Votes draw near on proposed Haymarket drug treatment facility after more than two years

Opponents and representatives of a proposed substance abuse treatment center in Itasca had their final say Wednesday in front of a village committee, which will vote Sept. 22 whether to recommend allowing the facility.

After that, the issue will go to the Itasca village board for a final vote in October.

Closing arguments by lawyers for Itasca School District 10 and the Itasca Fire District, which oppose the project, and for Chicago-based Haymarket Center came more than two years after the treatment center was proposed in June 2019.

Haymarket Center is seeking to convert a former hotel building along Irving Park Road into a 240-bed facility for adult patients with substance use and behavioral health disorders. The village's plan commission has been hosting public hearings on Haymarket's proposal since October 2019.

Roughly 15 people were in the audience for the final arguments, but the meeting also was streamed online. As of Tuesday, it had 631 views.

The fire district's attorney, Stephen Dinolfo, said the proposed facility would strain the community's emergency services and accused Haymarket of trying to evade questions regarding its potential impact. Haymarket already operates a facility in Chicago's West Loop.

"They refuse to use the data that's the most comparable to what they're proposing here," Dinolfo said. "They can try to use smoke and mirrors to distract you from this, but the bottom line is that it will have a detrimental effect on the facility and everyone that the district serves."

Fire District Chief James Burke previously testified the proposed treatment center would cause a 23% percent increase in ambulance calls. He estimated the number of calls in the village could climb by 379 a year.

Haymarket leaders say they have a contract with Elite Ambulance to handle most ambulance calls. They said Elite is the second-largest private ambulance service in the state and is equipped to provide coverage. Elite currently runs about 110 calls a year for an Itasca nursing home.

The school district previously testified the facility could bring more students into the area through Haymarket's residency programs, and that each student would cost the school district up to $9,311 per new general education student and up to $55,000 or more for 18-22 year olds who are seeking a GED. Haymarket officials noted that because the Itasca facility would not offer mother-and-child services, it would have no effect on the school district.

Attorney Bridget O'Keefe testified on behalf of Haymarket, saying the process before the plan commission was unusually long and required more documentation than necessary, likely hurting Haymarket's chances.

"It has been hard hearing that we are lying and not being transparent," O'Keefe said. "These unfounded statements appear predicated on a lack of knowledge and good faith that we are trying to be a partner."

Substance abuse "is pervasive and addiction is corrosive to families, businesses and communities."