Proposed neighborhood would ‘flip the script’ on disability services

MOUNT MORRIS – A new neighborhood meant to cater to residents with disabilities in a way that breaks the “one-size-fits-all” method could be coming to Mount Morris sometime in the next few years.

The Mount Morris Village Board on Dec. 12 unanimously voted to provide an official letter of support for the proposed Hill Street Neighborhood. The estimated $10 million, multiphase project is the work of the Village of Progress and Kreider Services, and would be built in the northeast corner of Mount Morris.

The two organizations, based in Oregon and Dixon respectively, both serve people with developmental disabilities.

Phase one of the project involves building a community center and 24 units, half of which would be for individuals with developmental disabilities, said Brion Brooks, Village of Progress executive director. The other 12 units would be low-income housing.

“The idea is to make an integrated community,” Brooks said. “We don’t want some area that’s segregated off for people with disabilities.”

Residents with disabilities would get to choose their own service provider and, with the help of a coordinator, decide for themselves what services they need, when they need them and how they’re delivered, he said.

“It flips the script on how Illinois is providing services to people with disabilities,” Brooks said.

The most common service model currently is group homes, which house six to 12 people, he said.

They’re an improvement over institutions that appeared about 30 years ago but come with their own set of problems, Brooks said.

The services in group homes are provided in a “one-size-fits-all manner,” with residents receiving the same services regardless of their actual individual needs, Brooks said.

Not everyone in a group home needs 24/7 care, but their only other option tends to be to live with relatives, he said.

It flips the script on how Illinois is providing services to people with disabilities.”

—  Village of Progress Executive Director Brion Brooks

The Hill Street Neighborhood would have an on-site manager and a “concierge,” Brooks said. The concierge would be there during the hours most people are likely to be home but wouldn’t be a 24/7 service, he said.

It’s a service that would “take little things and keep them little,” Brooks said.

“When you or I have something that upsets our day, it’s a speed bump,” he told Village Board members. “But when someone with a disability has something that upsets their day, it can lead them to have a very upsetting day.”

Someone with disabilities might use the concierge if a bus that’s supposed to pick them up at 8 a.m. every day doesn’t show up, Brooks said. Instead of panicking or being distressed, the person could go to the concierge, who could make calls and figure out what’s going on and how to fix it, he said.

But the service wouldn’t be just for people with disabilities in the Hill Street Neighborhood – all residents could call on the concierge.

“Let’s say there’s a single mom. She wakes up and there’s a flat tire, and she has to get to work, get her kids to school,” Brooks said. “The concierge can call the auto shop to get the tire fixed and call her employer to tell them she has a flat tire so she doesn’t lose her job.”

Residents without disabilities would have to go through a “pretty diligent” screening process, including criminal background checks, he said.

That’d be, in part, because the state wants to ensure that people with developmental disabilities who the state is providing for live in safe areas, Brooks said.

The community center building – which also would serve the whole neighborhood – would have space for service providers and clients to meet, as well as one or two rooms for telehealth appointments, he said.

Additionally, 4 acres on the east side of the lot would be dedicated to the village of Mount Morris to turn into a park, developed as the village sees fit, Brooks said.

Phase two of the Hill Street Neighborhood would involve constructing additional supportive housing and market-based housing.

Phase three and, if there’s enough space, phase four would be to build on the 5.86-acre lot directly west of the main land parcel.

“We’re starting out small because, A, the village of Mount Morris is small and, B, it’s just frightening to start off with 60 units,” Brooks said. “Twenty-four units is much more manageable. It gives us a chance to see how our project develops, and then to scale it up with subsequent phases after that.”

If everything goes perfectly, they might break ground in 2025, but there are a lot of details yet to be worked out, Village President Phil Labash said.

He has been involved in the project’s fringes for about a year.

“Personally, I’m very excited about this development, especially the needs it meets within our community and other communities,” Labash said. “I love the idea that it’s unique and that we’re on the leading edge of something here that can be very big.”

Kreider Services and the Village of Progress have been meeting with the Illinois Housing Development Authority for a year or two, and also have spent the past year keeping the Mount Morris Economic Development Corp. updated, Brooks said.

Thus far, they’ve been given green lights during the concept meetings they’ve had with the IHDA, he said.

The hope is that about 90% of the $10 million project will be funded by IHDA grants, Brooks said. The other $1 million is something the IHDA expects the Village of Progress and Kreider Services to raise, he said.

A formal grant application is due to the IHDA by Jan. 16.

“It’s important for Brion [Brooks] that, when he goes for the grant funding, that he shows that he’s got the support of those that are impacted, including our community,” Labash said, noting that the letter of support from the Village Board does that. “What we’re trying to do here is to say, ‘Listen, we support the project. We’ll work out the details when the time comes.’”

Part of the road forward involves rezoning the land where the Hill Street Neighborhood would be built.

The Mount Morris Planning Commission is considering recommending to the Village Board that the land – which currently is zoned for farming – be rezoned to multifamily residential with a variance allowing for the community center, said Jeff Bold, Planning Commission chairman.

Village trustees ultimately will have to vote on whether to approve any zoning changes.

A public hearing on the Hill Street Neighborhood’s zoning is set to be held during the Planning Commission’s Jan. 8 meeting.

The meeting will be held at Mount Morris Village Hall starting at 6:45 p.m., with a public hearing starting at 7 p.m.