Pleasantville Residents Divided on Assisted Living Proposal

Pleasantville residents were deeply divided last week on whether Sunrise Senior Living should build an assisted living facility at the United Methodist Church property even as most speakers agreed a facility would benefit the community.

Community members packed the village board’s June 12 meeting eager to discuss the proposal during a roughly four-hour meeting.

“I have seen a lot of changes, things change and you have to accept change,” lifelong village resident Toni Emerson said. “Sunrise would be another type of residence and being 85 years old, I’d like a little consideration for people my age.”

While many seniors who attended agreed that an assisted living facility would help them remain in the village, some residents continued to appeal to the village board to oppose the request for a zoning code amendment that is needed for the project to advance.

“There’s only one honest answer to Sunrise and that is to say no,” Mark Markarian said. “It’s zoned for single-family and that’s what it should be.”

Sunrise has proposed the three-story structure be built into the elevation of the site to make it appear a smaller building.

Plans call for the site to contain 40 parking spots, including two handicapped accessible spaces. The proposed building, which would accommodate about 90 residents, will be surrounded by a variety of small tress, shrubs and groundcovers to help the structure blend into the residential neighborhood.

Sunrise must obtain a zoning code change from the village board to add a new floating overlay district before it is able to pursue site plan approval from the planning commission.

Despite Sunrise representatives spending the last year working with village officials to create a proposal that addresses neighbors’ concerns, residents from the properties on Maple Hill Road continued to urge the board to vote against the petition.

“If this were in a different location, you wouldn’t have this type of opposition,” said Eileen West, a resident of Foxwood Condominium located across the street from the site.

Maple Hill resident Bill Stoller said since the proposal is essentially the same project proposed by Benchmark Senior Living there is no need for the board to continue evaluating the application.

In 2014, the controversial vote to rezone the church’s property for the 87-unit Benchmark project failed despite support from three of five village board members. Neighboring property owners who have strenuously opposed both proposals, had submitted a valid petition requiring a supermajority vote for approval. Mayor Peter Scherer and Trustee Steven Lord opposed the rezone.

Despite the opposing views, several residents, including Scherer and Lord, continued to compare the Sunrise proposal to Benchmark and several other applications in the village over the years. The comparisons irked Trustee Colleen Griffin Wagner who has supported continued evaluation of the .

“I’ve heard the name Benchmark tonight more than I’ve heard the name Sunrise. That bothers me because we’re still talking about an old project,” Wagner said. “I still do not know enough. I want the process to move forward so everybody in the community can hear what it is that this project is and a lot more people are interested in this and they deserve to hear the full application.”

Sunrise’s Senior Vice President Jerry Liang added that each project should be considered on its own merits.

“Negative impacts should be evaluated within the context of actual data and actual reports that have been created,” Liang said. “We respectfully suggest that an application be considered and be heard such that the application itself can be reviewed by experts so that an informed discussion on facts and circumstances can be had.”

Scherer said that the board has to digest the material and consider public opinion before deciding if it is willing to accept the application.