Elmhurst Had 'Crappy Case' Against Nursing Home

ELMHURST, IL – In a closed meeting a couple of years ago, Elmhurst aldermen grappled over whether to allow a nursing home expansion to proceed.

The meeting's recording was meant to stay secret. But the City Council last week decided to release it after the attorney general determined the meeting was illegally closed.

The aldermen shut their doors on Nov. 23, 2020, to discuss the extension of a permit for Elmhurst Extended Care Center, 200 E. Lake St., to expand.

The council approved the project in 2018, despite neighbors' opposition. It later granted two extensions, the most recent expiring Nov. 13, 2020.

The city code requires a project to be "substantially underway" for it to continue beyond a permit's expiration. In the nursing home's case, it hadn't even broken ground.

But a day before the permit expired, the nursing home put up a construction fence.

The nursing home argued the project was substantially underway because it had spent $500,000 on building drawings, purchase of a building permit and erection of a construction fence, among other things.

It also said it needed approval from state and federal agencies and was suffering delays because of the pandemic.

The nursing home also threatened to sue the city because its residents were a "protected class," officials said.

In the closed session, city attorney Andy Acker argued against ending the permit. A court would likely find the nursing home had a vested right to continue, he said.

"It feels a little bit like cancel culture to merely say, '(It's the) 13th. You guys didn't put a shovel in the ground,'" said Acker, who is with Rosemont-based Storino, Ramello & Durkin.

Acker continued, "It certainly seems that this particular project has gotten under somebody's skin, and it is a sensitive and emotional issue. Certainly, I appreciate the advocacy of the neighbors because they have done an excellent job getting everyone's attention. Having said that, once the right was vested, it's going to take a fairly significant action to take it away."

Given the $500,000 spent and other factors, then-Mayor Steve Morley said it added up to the city having a "pretty crappy case."

"What we don't want them to do is to hurry up and dig a hole in the ground and leave that hole for two years, the mayor said. "From a safety standpoint, I know we don't want that."

Alderman Michael Honquest asked that neighbors be given the "straight scoop" about what was happening. They needed to know the city's hands were tied legally, he said.

"It's time to get this out of the dark, in my opinion, from a political standpoint," he said.

Then-Alderman Michael Bram, who represented the neighborhood in question, said the nursing home failed to meet the burden of proof.

"This isn't about COVID. This isn't about any of that slowing down the process," Bram said. "It's about the petition not having the needed ducks in a row to be able to move forward in a timely fashion."

At the end of the nearly hour-long closed session, Morley said the council believed the nursing home had met the "substantially underway" standard.

"In no way does that mean we think they have moved as fast as they could by any stretch," Morley said.

He said the nursing home had bought itself a little time.

Six months later, the nursing home informed the city it was abandoning the project, citing changes in the economy.