Bartlett considers memory care facility on Route 59
Developers hoping to build a memory care facility on half of a 10-acre site in Bartlett have outlined nearly a dozen options for what to do with the rest of the property.
Trustees in February told Virgina-based Artis Senior Living to come back to the board with their vision for the other half of the lot on Route 59, just south of Apple Valley Drive.
Representatives released this week a wish list of 11 possible uses they say won't interfere with the one-story, 72-unit living facility on the southwest corner of the site. Artis' goal is to sell off the remaining five acres. Their desirable neighbors include: single-family homes, offices, medical and dental clinics, retailers and nursing homes.
“Right now, they don't have anybody interested in it, but they would like to proceed on … their project, which is a nice, memory care facility that's needed in the community,” Community Development Director Jim Plonczynski said.
Officials questioned whether Artis would move to the easternmost portion of the property. As the plans stand now, the facility would front Route 59.
“This is a pretty prime real estate for retail,” Mayor Kevin Wallace said.
But representatives say Artis wants that visibility.
Trustees were generally receptive of the senior living facility, geared toward patients with Alzheimer's and other memory disorders. On Tuesday, the board forwarded designs to the village's planning commission. The village could attach certain rules to an ordinance approving the facility shaping what happens to the other five acres. For instance, Bartlett could require a traffic study.
“The uses may be fine, but access is a whole separate issue,” village attorney Bryan Mraz said. “And I don't know if those uses listed could survive on a shared drive” with the Artis building.
The land, sandwiched between Living Lord Lutheran Church to the south and commercial offices to the north, has sat vacant for years.
The village backed senior housing on the land about five years ago, but the project died in the recession.
“I know it's been the desire of the board to have something there for a long time,” Trustee Michael Camerer said. “Perhaps a senior facility is not that high on the list … I personally see it as a need in our society that needs to be fulfilled someplace.”