Land near Glen Ellyn eyed by senior housing developers
Developers want to build a one-story, 46-unit, 65-bed senior housing complex on a site that would be incorporated into Glen Ellyn.
The complex would provide both assisted living and care for patients with memory disorders on the west side of Park Boulevard between Abruzzo Lane and Butterfield Road, according to a proposal by RJ Development that will come before the village's architectural review and plan commissions this week. It would neighbor Arden Courts of Glen Ellyn, which also offers memory care.
"There's a demand in the area for these type of services," said Planning and Development Director Staci Hulseberg, noting the opening last year of Autumn Leaves, where Alzheimer's and dementia patients live on the other side of town. "We've been seeing them pop up more and more."
A few years ago, developers eyed the site to build senior residences, but that project fell through over a dispute about how to get into the property from a stretch of Park Boulevard owned by DuPage County. Those developers sought full access for drivers, but the county wanted to limit it, Hulseberg said.
RJ Development is asking that drivers be allowed to make right turns in and out, as well as left turns exiting onto Park Boulevard.
The county's division of transportation has to first sign off on a permit allowing a drive from Park Boulevard before RJ Development could secure permits from the village to construct the 33,937-square-foot building.
"It looks like the county is generally on board with what they're proposing," Hulseberg said.
To make way for construction, three small, existing buildings owned by a network of churches would be torn down on the nearly four-acre property next to the Village Theatre Guild and east of Glenbard South High School.
"We do not anticipate the development having an impact on Glenbard South," Glenbard High School District 87 spokeswoman Peg Mannion said in an email Monday.
Village planners also have found no hot-button issues in the plans. Developers are seeking a few exceptions from village code, including building a 10-foot-tall fence in lieu of the 6-foot height allowed.
"They've been very responsive to the village's questions," which have been mainly focused on traffic into the facility, Hulseberg said.
The three buildings that would be demolished are scattered across the unincorporated land. One used to house administrative offices for the Great Lakes Church of God, now based in Elburn. Administrative Bishop Ron Martin said the church is helping the users of a second building, a "very small congregation" called New Beginning Ministries, move elsewhere in DuPage.
The architectural review and plan commissions will meet Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, at the Glen Ellyn Civic Center, 535 Duane St.
After those panels give nonbinding opinions on the project, the village board could get its say in late July or early August.
If trustees approve the plans, construction likely would begin in the fall.