The way Mayor Thomas Menzel sees it, Rolling Meadows has two pressing needs: affordable housing for the elderly and day care for scores of young working families.
And he thinks it might be possible to meet both demands in one facility.
“We need to do something on both,” Menzel said. “You might find a nice quality of life with that structure. There would be a lot of giving back and forth, and it could be very healthy and beneficial.”
His perceptions are borne out by the fact the city’s population is aging, and soaring housing costs and rising property taxes are pricing many elderly residents out of the community.
Aiming for a solution, volunteers from the group Rolling Meadows Tomorrow have been meeting with seniors to discuss housing issues.
In addition, a recent informal survey found a growing demand among the local work force for flexible and affordable day care. This demand is certain to intensify as more people leave welfare and find jobs, many of which are entry-level positions with irregular hours.
“There definitely was a need for child care and affordable child care in Rolling Meadows,” said Linda Liles Ballantine, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce.
Meanwhile, a task force of business, community and city leaders recently completed a preliminary day-care needs assessment survey.
The survey, which for the first time quantified the local demand for flexible and affordable day care, found that 14 of the 21 companies that responded need day care for their employees. Also, the parents of at least 107 children said they require day care to work in Rolling Meadows.
Many of the respondents said they need a day-care center that is open later in the evening and on weekends. Several said they required day-care service 24 hours a day.
Task force members envision constructing an around-the-clock day-care center that low- and middle-income families could afford. Under the plan, local businesses would subsidize care for their employees’ children.
The suburb has seven day-care facilities and three after-school programs for students. All 10 programs are full, said Sandy Eddy, parent services associate for the Day Care Action Council of Illinois.
“That’s not even talking about evening care and weekend care,” Eddy said. “With the welfare-to-work initiative, people will be working retail and shift work, and we need to develop more options for them.”
Task force members are doing a financial analysis of opening and operating a center, touring other day-care programs and looking for a potential location.
“This is something being offered to the Rolling Meadows business community,” Ballantine said. “It’s how we can help our businesses stay in business and compete.”
As city leaders begin to debate taking action on day care or affordable housing for seniors, there will be obstacles to overcome.
Rolling Meadows is landlocked and real estate prices are sky high, making it difficult for the city to identify a site for building affordable senior housing. This leaves Rolling Meadows with the choice of building a facility on land it already owns, or possibly constructing a taller structure on a smaller lot.
A joint day care-senior housing facility could bring down the costs.
One place Menzel wants to consider for such a project is Rolling Meadows’ old public works garage on Central Road. The city owns the building, which is currently used for storage, but the Rolling Meadows Park District owns the land.
If the location is used, the city would have to demolish the building. But Menzel said he’s not sure the site is adequate for both seniors and day care.
