Neighbors of the YMCA have distributed a flier urging fellow residents to fight an affordable housing development from being built on a “donut” parking lot the Y owns that’s surrounded by residences.
But there is no development proposed yet, said Greg Marsey, a village trustee who’s working with an ad hoc committee to find new affordable housing to replace the YMCA’s 128 single-room-occupancy (SRO) units that will be lost when the Y moves into a new Forest Park facility within two years.
“That’s just a rumor we’re trying to get under control,” Marsey said. He said a proposal from Mercy Housing Lakefront “was very broad, very high-level, and has actually been sitting on the shelf since [it was received three months ago] awaiting the result of the Y’s RFP.”
The YMCA plans to release a request for proposals (RFP) once it gets the results of an ongoing feasibility study. Marsey said the study’s results should be published within 45 days and that preliminary drafts of the report will be available on the village’s website (www.oak-park.us).
The Y has received unsolicited inquiries from a half-dozen developers, said Richard Blaurock, a YMCA board member leading the sale effort. He said the Y could negotiate a deal with a developer instead of issuing an RFP.
But neighbors aren’t buying the wait-and-see advice.
“They have made up their minds,” said Catherine Smith, of the 300 block of South Wisconsin Avenue. “They know what they want.”
Teresa Frisbie, who said the “donut” parking lot is 43 steps from her garage on the 300 block of South Home Avenue, said a proposal for market-rate housing on the enclosed space would meet some opposition, but nothing like Mercy’s, which she said would bring people recovering from substance abuse to an area not visible from the street.
“My No. 1 concern is security. I’m raising two young daughters,” Frisbie said.
She said her second concern is the balance of the neighborhood, already home to an affordable apartment building and a low-income seniors home.
Frisbie said neighbors want input into the process and that they could be part of a solution that works for everyone. However, she said she would fight in court any affordable housing development in the “donut.”
Frisbie and Smith said neighbors would much prefer market-rate housing there.
The YMCA hoped to expand its building at Marion and Randolph, using the “donut” lot to meet its parking requirement. That bid was shot down by the Oak Park Zoning Board of Appeals with concerns that adding traffic to the alleys would not be safe.
CONTACT: dcarter@wjinc.com