U.S. District Court Judge Milton Shadur dismissed a federal lawsuit against Arlington Heights filed by advocates of the controversial Boeger Place apartments for people with mental illness two days after supporters of the project as village leaders to settle the lawsuit at a board meeting.
Adam Berndt, Pastor at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, voiced concern over the government’s use of $206,000 of “taxpayers’ money” — an expense that the Village of Arlington Heights required to defend the zoning variance decision from the complaint of the plaintiff.
Arlington Heights residents and Buffalo Grove neighbors opposed the project’s location for its lack of feasibility and rationale, including its lack of accessibility to public transit, its proximity to a high school, its non-residential atmosphere, and its residentially-unfriendly position directly across from a 40-story radio tower.
Daveri Development Group planned to move forward with litigation when the Village of Arlington Heights denied zoning variances in October 2010.
The developer of a proposed apartment building ‘Boeger Place’ for the mentally ill maintained that Arlington Heights officials acted illegally in rejecting the proposal and is considering legal action to overturn the decision.
The Boeger Place plan originated with a group of parents called North/Northwest Suburban Task Force on Supportive Housing for Individuals with Mental Illness. That group partnered with Daveri Development and with Thresholds, a nonprofit that provides mental health services. The group also received support from The John Marshall Law School Fair Housing Legal Clinic.
Allison K. Bethel, director of The John Marshall Law School Fair Housing Legal Clinic, sent Village of Arlington Heights officials a letter stating that “persons with mental disabilities are included within the protected classes of the Federal and State Fair Housing Acts, as well as the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. These laws require municipalities to make reasonable accommodations to their policies, practices and procedures to provide persons with disabilities an equal opportunity to live and enjoy housing opportunities available to others.”
The Village of Arlington Heights already has two locations with housing assistance for persons with mental illness or disabilities.
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