project is expected to be paid for by federal money through tax credits, Berzac said. The three-story residential complex would have a fitness room, community room and library. Developers also touted the location as being within walking distance of the downtown Metra train station, post office, grocery store and bank.
This is the latest supportive housing project being pushed in the northwest suburbs, and the development group said it wants one in every community, despite a level of push-back that's become common with other projects. In Wheeling, developers settled a lawsuit with the village over its denial of a proposed facility there. In Arlington Heights, a lawsuit filed by the developer was dismissed, and in Mount Prospect, a similar housing development, Myers Place, recently opened.
Critics said the Arlington Heights location would be next to a karate studio full of kids, which they claimed would mean "forced interaction" with the disabled residents.
Others who lived in the area simply said they would be uncomfortable with the type of residents who would live in the facility, claiming people with mental illness could be unstable or violent. And some said the location was wrong for the proposal.
"We support the need for quality construction," said Todd Shaffer, who lives in the Cornell Commons town houses across the street from the development site. "What we're opposed to is placing people with supportive needs in an industrial zone."
Supporters, including those from within the religious community, rejected those claims as unfounded.
Although the commission voted to approve a recommendation in favor of the project to the full Palatine Village Council, Commissioner Jane Robins cast a solo dissenting vote. Robins argued against the development because the village would also lose a parcel of manufacturing space at a time when she said industry is gaining traction again.
"You are setting a precedent," Robins said.
saho@tribune.com
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/suburbs/palatine_rolling_meadows/ct-tl-palatine-catherine-alice-gardens-20130620,0,1033313.story
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