Campton Hills rehab center vote nears as survey results trickle in
Only one in three households in Campton Hills is opposed to a drug treatment facility planned for a former boys school, according to Village President Patsy Smith’s interpretation on a village postcard survey conducted in December.
The village mailed out 3,780 postcards with the December monthly newsletter in an effort to gauge the community’s opinion on the Kiva Recovery Center, a 96-bed facility proposed for the 120-acre site formerly home to the Glenwood School on Silver Glen Road.
Smith said of the 1,605 postcards that were returned, 1,214 of responses opposed the plan.
While some could view that as nearly 76 percent being opposed to Kiva, Smith said the 1,214 postcards in opposition is only 32.1 percent of overall households in the village.
“It’s clearly not the majority of households,” she said. “Thirty-two percent of our households are opposed to it and the remainder don’t care or support it.”
Residents opposed to Kiva have discounted the survey as unreliable and have asked that trustees authorize a villagewide referendum to be put on the April ballot.
Trustees will meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Bell Graham Elementary School, 4N505 Fox Mill Blvd., to consider and possibly vote on the plan.
Trustees also have hired a certified appraiser to conduct a market analysis of Kiva’s possible effects on nearby homes. An analysis by a firm hired by Kiva concluded the recover center would not hurt property values and the village’s firm, MaRous & Co., came to the same conclusion after considering a number of factors, along with a youth campus in suburban Park Ridge as a case study.
“It is my opinion that the annexation and approval of a special use for the Kiva Recovery Center will not have a measurable negative impact on either the character or the property values of the adjoining residential uses,” wrote certified appraiser Michael MaRous in his report, which is posted on the village’s website. “The proposed use provides certainty, including ongoing quality maintenance as opposed to vacant neglected property.”
Kiva opponents have argued that the facility would hurt property values, be bad for the village’s image, overburden ambulance services and pose a safety risk if recovering addicts leave the property.
The plan received unanimous approval from the village’s plan commission in November, but village trustees have the final say.