Maxxam Partners, Glenwood Academy file suit against Kane County in regards to proposed treatment center

Saying opposition to their project was rooted in discrimination against “disabled” people recovering from drug and alcohol abuse, the developers of a proposed $1,000-a-day treatment center has sued Kane County for denying their application to bring their detoxification facility to the former Glenwood School for Boys in Campton Hills.

On Aug. 4, Maxxam Partners LLC and Glenwood Academy filed suit in federal court in Chicago, demanding a federal judge declare the county had improperly and illegally denied their zoning application and order the county to allow Maxxam to open its proposed treatment facility in the former boarding school for troubled youth.

Maxxam also has asked the court to order the county to pay monetary damages, including punitive damages, potentially for millions of dollars Maxxam alleges the county’s delays and denials have cost it.

The complaint calls out the county for "almost two years of sham proceedings," including "an unprecedented 20 public hearings and a host of fictional legal hurdles that were intended to dissuade plaintiffs from proceeding with their plans for the rehabilitation center."
The county's "illegal discrimination was blatant and clearly established in the public hearing transcripts," Maxxam argued in its lawsuit. "It was rooted in the all-too-common ignorance and prejudice of those who refuse to permit substance abuse treatment in their communities based upon illegal and discriminatory stereotypes about those seeking to recover from addiction."

The lawsuit comes about three months since the Kane County Board voted 14-9 to deny the special use zoning permit requested by Maxxam for the Glenwood site.

However, the project has been the subject of controversy for years.

According to the lawsuit, Maxxam has held the Glenwood property under contract since 2014, when it first agreed to pay $9.5 million for the former school and the surrounding 120 acres, set about a half-mile from Silver Glen Road. The closing, however, was contingent on Maxxam obtaining permission from the county to open a residential substance abuse treatment center.

According to the lawsuit, the contract terms give Maxxam until June 2018 to complete the purchase, “with no guarantee that Glenwood Academy will extend the purchase date further.”

Maxxam says the county’s delays have forced it to “invest significant sums of money to extend its original purchase contract.”

Maxxam filed its zoning application with Kane County in August 2015, and in the months since, has complied with all of the county’s rules and requests – including some requests Maxxam alleges were actually illegal and improper, according to the suit.

However, during a marathon run of public hearings, Maxxam’s proposal was met with an outpouring of public opposition from those living nearby and others, who said they feared the residential treatment facility would harm their property values and endanger their families, homes and neighborhoods.

From December 2015 to February 2016, the Kane County Zoning Board of Appeals held 10 such hearings before ultimately voting to recommend denial of the application. The County Board’s development committee similarly recommended denial, precipitating the County Board’s denial.

However, Maxxam contends the denials were not based on any of the county’s rules or any other legitimate criteria, but rather on “unsubstantiated, pretextual arguments,” “irrational fear” and “discriminatory animus.”

“The County Board’s claim of unanswered questions and insufficient answers is directly contradicted by the hearing transcripts,” Maxxam’s lawsuit said. “It was a pretext designed to conceal the defendants’ illegal and discriminatory conduct.”

Allegedly recognizing its exposure to charges of discrimination under federal housing laws, the County Board later rescinded that vote and empaneled a new zoning board of appeals, which held new hearings. But the results were the same, said Maxxam, as the zoning board and, later, the full County Board again voted the proposal down, even though the development committee recommended approval.

“Multiple County Board members confirmed that they were basing their decision on the decision of the original zoning board and, even more strongly, on the vocal, discriminatory opposition of those members of the public who simply did not want addicts living in their community, even on a temporary basis,” the lawsuit said.

Maxxam Partners is represented in the action by attorneys with the firm of Tabet Divito & Rothstein of Chicago, while Glenwood Academy is represented by the firm of Winstron & Strawn of Chicago.