Now that Gurnee trustees have rejected plans for a homeless shelter in the village, perhaps they can prod someone in code enforcement to take a look at the deteriorating motel which had been eyed for the project. Yellow caution tape outside the front of the building can’t be good sign.
While Gurnee folks are doing that, Waukegan officials should get off the fence and figure out what to do with the boarded-up and run-down old Ramada Inn on Green Bay Road. The property was the site of a May 1 fire, has been home to squatters and a murder scene.
Owners of the once-popular hotel in Waukegan, now surrounded by ugly chain-link fencing, are seeking to sell the building, but there looks like few buyers are lined up as the issue remains in court. Some opponents of the Gurnee fixed-site homeless plan offered the Ramada location as an alternate.
They suggested Lake County PADS should take over the run-down hotel, improve the site, turn it into a shelter for the unhoused and move its headquarters from Grand Avenue, east of Lewis Avenue, to the Ramada. During public hearings on the Gurnee project pushed by PADS, opponents contended it would be cheaper than refurbishing the dingy FairBridge Inn in the long run.
Perhaps, but with Gurnee trustees passing up the proposed $5.5 million taxpayer-funded shelter for the unhoused by a 3-2 vote on Aug. 19, PADS officials will need to find a new location for 90 persons as their plan initially entailed. The Ramada could be one place; another suggested site is one of the Gurnee motels, one being used by PADS for emergency housing in the southeast corner of Grand Avenue and the Tri-State Tollway. Waukegan officials recently approved a former TraveLodge Inn on North Lewis Avenue, nearly in Beach Park, for a 64-unit fixed-site homeless shelter for families.
With Gurnee Trustee Kevin Woodside, currently the volunteer president of PADS, abstaining because of a conflict of interest, the special-use zoning text amendment needed a 4-1 vote to be approved for the building at Grand Avenue and Waveland Street, close to Route 41, in the village’s East Grand Gateway district. Mayor Tom Hood also recused himself during the vote on the issue.
In the end, trustees Jeanne Balmes (who acted as mayor pro tem in Hood’s absence), Greg Garner, and Cheryl Ross voted in favor of the PADS plan, which received a negative vote from the village zoning board; trustees Quin O’Brien and Karen Thorstenson were the two opposed. Without the 4-1 margin, the proposition failed and trustees didn’t take up the special-use permit for the PADS proposal.
The issue brought out a groundswell of opposition from those in the vicinity of the motel. Like Riverwoods residents against turning the Baxter International headquarters at the Tri-State and Lake-Cook Road into a warehouse district, it was another win for homeowners.
Such movements usually don’t fade away. The issue could have an impact on the 2025 Gurnee village elections where the mayor’s post and the seats of three trustees (Balmes, Thorstenson and Woodside) are up on the April municipal ballot.
One opponent said in an e-mail at least one member of the opposition is planning to run for trustee; others are eyeing a run for Lake County Board in 2026. “We need someone who is truly invested in this community and has our best interest at heart,” they said, adding opponents are “looking forward to the upcoming election.”
For PADS officials and proponents of the Gurnee homeless inn, it’s back to the drawing board and time to regroup. If the project failed in Gurnee, one can bet it isn’t going to receive warm welcomes in other Lake County communities.
Yet, as one proponent said in an e-mail: “These shelter projects are a paradigm-shifting opportunity to fundamentally change how we perceive unhoused people and deal with homelessness in Lake County. Moreover, it could change the way we as a county community view homelessness: As a rough patch in the road of life rather than something to be stigmatized and shamed.”
Well said, but that didn’t convince two Gurnee trustees the homeless shelter would be a good idea for the village and its community. “Community” is a vague noun which can be amorphic, depending on one’s point of view.
Homelessness and its causes are complex subjects. Just not one officials and opponents of the proposed unhoused inn want to tackle for the Gurnee community.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor. sellenews@gmail.com. X: @sellenews
