Approval for a woman to run an assisted living facility out of her home in a Gurnee subdivision was again stalled when the village board expressed concerns about the number of people who would live there.
Board members agreed during the meeting this week that Theresa Bicok’s proposal for her business – which includes 24 elderly residents and several staff members in a more than 6000-square-foot home – could interrupt life for others in the Chelsea Crossing subdivision.
“Our obligation is to be respectful of the zoning and stay true to it to a certain extent,” said Mayor Kristina Kovarik. “But [with 24 residents] you’ve literally taken a mini-sunrise assisted living and plopped it into a residential neighborhood.”
Theresa’s Home Care, LLC, has operated in the home on Cunningham Court for about two years without proper licensing from the village or the state Department of Public Health. The village was notified about the business’ existence after a resident died of natural causes and paramedics found about a dozen elderly people living in the home.
After that, in June of 2009, Bicok applied for a special use permit with the village and a license from the state.
Both licenses are in limbo now, unless Bicok can come back to the board with a proposal for a lower number of residents.
Right now Bicok cares for about seven residents, and has cared for as many as 12 or so since she moved into the Chelsea Crossing home.
She’s said she’s waiting to make state licensing-required structural improvements to the home – a $28,000 sprinkler system and a $90,000 elevator – until she hears from the village board that she’ll be allowed to continue operating in the home.
Heeding the mayor’s advice that a “no” vote from the village board was likely for 24 residents in the home, Bicok chose to request a continuance of the meeting.
The board will again discuss the assisted living facility, as well as Bicok’s new proposal, at its Jan. 24 meeting.
Bicok’s lawyer, John Wojteczko, said he didn’t know what number the group would propose.
If the new proposal is not approved, the village will issue a cease and desist order telling Bicok to shut down her business, said Village Attorney Bryan Winter.
“This is not something that the village is ignoring,” Winter said.
