Protesters push Arlington Hts. to settle housing suit
About 70 supporters of proposed housing for people with mental illness demonstrated Monday night at the Arlington Heights village board meeting, asking the board to settle a lawsuit filed after trustees rejected zoning changes for the project two years ago.
The protesters said the suit in federal court has cost the village $206,000 so far, and the board should allow construction of the apartments.
To highlight the legal costs, members of the group named Good Neighbors Campaign pinned simulated paper money to themselves and presented a box of the bills to Village Attorney Jack Siegel and an oversized “blank check” to Village Manager William Dixon.
The check is designed to show “the virtually endless amount of taxpayer dollars the village will spend should the case go to trial,” the group said in a statement.
The village board refused by a 4-3 vote in May 2010 to allow the variances required for the 30 apartments called Boeger Place to be built on slightly less than an acre in the north part of the village just south of Dundee Avenue and east of Arlington Heights Road. A federal lawsuit was filed the same year charging the village violated fair housing laws.
The protesters started making noise Monday by waving their paper “money” when the Rev. Adam Berndt of Our Savior's Lutheran Church got up to speak on their behalf. But the noise stopped immediately when Village President Arlene Mulder said, “We'll not have noise while someone is speaking; that's rude.”
Berndt disputed the village's argument that Boeger Place was rejected strictly according to zoning laws. He said a week ago the board approved variances for a for-sale 16-unit development that Berndt said is at least as dense as the proposed apartments when the number of bedrooms is considered.
The village apparently allows “a huge exemption to the zoning code for people without disabilities,” said the minister.
After the demonstration the Rev. Jeffrey Phillips of St. John United Church of Christ said “our advisers suggested that we take them (village officials) out of their comfort zone. It was a pretty unusual action.”
Siegel, the only municipal official who spoke during the meeting, said he has requested that the suit be dismissed, and if it is not, the case will go to trial. He has said in the past that Arlington Heights officials do not comment during litigation.
Siegel and Robin Ward, assistant village attorney, said they did not know how much the village has spent so far. Siegel said any total would include costs such as court reporting as well as legal fees.
On May 7 approximately 200 people with the campaign presented trustees what they said were 2,000 signatures demanding the board allow the project to be built. The group asked trustees to meet with representatives, but they refused, said Judith Royal, a leader of the group.
Mulder said after the meeting that the protesters' “hearts are in the right place. They have every right to do what they're doing, that's fine; they are showing their concern.”