Kane County drug rehab vote delayed, recommended capacity lowered
The Kane County zoning board Thursday delayed a vote on a controversial 120-bed drug treatment facility proposed for a former boys' school near the village of Campton Hills because one of its key members - Marc Falk - was absent.
The advisory board will reconvene at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21, at 530 N. Randall Road, St. Charles, to deliberate and make a recommendation to the Kane County Board, which has the final say.
Members of the zoning board did recommend some additional conditions for the private, $1,000-per-day facility, the most significant being limiting the maximum number of patients there to 75 instead of the previously discussed 96.
"Seventy-five patients is still a ton of money," said zoning board member Ann Michalsen. "I don't feel that this is going to put this business out of business.
Residents living near the former Glenwood School, 41W400 Silver Glen Road, which has been vacant since 2012, say the facility will hurt property values, put the community at risk and overburden existing emergency services for calls for recovering patients there.
The proposal from Maxxam Partners was shot down in February 2016, but officials brought the plan back late last year for consideration again in the face of a potential $68 million lawsuit against the county for failing to give "reasonable accommodations" for people with the disability of drug addiction.
Michalsen said the Kane County Board has the final say in following any conditions and recommendations that were made Thursday. The next full county board meeting after the Maxxam vote is set for March 14.