Arlington Heights Approves Lutheran Home Improvements

 After four hours of discussions, the approved modifications for the Lutheran Home-Olsen Pavilion, 800 W. Oakton St, which will allow the Lutheran Home to renovate and modernize the existing Olsen Home.

“Wonderful, fantastic to continue working with the village,” said Roger Paulsberg, president and CEO of Lutheran Life Communities.

In a 7-0 vote, Trustees approved the project, with some of having concerns with overcrowding parking and the lack of green space. Trustees Bert Rosenberg and Joseph Farwell did not vote to prevent conflicts of interest.

The village boardroom was packed to capacity, prompting staff to open up a second room, to fit all the supporters and critics of the project at the Tuesday night board meeting.

Nearly 100 residents from Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, and Mount Prospect and as far as Crystal Lake shared their thoughts, mostly telling stories of parents and grandparents in support of the Lutheran Home renovation.

Karen Dorn, however, said the Lutheran Home is a good institution. “The issue is it’s in a residential community,” she said.  “We would have bought a house closer to downtown Arlington Heights if we wanted to see tall buildings.”

Dorn, who lives across from the Lutheran Home, said when you look at the map, there’s no green space, just building and blacktop. Dorn was also concern about the buildings causing flooding eventually causing flooding in her home.

The approved proposal, now allows the Lutheran Home to replace the existing plumbing system, construct three four-story building additions at the northwest, south, and southwest corners of the existing Olsen Home.

The total bed count will be reduced from 252 to 240, transforming resident rooms to semi-private to full private.

Sandy Margeson, a resident of Arlington Heights, mother lives in Lutheran Home. “She receives great care,” Margeson said.  There may be a day, however, her mother may need to move into the Pavilion area, she said. The modernization project is important to me because I would like to know my mother is comfortable, Margeson said.

The petitioners did receive an approval at the last month’s plan commission meeting, with a 5-4 vote.

“We did hear residents concerns about drainage; setbacks, building heights and parking, and we asked the petitioners to address that,” said Charles Perkins, planning and community development director for the village. “We went back and forth and with these modified conditions, we probably have not satisfied everybody, but based on the changes, we recommend approval.” 

Non-supporters of the project have cited parking as one of the key issues.

“I don’t have any issues with the Lutheran Home on principle,” said Joseph Stanhope, president of the Sherwood Home association. “But it sits in the middle of a neighborhood.”

Stanhope said there are still concerns about parking and traffic flow. “You will having parking and buildings closer to residents,” he said. Stanhope asked at “what point is a project to big for a residential area?”  Stanhope urged the village to continue research and figure out what’s best for Arlington Heights.

The parking, however, will increase from 322 to 436 spaces. The overall bed count will decrease under the new renovation, additional parking is needed in order to accommodate employee, volunteer and visitor parking demands as well as to address overflowing parking onto the streets.

In addition to maximizing the number of parking spaces within the existing fields of parking and along the south side of Concordia Lane, Lutheran Home is also proposing a new 114 stall parking lot along the east property line as well as 11 parking stalls on the east side of Village Drive between Concordia Lane and Oakton Street.

Village President Arlene Mulder said she wish the project were greener. “I don’t know what can be done but I want some reassurance of some of type of research,” she said.

Mulder told the petitioners the residents nearby should be a part of the construction process and the project needs to be as less disruptive as possible.

As Mulder said the words, “motion carries,” a thundering of claps came from the audience that stayed pass the midnight hour.

Paulsberg, president and CEO of Lutheran Life Communities, said the project is set for completion in four years from now.