La Grange Today

School chief says Rich Port not moving to LGP facility

Rumors that the Rich Port YMCA might soon relocate some of its programs to a former school in La Grange Park recently vacated by that community's park district are not true, according to Mark Van Clay, superintendent of Elementary School District 102, which owns the facility at 920 Barnsdale Ave.

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Van Clay today said that there had been preliminary discussions between the school district and Rich Port but that an agreement to lease the facility is not likely at this time because Rich Port's needs are immediate and the facility has abatement issues that will not be resolved until next year.

He added that the school district also is considering possible use of the facility for its own programs, a decision that likely will not occur before January or February.

"They [Rich Port] need something now," said Van Clay. "We're not now."

A spokeswoman for Rich Port, in response to an inquiry from the daily yesterday afternoon, said, "It's too early to talk or say anything."

Former school rumored to be new Rich Port Y home

Unconfirmed word on the street says that the Rich Port YMCA will temporarily relocate some of its programs to an old school building at 920 Barnsdale in La Grange Park. That facility, still owned by Elementary School District 102, was occupied until this past June by the Community Park District of La Grange Park.

Among the operations said to be relocating there are the fitness facility and the before-and-after-school child care.

Calls to officials at Rich Port and School District 102 have not yet been returned.

Rich Port has said publicly that it is seeking a temporary home for its programs. Its current facility at Ogden Ave and La Grange Rd will close later this year. The site it occupies is currently being offered for sale as a redevelopment opportunity.

A possible move to La Grange Park by Rich Port, without any of the above details, was mentioned last evening by La Grange Village President Elizabeth Asperger in her opening remarks at a scheduled meeting of the Village Board of Trustees.

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Internet safety for children is focus of seminar

Potential dangers children face when using the Internet is the topic of a seminar to be held Thursday evening at Lyons Township High School. Parents who attend will learn how predators use chat rooms to prey on children, where to store a computer at home, and how to monitor children's use of chat rooms and other online sites.

The seminar will be hosted by Illinois State Representative Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) and will include a 90-minute presentation by Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Michael Sullivan, Illinois Attorney General Deputy Bureau Chief.

The session begins at 7 p.m. in the Reber Center on the high school's north campus, located at 100 S Brainard Ave in La Grange.

For more information about this event, contact Rep. Durkin at (708) 352-7700 or contact him via email at repdurkin@hotmail.com.

Hospital opposed on plan for off-site surgical center

An outpatient surgical center Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital wants to build in Lyons was opposed by officials from MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn at a public hearing held Sept. 27 by the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board, according to a report in this weekend's edition of the Suburban Life newspaper.

MacNeal officials said the proposed $5.2 million dollar, multi-specialty Ambulatory Surgical Treatment Center, which would be located on First Ave south of Ogden, would draw patients away from its Berwyn facility, which has a long history of serving Lyons and surrounding communities.

Tim Cook, CEO of Adventist La Grange, told the Board that the center would allow patients to obtain same-day surgery close to home in a cost-effective manner. It also would free up operating room space at the La Grange hospital for inpatient procedures and persons admitted through the hospital's emergency room.

Representatives of several community groups, the mayor of Berwyn and three state legislators representing Lyons and nearby communities testified at the hearing that the proposed surgical center would have a negative impact on their constituents. They fear the center would skim off privately insured patients from MacNeal, leaving the hospital with a greater load of patients insured by Medicare or without any insurance at all.

The Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board likely will consider the proposal at its scheduled meeting Oct. 24 and 25, Suburban Life reported.

Bids sought for purchase of Rich Port YMCA parcel

Future plans for the site occupied by the Rich Port YMCA became slightly less uncertain today with erection on the property of a large sign soliciting bids to purchase the 4.3-acre parcel at Ogden Ave and La Grange Rd.

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The sign invites interested parties to contact Newcastle Advisors, a national commercial advisory firm based in Chicago.

In an online brochure, Newcastle calls the parcel "ideal for retail and/or residential development" and states, "The Village of La Grange Comprehensive Plan calls for the Property to be redeveloped with retail and multi-story condominium buildings."

Among the parcel's attractions, says the brochure, is its proximity to multiple transportation venues, strong market demographics and residential absorption and its location "adjacent to 500,000 square feet of retail space." That's developer-speak for downtown La Grange.

Newcastle says it will accept sealed bids from qualified parties until Nov. 17.

Village also in the dark about Rich Port's future

La Grange officials know little about the future of the Rich Port YMCA, and what might become of the property it owns at Ogden Ave and La Grange Rd, once Rich Port follows through on its plans to vacate its facility later this year, Village President Elizabeth Asperger told the audience at Monday night's town meeting.

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"At this point in time, our information is the same information the public has," Asperger said. "That is the YMCA will close in the very near future and that they intend to seek bids for development of the property."

She said the Village had worked unsuccessfully for more than a year to persuade officials at Rich Port and the Metropolitan YMCA to consider redevelopment plans that would include a new facility at the current location. Those efforts also involved an attempt to forge a partnership between Rich Port and the Park District of La Grange, Asperger said.

The Park District will open a new recreation center of its own Nov. 15 at 536 East Ave in a renovated warehouse once occupied by Burke Beverage Co.

Asperger said that members of the Village's community development staff and Rich Port officials have discussed in general what options exist for the property within the parameters of the zoning code and the comprehensive plan. Beyond that, the Village can only wait until a formal proposal is submitted.

"We're frankly disappointed to see them leave," she said.  "The YMCA has been a tremendous asset to our Village for many, many, many years."

A Rich Port board member recently told The Doings newspaper that the organization hoped to raise $3 to 5 million in private funding towards construction of a new 50,000 square-foot facility it wants to build somewhere in the greater La Grange area.

Asperger's remarks were made in response to a question asked by Bob Battista, a resident of Bassford Ave, during the town meeting's open microphone session.

Village approves new nursing home on Ninth Ave; former orphanage built in 1911 will be history

The owner of the Meadowbrook Manor nursing care home can build a new facility, and demolish the 95 year-old building it currently occupies at 339 S. 9th Ave., after receiving a green light from the La Grange Village Board of Trustees Monday night.

By a 5 to 1 vote, the Board approved an amendment to the existing special use permit held by MML Associates, and ok'ed a site plan that will allow construction of a three-story, Y-shaped facility to be situated immediately southeast of the existing facility, and just west of a second existing building that contains the site's physical plant and fronts Bluff Rd.

After its residents have been relocated to the new building, MML plans to tear down the existing facility, which was originally built in 1911 and was operated as an orphanage until its conversion to a nursing home in the 1960s.

The Board's decision to approve MML's plan runs counter to a recommendation in July by the Village Plan Commission to deny the request. That vote was 4 to 2.

MML had argued since first contacting Village officials about its plan in Dec. 2005 that the older building had several deficiencies that could not be remedied through renovation. 

In January, MML submitted its plan for the property as a planned unit development (PUD) because its original intention was to build a four-story facility, which would have exceeded the floor-area-ratio (FAR) allowed for the site. The Plan Commission held public workshops at its February and March sessions, where neighboring residents and other interested parties could ask questions and voice opinions.

As a result, MML made several changes to its plan, including reducing the FAR below the maximum allowed. It also reconfigured the parking area, depressing it two feet and including a six-foot land berm around its perimeter so as to make it less visible from neighboring properties. It also incorporated into the new building's design brickwork and other architectural elements similar to those in the existing facility.

With these revisions, MML's plan met all the bulk, yard and setback requirements for the zoning in its "institutional building" district, said Patrick Benjamin, the Village's communty development director.

That allowed MML to resubmit its application as an amendment to its existing special use permit, which meant the Plan Commission had less latitude in what it could dictate to the property owner. Still, the Commission on July 11 denied MML's revised application.

Benjamin told the Board Monday night that the shift from a PUD to a special use request was "a complicating factor" that may have contributed to the Plan Commission's decision to withhold its recommendation.

"I think it was very difficult [for the Commission] after those first workshops to transition then to just the simple special use," said Benjamin. "The special use as a nursing home already exists at this site, so [MML is] really looking to just change the site plan. I think the Plan Commission probably had some challenges trying to reckon with the design of the building even though testimony was given that that really is the most efficient design, plus residents aren't being displaced in the process."

The new building's Y shape, its architect told the Board, "is a very common floor plate for senior living. It puts all the rooms equal distance from a common nursing station."

Village Attorney Mark Burkland, who was present at all of the Plan Commission hearings, told the Board that he found the Commission's rejection "a little bit surprising" and noted that there "was not unanimity within the opposition" regarding any particular aspect of MML's plan.

Burkland said that one commissioner "really felt strongly that the existing building had historic features and felt that, under almost any circumstance, that building should not be removed." Another commissioner, said Burkland, "felt that the location of the new building pushed to the southeast of the site was what created an undue impact on the neighborhood."

The Plan Commission's rejection created unease for Trustee Richard Cremieux. "You folks have done something wrong," he said in the direction of MML's representatives in attendance, "because we have a Plan Commission that is very pro-development."

Citing his 10-year tenure on the Plan Commission before his election to the Board five years ago, Cremieux said, "I know [the commissioners. They] are not crazy, pie-in-the-sky commissioners who want the moon. They are very practical. They look at things very carefully and they have a tremendous background in architecture, real estate and engineering."

Cremieux spoke of one commissioner, whom he did not name, who had voted against MML's proposal. "I don't think this fellow voted 'no' on any final proposal in the last 12 years," he said. "So whatever went on there, somebody did something wrong because we don't get [recommendations] from the Plan Commission seldom if at all where they voted 'no.' Usually things are worked out...to the satisfaction of both sides. Obviously, that wasn't done here. That's what gives me concern."

Cremieux subsequently cast the lone Board vote against MML's request.

Trustee Tom Livingston spoke strongly in support of MML's proposal. "It's appropriate to the site and I think it's been thought through," he said. "It shouldn't replicate the [existing] building because that building is inefficient. [The new building] keeps an appropiate use for the space and I would urge my colleagues' support."

Livingston did acknowledge the historical significance of the former orphanage. "I would encourage our folks from the historical society to capture every moment, nuance and aspect of history of the building," he said.

During the public comment, five citizens—including one resident who lives on 9th Ave. near the nursing home—spoke in support of MML's plan. No one from the audience voiced objection.

Rich Port hopes to raise private funds for new YMCA

The Rich Port YMCA hopes to raise $3 - 5 million in private funding towards construction of a new 50,000 square-foot facility it wants to build somewhere in the greater La Grange area, a board member told The Doings newspaper recently.

Link to story on The Doings site.