Vote on Elburn drug treatment center delayed
Deciding whether to allow a drug rehabilitation center in an Elburn mansion has again been delayed.
This time, it's due to a question raised Tuesday about the legal status of the land.
Trustee William Grabarek discovered last weekend, while researching ownership of the Great Lakes Leadership Campus at 526 N. Main St., that in 1995 the village board approved a planned-unit development ordinance for the site. At the time, Fellowship Deaconry owned it. The religious group was seeking permission to subdivide the property and build new buildings on part of it.
The property includes a 120-year-old mansion with 19 rooms.
Fellowship Deaconry bought it in 1950 and used it as a convalescent center and a youth home catering to German immigrants. SonLife Ministries bought it in 1997 and used it as an educational retreat center. It also rented the mansion to other groups.
SonLife sold it in 2006 to Great Lakes Church of God, which also used it as a retreat center.
Miami Beach Holistic Addictions Treatment Center LLC wants to buy it and open a 40-bed center. It needs a special use permit because the land is zoned residential. The plan commission recommended the permit in April, over the protests of some residents, who have spoken out at village board meetings since. Some are concerned about traffic impact on an adjacent neighborhood. Many, however, say having a drug-treatment center near homes and the Elburn and Countryside Community Center, is unsafe, and will cause property values to drop.
The board was scheduled Tuesday to decide whether to grant the permit; whether to extend the deadline for making such a decision; or whether to conduct an economic impact study of the center, including effect on nearby property values.
If the PUD ordinance is still in effect, the village would have to rescind or amend that ordinance to allow drug treatment as a use. That would likely result in more public hearings.
President Jeff Walter said he expects attorneys will have an answer for the board at its next meeting Sept. 18.
That's three days past a deadline for voting on the permit application. Village code says if the board doesn't vote on a special use request within six months, the request is automatically denied.