Schaumburg considers request for senior group home in existing single-family house

Schaumburg plan commissioners Wednesday will consider a request to convert an existing single-family house into a group home for up to six elderly and infirm residents.

The residents would be looked after around the clock by a small medical staff.

If eventually approved by the village board, the house at 129 Millis Lane would become Schaumburg’s fifth group home, Community Development Director Julie Fitzgerald said.

The existing ones don’t cater to seniors, but the exteriors of all group homes in the village are intended to blend into their residential neighborhoods, she added.

“They shouldn’t be noticed,” Fitzgerald said. “They can’t propose changes that would make it out of character.”

Algonquin-based Unity Senior Residence would operate the home, but no signs will appear on or near the house.

Though the residents can receive visitors between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., only six clients and two staff members are expected to be the actual occupants of the house at any time.

The senior residents themselves wouldn’t have vehicles, Fitzgerald said. The attached garage will be used exclusively for supplies and storage.

The house has four bedrooms, with two of them large enough to be shared.

Bathrooms will be modified with grab bars to assist the residents, and a fire sprinkler system will be required for the change of the house’s zoning designation to a group home.

Schaumburg’s planning staff has already recommended approval of the group home. Depending on whether the plan commission makes a recommendation Wednesday, the village board could consider final approval as early as Aug. 27.

One of Schaumburg’s existing group homes is operated by Shelter Inc., another by WINGS Program Inc., and the remaining two by Little City.