Let's stop mental health facility now

Is anybody paying attention to the Arlington Heights Village Board considering myriad code variances to convert the lot near Dundee and Arlington Heights roads from commercial to institutional?

They then are going to allow a 3-story, 36-patient residential facility for low income people who suffer from mental illnesses.

The lot is less than 1 acre (2 acres is the minimum area by code) and the village is considering variances to the number of residents allowed on a lot this size (15-18 by code; 36 by variance), how close the building can be to roads and sidewalks (30 feet by code, reduced to 12 feet by variance), how much parking is required (60 spots by code, reduced to only 15 by variance), changing the legal zoning from commercial to institutional and allowing it to not have frontage on a collector classified street, all in an effort to pack this large mental health building onto this tiny, less than 1-acre lot.

Variances aside, this residential mental health facility will only have three staff members on hand for 36 residents and they will only be there from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m., this hardly seems like adequate supervision.

This facility will also back up to a Kindercare day care center, be across the street from BG High School and within walking distance to Longfellow Elementary, Cooper Middle School and the many places that students go before, during and after school.

There will be a meeting on this matter some time in April (date yet to be determined), people need to attend this meeting in order to stop this plan before it is approved. You can also call and e-mail the mayor and village board members to express your displeasure on this proposed plan.

Paul Lee

Arlington Heights