City OKs Group Care Home Plan for Downtown Wheaton

Wheaton City Council members Monday approved the STARS Family Services plan to build a 15-resident group care home for developmentally disabled adults at the corner of Cross Street and Union Avenue in Wheaton.

STARS, a nonprofit providing small supportive living arrangements and other services to developmentally disabled adults of the STARS Disability Ministry of College Church in Wheaton, plans to build two single-family homes with a common courtyard. The homes would be completed in stages, with the second home constructed as funding allows. Each home would have an attached two-car garage with a shared driveway off of Union Avenue. Guest, volunteer and staff parking will be on the shared driveway.

Let Patch save you time. Get stories delivered to your inbox—sign up for our email newsletter. Fast signup here. You can also like us on Facebook.

City officials voted 6-0 Monday, allowing STARS to proceed with one of the homes and the courtyard, the Chicago Tribune reported. The group will need to obtain another license from the city's group care home commission for the second home. 

Since opening its first house in north Wheaton in June 2011, the organization has received applications from more than 20 adults who live with their aging parents, who, “are finding it increasingly difficult to care for their adult children,” according to a city memo.

"It's a house, not an institution," attorney David Bay, who represents STARS, told the city's Planning and Zoning board at a June meeting. "It will blend well with the neighborhood. You wouldn't know it's anything other than an ordinary house."

Ray Chase, president of STARS, told Council Monday the group serves about 110 families in Wheaton and surrounding communities, according to the Tribune.

Related:

• Group Home Proposal Passes Wheaton Commission
• Zoning Board Gives Nod to Proposed Group Home
  
• Nonprofit Seeks to Build Group Care Home in Downtown Wheaton