Owners of a horse stable on La Grange Road in Palos Park are facing a flurry of opposition as the village’s Plan Commission considers their request to rezone their 10-acre property for an assisted-living center.
The Cook County Forest Preserve District, neighbors, horse owners and open-land activists are among those objecting to the proposed change.
District officials and others say the land is highly desirable because it links with 32 miles of equestrian trails in the 10,000 acres of woods in the Palos division of the forest preserves.
Joe Nevius, superintendent of the district, said, “We’ll be asking the Plan Commission to reject the requested zoning change.
“We have a large investment in terms of trails which connect to this in the Palos preserve, and we’re anxious to see the (equestrian) activity continue.”
Fitzjoy Farm, 12211 S. La Grange Rd., has been a boarding stable for horses since the 1920s. Its owners say it is increasingly difficult to run the business profitably because of mounting feed costs and other overhead.
The stable now boards about 115 horses belonging to riders who live in Chicago, DuPage County and the southwest suburbs, including Frankfort and New Lenox.
“Our expenses are horrific,” said Fitzjoy co-owner Barbara Joyce. “Our bill just to remove horse manure runs between $3,000 and $5,000 a month.”
“We’re all pretty much burned out in this business,” said Kathy Fitzpatrick, another owner. “It can become very difficult dealing with the public and their animals because it’s such a personal thing. A lot of women treat these horses as if they were their children, and to us it’s a business.”
Joyce said the stable would have to raise the monthly board from $310 to as high as $400 to keep operating. She said that some clients are well-to-do, but others cannot afford such an increase. Some work two jobs to afford keeping a horse, she said.
“Unless you know somebody who owns a horse, you have no idea of the tremendous affinity that exists between a horse and its owner,” she said. “It’s like no other relationship on the planet.”
Denver-based Assisted Living Investments has offered to buy the 10-acre parcel for $1.7 million. It wants to build a care and residential facility for the elderly on the site.
Joyce said Palos Park receives about $8,000 in property taxes from the stable because the land carries an agricultural exemption. She said the assisted-living center would generate about $375,000 in property taxes for the village.
Among those objecting to the rezoning is the Palos-Orland Conservation Committee.
Roberta Rudolph, its executive director, wrote to John Stroger, president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners and the Forest Preserve District, proposing to him that the stable not only be preserved, but that it be acquired by the district.
The stable “is the perfect addition to the adjacent 10,000 acres of Palos forest preserve property,” Rudolph wrote. “It is truly a jewel of the county due to its unique location and would be an asset for all Cook County residents to enjoy.”
Nevius said a purchase may be a possibility, but he noted the district only has about $10 million in its land-acquisition fund and half of that amount already is committed for other projects.
People who board their horses at the Fitzjoy stable are understandably upset about its possible demise, Joyce said. She said she expects a large turnout of people objecting to the proposed rezoning.
“I think the Army is going to have to be called out for this one,” Joyce said. “I’ve been trying to rent a suit of armor, but there doesn’t seem to be anything available.”
Her husband, Robert, another of the stable owners, said the proposed living center will improve the appearance of the site, which now is bare of grass.
“The building will take up 2 to 2 1/2 acres, and the rest will be landscaped,” Robert Joyce said. “Economically and aesthetically, it’s going to be an improvement.”
A fourth owner is Fitzpatrick’s ex-husband, Robert.
“It’s unfortunate, but the costs of operating as a stable are prohibitive,” he said. “We can’t keep operating at a loss, and I’m not going to.”
