Politics & Government

Hearing on New Senior Housing Building Thursday Night

"It is too big for this site," said resident Mike Andrews of the proposed senior housing development in Grayslake.

"Three to four stories at this location is too much," said Mike Andrews of Grayslake regarding the proposed new development  of the Mercy Housing Lakefront Senior Center.

He launched a large helium balloon on an adjacent property near Route 120 and Neville Road, on the south side of Route 120 and just west of Lake Street, across from Gray's Lake.

"When it goes straight up, this balloon is 73 feet, eight inches high, just like the clock tower of the building would be," Andrews said. "It would be the biggest monument in Grayslake."

Find out what's happening in Grayslakewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Representatives from Mercy Housing said that the building height would actually be 53 feet, only a clock tower would be higher than that.

The plans for the Mercy Housing Lakefront Senior Center will be discussed by the Grayslake Zoning Board of Appeals at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 26 at Grayslake Village Hall.

Find out what's happening in Grayslakewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The meeting will include the ZBA taking testimony of neighbors and a possible vote on the application for modifications to the Special Use Permit that would allow the 70-unit senior housing development to go in.

Andrews said the plan is too tall for the surrounding two-story residential housing units.

"Not at this location," Andrews said. "That is all we are saying. We are not against seniors at any income level. We just think this is way too big for this site."

Andrews has a website for his Grayslake Neighbors group at  http://www.GrayslakeNeighbors.com. He also has a link which he says shows the scale of the building: http://120neville.blogspot.com/2011/05/architectural-documents-presented-by.html.

Lisa Kuklinski, vice president of public affairs for Mercy Housing, said that the company owns and operates 40,000 housing units in urban and rural communities.

“We’ve taken great care to design a building that looks a lot like the beautiful homes around the lake and around downtown,” Kuklinski told Patch before a public hearing April 7 on the plans for the Grayslake development.

She said the development would offer families in Grayslake and surrounding communities an affordable, local housing development for their parents.

If approved by the ZBA, the plans would still need to be approved by the .


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