Residents express opposition to proposed day care center near Downers Grove

A group of residents who live in unincorporated DuPage County near Downers Grove are once again expressing their opposition to the construction of a large-scale day care center in their neighborhood.

Back in 2018, a group of neighbors who reside near 2414 Maple Avenue, which is located immediately west of Downers Grove, successfully fought the development of a day care center at the location.

The property is currently zoned residential.

Eight years later, they are fighting a conditional-use permit that would allow the construction of an 11,780-square-foot daycare center with a 5,000-square foot playground and 35 parking spaces.

In a letter to residents who live within 300 feet of the proposed facility, Cyrus Amani, project manager with InSite Real Estate, shared plans to “demolish the existing building on the property and build a premium early education facility.”

The letter was followed by a public meeting in May between InSite and residents that included a review of conceptual plans and discussion period.

The DuPage County Zoning Board of Appeals on Tuesday is scheduled to hear from InSite Real Estate about the development after the meeting was delayed in May.

Residents of Elinor Street and the nearby neighborhood will be on hand to voice their opposition to the project.

Among them will be 16-year resident Lisa Ozzello along with her husband and 11-year-old son, who waits for the school bus at a location adjacent to the proposed property.

“My biggest concern is the public school bus stop at the corner of Maple and Elinor right across from the proposed day care,” Ozzello said.

“Because we are in unincorporated Downers Grove, there are no sidewalks,” she added.

Therefore, children going to the bus stop walk along the street.

“The proposal to have a 125-student day care with parents coming throughout the day, including bus stop times, puts the children at that bus stop at risk,” Ozzello said.

“I am not against day care,” said Ozzello, a working mom who in the past struggled to find day care for her children.

“I understand the need for reliable and affordable, trustworthy childcare. I am all for building another day care in another location that makes sense.”

But not on a residential lot, she said.

In 2018, Everbrook Academy, a national day care provider, attempted to build a facility on the property.

This time Busy Bees, a global provider of day care services with more than 1,000 locations around the world, is seeking to develop the property.

Marion Plunket, who has lived for 50 years lived on Elinor Street, a dead-end road to the north of Maple Avenue, said it has been a quiet neighborhood and she would like to keep it that way.

Plunket said she is worried about the neighborhood’s property values if the day care center is approved.

In addition, she said, “We will be prisoners on our block to go anywhere or do anything.”

“The daycare is being put in a very dangerous intersection,” Plunket said.

In previous years, Plunket said that her property experienced flooding issues that were resolved by working with DuPage County.

But the new development would remove the grass area and replace it with cement, potentially causing water to run down to her property, she said.

The property is owned by Argianas & Associates, a real estate consulting firm with offices in Downers Grove.

Neighbors have met to learn details about the proposed plan, and some have gone door to door to explain the proposed project to other neighbors.

The group of neighbors also has resurrected its Facebook group that was formed when the first day care proposal was announced--SAVE Elinor Again-2025.

“We have expected and anticipated development of that property for years,” said Jen Shea, who lives in the area.

“We first became aware of this in the middle of May when nearby residents received a letter about an informational meeting,” Shea said. “It came out of the blue.”

“This is the second time in seven years that the same development company has pursued a large-scale day-care center,” Shea said.

As a close-knit neighborhood, Shea said. “We have been through a lot together.”

“We are not just throwing a fit just because we don’t want something built,” she added. “And we aren’t trying to make the owners lives difficult because we know they want to sell the property.

“This parcel of land doesn’t have the availability of sewer hookup without starting from scratch and this intersection has a history of accidents,” Shea said.