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player ready...Construction crews broke ground this month on a new assisted-living facility on the south end of Westmont.
At a village board meeting on Nov. 12, trustees approved an ordinance that consolidates several lots into the new 3-acres assisted-living property, which is on the 300 block of west 63rd Street.
The ordinance was the final hurdle for Pathway Senior Living officials, who had a construction crew at the site the day after the meeting. The site was fenced off and the home and several barn-like structures that stood on the site were razed.
“We are trying to beat the weather,” said Robert Helle, principal & co-president of Pathway Senior Living. “We should be open right after the holidays next year. We are looking at a 12 to 14 month construction period.”
The three-story, 119,247-square-foot building will include 75 studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments and another 34 memory-care studios, plus dining rooms, activity rooms, a library, a chapel and outdoor walking paths.
When the project was first presented to the community in 2014, some residents who live near the site told village officials that the facility would tower over their homes as well as increase traffic and possibly cause flooding in the area.
Helle said the facility will not be a nursing home and will not significantly increase traffic in the area.
Documents indicate that there will be a total of 60 parking spots with a maximum of 20 spots for employees. Helle recently showed the board data indicating double and triple the number of employee parking spots required by other communities for nursing homes. Helle added that the company is willing to work with neighbors to provide more landscaping for privacy.
To help with the possibility of flooding, Helle recently included permeable pavers in the main parking lot. Village officials said a retention pond could accommodate the extra water because of a second retention area at the nearby Muddy Waters Park site that was built by a developer who originally wanted to build condos there.
The Westmont zoning board voted against the project. Two village trustees who also voted against the project last year said they felt retail should be built at the site.
Joseph Ruzich is a freelance reporter for the baiduhai.