Palatine approves second senior facility this month

The Palatine village council recently approved plans for yet another senior community facility, this one for residents with Alzheimer’s disease or forms of dementia.

The Mia’s Nursery and existing structures at 894 N. Quentin Road will be razed to make way for the three-story CRL Senior Living Communities building, which will feature 75 units and between 85 and 100 beds.

The company operates similar facilities in McHenry and Morton Grove and another 12 in Wisconsin.

Earlier this month, Palatine officials gave the go-ahead to the 168-unit Reserve at Twin Lakes independent senior living residence in what’s now Hotel Bollero at 920 E. Northwest Highway.

Increased demand for senior care is expected as Palatine’s 65-and-over residents, currently 11 percent of the village’s population, ages.

Concerns over security, parking, privacy and water buildup at the CRL building were put to rest after a lengthy discussion by council members.

Michael Samuels, general counsel for the operator, said the facility is manned 24 hours a day with a front desk attendant from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and overnight security the rest of the time.

And due to their condition, residents won’t be permitted to have their own vehicles on site. The company agreed to find an area business to provide room for overflow parking on popular visiting days such as holidays.

The water flow from the site was redesigned so it no longer goes into a nearby creek.

Samuels also outlined modified plans to install more screening between the facility’s backyard and the homes on Franklin Avenue to the west. He said that in addition to a wrought-iron fence, 24 arbor vitae will be planted in a single row.

Despite assurances the hedges would be separated by just six inches and grow to be 14 feet tall, Councilman Aaron Del Mar wasn’t immediately convinced that a couple neighbors would have adequate privacy.

But Samuels reiterated the importance of not “walling in” a population with dementia.

“I think they have to be good neighbors and people have to be reasonable,” Samuels said. “To wall these people in, I don’t think that is fair to them.”

Del Mar finally got on board when he realized that a solid board-on-board fence already spans the Franklin Avenue backyards.