Mile Square Service Corp. v. City of Chicago Zoning Board of Appeals

356 N.E.2d 971, 42 Ill. App. 3d 849, 1 Ill. Dec. 689, 1976 Ill. App. LEXIS 3209
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedSeptember 28, 1976
Docket62118
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 356 N.E.2d 971 (Mile Square Service Corp. v. City of Chicago Zoning Board of Appeals) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mile Square Service Corp. v. City of Chicago Zoning Board of Appeals, 356 N.E.2d 971, 42 Ill. App. 3d 849, 1 Ill. Dec. 689, 1976 Ill. App. LEXIS 3209 (Ill. Ct. App. 1976).

Opinion

Mr. PRESIDING JUSTICE STAMOS

delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff, Mile Square Service Corporation, commenced this action for administrative review of a decision of the Chicago Zoning Board of Appeals (hereinafter referred to as “Zoning Board”) denying plaintiff’s application for a variation in the nature of a special use. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 24, par. 11 — 13—13.) By its application, plaintiff sought approval of the use of certain property owned by it, located at 3319-21 West Fulton in Chicago, as a halfway house for former drug abusers participating in a therapeutic rehabilitation program. 1 Joined with the Zoning Board and its individual members as party defendants to this action were all persons and organizations who appeared in opposition to plaintiff’s application at a public hearing conducted by the Zoning Board. This appeal was perfected following the circuit court’s affirmance of the Zoning Board’s decision. Plaintiff brings three issues to our attention: (1) whether the finding of fact made by the Zoning Board upon which its decision was predicated is contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence; (2) whether the Zoning Board erred by refusing to consider additional evidence submitted by plaintiff subsequent to the hearing on plaintiff’s application; and (3) whether plaintiff was deprived of its right to a full review of the Zoning Board’s decision owing to the conduct of the circuit court judge sitting in administrative review of that decision.

Mile Square Health Center, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as “Mile Square”) is an Illinois not-for-profit corporation which operates a community-based and -controlled comprehensive health-care facility which provides medical, dental, and mental treatment. These services are subsidized in part by both State and Federal funding. Plaintiff is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mile Square; its function is to hold title to realty used by Mile Square in the latter’s programs.

In 1971, the Federal government requested Mile Square to assume control of a drug rehabilitation program being conducted in Chicago. Mile Square’s initial efforts with this program were unsuccessful. Since persons were treated on a walk-in basis, the staff retained no supervisory control over the patients after they had left the facility. Consequently, the momentary concern of many of the individuals who sought rehabilitative guidance would wane, once the pressures from their environment resumed. However, a complete turnaround of the program resulted when Mile Square established a residential therapeutic facility to house the participants in the rehabilitation program. The success of this innovation was directly attributable to the full-time supervision which each participant received and to their enhanced appreciation of the community due to the residential, as opposed to institutional, setting. As Federal funding increased with the success of the program, a desire to expand the program to involve more participants was manifested, thus necessitating a larger residential facility.

The site which is the subject of the instant action was selected for expansion purposes for two primary reasons. First, its residential location was only a short distance from the health center where the participants received and would continue to receive all medical treatment. Second, the building, which had formerly been utilized as a nursing home, was equipped with institutional kitchen and plumbing facilities, thereby decreasing the initial cost of expanding the program. Because this site is located in a general residence district which is zoned R4, plaintiff filed an application for a special use permit.

Although a special use permit may be granted so as to allow property located in a district zoned R4 to be utilized as a residential care home or halfway house (Chicago, Ill., Chicago Municipal Code (1974), ch. 194A, §7.4 — 4(8)), plaintiff’s application was not approved by the Zoning Administrator. Pursuant to the Chicago Zoning Ordinance (Chicago, Ill., Chicago Municipal Code (1974), ch. 194A, §11.10 — 1 et seq.), plaintiff perfected an appeal from the Zoning Administrator’s decision to the Zoning Board. The applicable ordinance requires that two prerequisites be satisfied before the Zoning Board can authorize a variation in the nature of a special use. (Chicago, Ill., Chicago Municipal Code (1974), ch. 194A, §11.10 — 2.) First, upon due notice, a public hearing must be held before the Zoning Board. Second, a written report must be prepared and filed with the Board by the Commission of Development and Planning, such report to become a part of the record.

On May 13, 1974, the Department of Development and Planning submitted a written report to the Zoning Board recommending that plaintiff’s application be denied. The Department objected to plaintiff*s proposed use of its premises “as it may have a deleterious effect in the surrounding area.”

On May 17, 1974, a public hearing was held before the Zoning Board. At that proceeding, several witnesses testified in support of plaintiff’s application, and numerous other witnesses voiced their objections to the proposed use of the subject premises.

The parameters and goals of Mile Square’s therapeutic program were explained. Applicants for the program are screened in an attempt to ascertain their sincerity in seeking rehabilitation. Those individuals who are admitted to the program are then detoxified under a methadone detoxification program. Thereafter, the participants reside at the residential center where they participate in various workshops and seminars structured to prepare them for a drug-free existence in society. Throughout the program, biweekly examinations are conducted to assure that the participants remain drug-free. As each person progresses through the program, they are allotted more opportunities to engage in activities outside of the residential center. At all times, records listing the activities of each resident are maintained to help prevent external pressures from encouraging a participant to abandon the program. A participant normally achieves outpatient status after residing at the residential center for five months. Then, during the next 12 months, the outpatient’s adjustment to the community is evaluated so that any problems which might arise can be detected and, hopefully, resolved. An outpatient can then become a graduate of the program “when, after all phases have been therapeutically exhausted, the patient has demonstrated satisfactorily that in attitude, emotions and behaviour he can function in the community free of drugs.” An estimated 24% of the persons admitted to the program attain graduate status.

In addition to this evidence, other witnesses called by plaintiff enumerated the benefits derived from establishing therapeutic centers for former drug abusers in residential areas.. Such locations are deemed preferable because they offer the residents exposure to a home and a community environment, whereas an institutional atmosphere tends to be counterproductive since it fosters alienation and dependence.

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356 N.E.2d 971, 42 Ill. App. 3d 849, 1 Ill. Dec. 689, 1976 Ill. App. LEXIS 3209, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mile-square-service-corp-v-city-of-chicago-zoning-board-of-appeals-illappct-1976.