Clock ticking on unlicensed Gurnee seniors home

Gurnee Mayor Kristina Kovarik said the village will be in “an ugly position” if it is forced to close an unlicensed assisted-living facility for seniors in a residential subdivision.

Village board members this week granted a 60-day extension for Theresa's Home Care to submit correct plans in order to receive a building permit and then complete necessary upgrades.

Theresa's Home Care operates in a 6,000-square-foot, single-family house on Cunningham Court near Hunt Club Road. In January 2011, the village board approved a special-use permit on the condition the installation of indoor sprinklers and other work on the house occur within a year.

However, Kovarik said the owner waited until the last minute to seek permits for construction plans that were substantially different from what the village approved so the facility could continue operating in the Chelsey Crossing development.

Kovarik said the village will be in “an ugly position” if it has to shut down the business — resulting in the removal of residents — if construction work isn't completed and an occupancy permit issued within 60 days. She said a state assisted-living license won't be issued until the upgrades are finished.

“You have good citizens who have placed their parents in the care of this lady and she's not licensed,” Kovarik said Wednesday.

Theresa Bicok, who owns the assisted-living facility, declined to comment Wednesday. She attended Monday night's village board meeting, but didn't speak.

Officials said the facility opened in January 2009 without proper state or village permits. Theresa's Home Care became known after Gurnee paramedics were called there in May 2009 and learned it was unlicensed.

If the village board didn't grant the special-use permit to Theresa's Home Care in 2011, officials said, the Illinois Department of Public Health was prepared to issue a cease-and-desist order to the business.

Last year, Bicok and her attorney presented plans to the village board that included installation of an elevator, the indoor sprinklers and conversion of two second-floor rooms into space for a library and television viewing.

Theresa's Home Care gained permission to serve 20 to 24 clients in the facility. The village board was told at least seven residents were in the house early last year, above the state threshold of three allowed without a license.

Department of Public Health spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said Wednesday the agency has been informed by Theresa's Home Care that no residents are living at the house.

Arnold said the business has been going through the state licensing process, with the sprinkler system installation being the main remaining issue. She said the licensing effort has been “very slow.”