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         March 19, 2010        

Numerous appropriate sites exist
for housing suburban mentally ill

There are a virtually unlimited array of sites that are readily available, throughout the suburbs, for housing the severely mentally ill, that are far more appropriate than the location being proposed by the Housing Task Force in a remote corner of Arlington Heights that the Village has previously used to dump its other undesirable uses, such as the low income ("affordable") housing component of the Timber Court project.  The Village promised us that Timber Court would be beautifully landscaped, but instead, four years later, it is still a dump, with a huge mountain of dirt, weeds and broken debris.  Tomorrow's Rob Sherman News will be pictures of the Boeger Road neighborhood, including what Timber Court looks like today, along with the monstrous antenna tower for Spanish radio station WPPN 106.7 FM that is directly across the street from the proposed apartments for the severely mentally ill.

The first consideration of where an apartment building for the severely mentally ill should be is whether the site is close to public transportation.  If you've got transit, you can get to anything else you need.  Otherwise, the residents, most of whom don't drive, would be stranded.  The Boeger Road site is miles from the closest bus line and even farther from the closest rail line.

To substantiate my assertion in Wednesday's story that most of the prospective residents would be people who don't drive, I spoke, yesterday, to Village of Arlington Heights Development Planner Matt Dabrowski, about the proposed project.  Matt told me that the proposed building would be three stories high, house 36 beds in 30 apartments, and have a footprint of approximately 130 feet by 100 feet.  Matt said that Village Code for a building with those parameters would ordinarily require 60 parking spaces, but that the developers are seeking a waiver to allow merely 15 parking spaces.  Those spaces would consist of 3 spaces for staff, 8 spaces for visitors and just 4 spaces for the 36 residents and all others, combined. 

Thanks to Pace, Metra and our tax dollars, there are locations in or near most suburban downtowns that are close to public transportation.  Proximity to the other services identified in the Housing Task Force Vision Statement that the severely mentally ill need can follow from that.

Just in the Northwest Suburbs, there are plenty of outstanding sites which are highly suitable for this type of use, and those sites are available.  Indeed, villages are looking for development opportunities for those sites.

As an example, in Palatine, the next village west of Arlington Heights, that village wants to see a residential development in the mostly vacant large block bounded by Brockway, Wood, Bothwell and Wilson.  That location is two blocks north of Palatine Road and a block west of Plum Grove Road.  It's literally across the street from the Palatine train station on the Union Pacific Northwest Line.  It's in downtown Palatine.  Village Hall is right down the block on Wood Street.  Shopping is plentiful nearby.  Everything that the severely mentally ill would need would be easily accessible nearby.

In Wheeling, the next town northeast of Arlington Heights, there are two large land parcels on the north side of Dundee Road, on either side of Northgate Parkway.  Both are awaiting residential development.  The west parcel is adjacent to the Metra North Central Service commuter train railroad tracks.  The Wheeling train station is just one block south of there.  Pace Bus Route 234 travels right past both sites on Dundee Road.  That bus travels from Wheeling, all the way to the CTA Blue Line Harlem Avenue rapid transit train station in Chicago, after changing its Route Number from 234 to Route 209 in Des Plaines.  Same bus, no transfer, all the way to the Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line subway and elevated train. Wheeling Village Hall is a block to the east on Dundee Road.  Downtown Wheeling is a few blocks farther to the east on Dundee Road.  A large shopping center with a full service grocery store is located on the north side of Dundee Road, adjacent to the other side of the railroad tracks.  Like the Palatine site, this site has everything that the severely mentally ill would need, as contrasted with the Arlington Heights site, which has truly nothing that they need and, in addition, is complete inaccessible to all of their needs.

Then there's Mount Prospect.  That's the next village east of Arlington Heights.  Randhurst is in the process of being re-developed.  It's a huge shopping center with far more land than they know what to do with.  The company re-developing the site wants residential as part of the mix.  Bingo!  Naturally, there's lots of great shopping, there, and there's even a Jewel Food Store for their grocery store needs.  Remember that Route 234 bus from Wheeling to Des Plaines?  The mid-point of that run is none other than the Randhurst Shopping Center.  How convenient!  After leaving Randhurst, the 234 travels right through downtown Mount Prospect, including past the Mount Prospect train station on the UP/Northwest Line on its way to Des Plaines and eventually the Harlem Avenue Blue Line rapid transit station in Chicago as the Route 209 bus.  (It's the only bus that I know of that changes its Route Number in the middle of the route.)

That's just a start, without even leaving the office to explore for a suitable site.  Surely there are plenty of other great sites in other communities.

There's even a great site in Arlington Heights for the project.  That village has been struggling to come up with a workable residential concept for the former Arlington Market shopping center on Dryden, between Kensington and Miner.  This site would be truly perfect for the severely mentally ill.  Arlington Heights wants them.  It's a short walk to their downtown.  Pace Bus Route 696 travels right past the site on Kensington, and goes to, among other places, downtown Arlington Heights, the Arlington Heights train station on the UP/Northwest Line, less than five minutes away;  Harper College;  and the Randhurst Shopping Center, where they could shop or transfer to that ubiquitous Route 234 bus that I told you about earlier in this story.  Best of all, there's a brand new major grocery store (Roundy's) being built across the street on the former Lattof Chevrolet property.  The Arlington Market site would be the best of all worlds for the severely mentally ill, as contrasted with the Boeger Road site, which would be the worst of all worlds for them.  There also would be no shortage of space for parking at the former Arlington Market site, as contrast to the severe shortage of parking at the proposed Boeger Road site.

If Arlington Heights truly cares about the severely mentally ill, as they claim to, have their new home built on the site of the former Arlington Market, or refer them to one of the sites in the other nearby communities that I suggested, or find some other suitable site.  If, on the other hand, Arlington Heights is faking their compassion for the severely mentally ill, screw them royally by sticking them on Boeger Road, in a remote corner of the village and steps away from your border, where they will be stranded, hopeless and depressed.

What about a site in my own village of Buffalo Grove?  That would be fine, but there is no public transportation within miles of either Buffalo Grove Village Hall or the Buffalo Grove Town Center, which is the glorified strip mall that masquerades as our downtown.  Our train station and bus terminal are also in a remote part of town, in an industrial park.  There's no shopping or other services anywhere near by.  Not the kind of place where we'd want to put the severely mentally ill, unless we hated them as much as the promoters of the Boeger Road site seem to.

The Arlington Heights Plan Commission is supposed to hold a hearing at Village Hall on the merits of the Boeger Road project on one of the last three Wednesdays in April.  Matt says that the most likely date being April 21st.  I hope that you'll be there to offer your perspective.  I sure will be.

There still has been no response to my inquiries from the three developers of the project, Thresholds, Daveri Development and their local partner, the North/Northwest Suburban Task Force on Supportive Housing for Individuals with Mental Illness ("Housing Task Force").

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