Chicago suburb plans educational, residential complex for young people with autism

From the Chicago Tribune:

An educational and residential complex for teens and young adults with autism is planned for the south end of Naperville on land that was to have been the site of a 32-unit housing development.

The Naperville City Council earlier this month unanimously gave zoning approval to Turning Pointe Autism Foundation to build an 18,700-square-foot school, which would serve 36 students between middle school and age 21. A 9,455-square-foot recreational facility also was approved.

A 3,000-square-foot residential duplex on the 6.44-acre property will remain as a respite house, and six other duplex buildings eventually will be constructed to provide transitional housing for 36 more young adults to develop life skills.

The project, located on the west side of Plainfield-Naperville Road between Hamlet and Saratoga roads, will effectively wipe out the Tramore subdivision, a 17-lot residential duplex community that the city approved in 2005.

Tramore was to have contained 32 duplex units in 16 buildings, but development stalled amid slow sales, and only one duplex, which was used as a model home, was built.

Founded two years ago, the autism foundation paid $3 million to acquire the site from owner KB Homes in November 2007, according to public records. Now, while the foundation plans to reuse the existing duplex, it eventually will vacate entirely and rip up Tramore Court, the lone, little-used public street now serving the property.

"After about a year of planning and visiting facilities, we decided to build a school that would serve 36 students and have a residential component to serve up to 36 young adults who suffer from autism," said Kevin Gallaher, a lawyer and the foundation's president, at the Sept. 14 City Council meeting.

"I would hope our residential setting will be a bridge for those [suffering from autism] who get kicked out of the [educational] system at age 22," Gallaher said. "We want them to learn how to cook for themselves, to clean for themselves, to be employed."

Councilman Richard Furstenau called the site "a special piece of property," given its location directly across Plainfield-Naperville Road from Naperville's 135-acre wastewater treatment facility.

"I don't know if [the previous development] didn't happen because of the economy or because of where it's sitting, but I do believe this is a real problem property, and I personally wouldn't buy a house across the street from [the sewage plant]," Furstenau said. "I guess there are people who do, but it's a real challenge, and this is a good solution to that."