Elmhurst Delays Decision On Sober Home

ELMHURST, IL — Elmhurst officials are delaying a City Council vote on whether to allow a seven-person sober living home on the city's north side. The home is drawing neighbors' opposition.

Mayor-elect Scott Levin, an alderman, said the city decided to wait on a council vote on the sober home until it meets later in May, rather than vote on it this Monday.

"Some new aldermen are coming on that may not be familiar with the issue," Levin said in an interview. "In fairness to them, it's better to let people get the report and ask their own questions. They can make a thoughtful decision as opposed to being handed a report on Thursday and making a decision on Monday."

The sober home has been in existence at 348 N. Larch Ave. since 2018, but has yet to receive a city permit for its operation. In 2019, a person died of a heroin overdose on the property.

Earlier this week, the council's Development, Planning and Zoning Committee recommended the full council approve the home with conditions.

Some neighbors submitted written comments asking aldermen to vote down the sober home.

"Clearly, the owner of 348 N. Larch is trying to pass his rental property as something it is not," resident Maureen Piechaczek said in her comments.

Until the city can determine how to regulate sober homes, she said, it should keep 348 N. Larch as a residential zone in which only four unrelated people can live in a house.

Another neighbor, Adam Smeets, said it's been a campaign of smoke and mirrors for the sober home. He said the committee previously voted against allowing it. He urged the city to stick to its current zoning for the neighborhood.

"The number of community members engaging on and opposing this change of zoning are increasing and will continue to do so over the coming weeks," Smeets said in his written comments.

Paula Ziegler, who lives next door, said in her written comments that the property owner, Gary Vician, has a poor track record as a landlord. More than a decade ago, police were regularly called to the house.

Then the tenants moved, and things appeared to get better, she said.

"Then a dumpster was brought to the property and was sitting on the back driveway for about nine months," she said.

The dumpster was apparently for construction, but Vician had no building permit, Ziegler said.

"What type of person tries to get by with this?" she said. "It's the man who is applying for a conditional use permit now. Does that get factored in?"

In a previous story, Vician, a former Naperville Township trustee and assistant principal, defended his handling of the property over the years.