Plan To Turn Riverwoods Ranch Into Senior Group Home Withdrawn

RIVERWOODS, IL — Village trustees did not end up needing to vote on a proposal to turn a single-family home into a group assisted living home after the developers withdrew a request for zoning changes ahead of a planned vote at Tuesday's meeting of the Riverwoods Board of Trustees.

The plan originally called for a 1,000-square-foot addition to the 3,360-square-foot Ranch house in order to house 13 "medically stable" seniors who require assistance with daily living. The plan required a change to the village's code forbidding four or more unrelated people from living together in a single home.

Residents voiced concerns about the project at plan commission meetings on Feb. 7 and March 14. Attendees questioned whether there would be adequate staffing or water supply for the development from Libertyville-based Engaged Senior Homes LLC, Pioneer Press reported.

More than half of the group home's residents would have some level of cognitive decline, according to responses to the Riverwoods Planning Commission from Craig Reiff, a partner in Engaged Senior Homes and Open Arms Solutions, a large private pay home care service company.

Commissioners eventually recommended a limitation of six residents after Village Attorney Bruce Huvard advised that an outright rejection of the plan could trigger a legal challenge under the Americans With Disabilities Act. The developers decided to withdraw the petition for a zoning change after determining the project would not make economic sense with fewer than 10 residents, according to the Deerfield Review.

After Riverwoods Mayor John Norris explained the board would not be holding a hearing on the withdrawn proposal for the group home at the April 9 meeting, Plan Commission Chairman David Niedelman told the board that commissioners would not make a final recommendation one way or another on the proposal.

"After the situation we all just went though, I think that maybe there should be some discussion about having some type of ordinance or new plan of what we're going to do with this type of situation, without sort of being under the gun," Niedelman said. "I think it's something that we as a community should address while it's not a hot topic and do it in a timely manner when we can continue to process it."