Lake in the Hills considers new rules for group homes

Lake in the Hills officials are considering changing village code to allow group homes for people with disabilities as a permitted use for up to five residents and a conditional use for anything above in residential areas.

A public hearing on the proposed text amendments is at 7:30 p.m. July 13 before the village planning and zoning commission.

Village ordinance now allows group homes only as a conditional use for up to eight residents in residential areas. However, a "family dwelling" with five unrelated people without disabilities living together is a permitted use.

The current ordinance is not in line with the Federal Fair Housing Act because it treats group homes differently than family dwellings, Community Development Director Dan Olson wrote in a recent memo to the village board.

"We want to make it fair how we treat (people with disabilities)," Olson said Tuesday. "This zoning amendment deals with the whole village. We will probably create two categories ... make it a permitted use for up to five residents, and over five residents would be a conditional use."

The change was prompted by a request from a McHenry County nonprofit social service agency, Pioneer Center for Human Services, which is seeking to house four developmentally disabled clients with autism in an existing Lake in the Hills home.

"The residents would be fairly independent and would not require 24-hour assistance, just some additional staff support," Olson wrote in his memo. "The home is owned by McHenry County and was purchased in 2014 through the Federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The county intends to donate the home to the agency."

Olson said the McHenry County agency has group homes in Crystal Lake, Lakewood, Marengo and Woodstock. Neighboring Algonquin also allows group homes, he added.

"We had to address the zoning ordinance first to make sure we are treating group homes the same as (other homes)," said Olson, adding that it is similar to regulations for group homes in Woodstock.

The planning and zoning commission's recommendation on the proposed text amendments will go before the village board's committee of the whole for approval July 21.