Oak Brook Village President Gopal Lalmalani said the village’s legal team is working on a compromise with Senior Lifestyle, a company that filed a lawsuit after the Village Board rejected its request to build a six-story building with 200 luxury apartments for seniors.
Senior Lifestyle filed the lawsuit Feb. 16 regarding the proposed $79 million building at 2100-2122 York Road, which is along Clearwater Drive, between York Road and 22nd Street.
Lalmalani said the team is also seeking compromise on another lawsuit filed in December that contends the village’s denial of a request to divide a residential lot into two separate, buildable lots is unconstitutional and a violation of its powers.
“Our attorneys are trying to resolve these issues. We’re trying to find out if there’s room for compromise,” Lalmalani said.
While he hopes the issues can be worked out without court battles, Lalmalani indicated the village wouldn’t completely reverse its decisions.
“We’re not going to be intimidated by someone who files a lawsuit,” he said.
He would not comment specifically on either of the two lawsuits while they are in litigation.
The Senior Lifestyle plan was recommended by the Plan Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals.
The suit contends the village wrongfully denied approval of a special use and variations for the property after Senior Lifestyle invested substantial money and effort to develop the project while apearing to have the village’s approval at every step.
The suit also contends the village arbitrarily and without reason denied the requested use of the property, even though the project met all requisites for the special use and for the necessary variations under the village’s zoning ordinance and state law.
Michael Manzo was the only board member who gave a reason after voting against the proposed project. He said he preferred to see retail businesses, which would generate sales tax revenues for the village, occupy the space.
The other lawsuit regards property at 3622 York Road. That suit was filed by Chicago Land Trust, of which John Romanelli of Romanelli Associates Inc., an Oak Brook residential and commercial real estate firm, is the beneficiary.
Twitter @chuckwriting
Let’s block ads! (Why?)
