The developer of Hunt Club Condominiums in St. Charles agreed to pay $100,000 to settle a federal lawsuit that charged the building was not accessible to wheelchair users.
RSC Development Group, headed by Richard Lettvin of Glenview, will pay $95,000 into a fund that may be used to retrofit condominiums in the two-building, 86-unit development. The developer also will pay $5,000 in fines.
The U.S. Justice Department filed suit against the developer in U.S. District Court in Chicago after testers discovered parts of the buildings were too narrow for wheelchairs, a violation of the Fair Housing Act.
Efforts to reach Lettvin and his attorney for comment were unsuccessful.
It is not known whether any people with disabilities lived at or were turned away from Hunt Club since the condos went on the market in 1995, but Ralph Boyd Jr., head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division, said the issues in the case are of growing concern.
“As the number of our elderly citizens increases, the need for housing built with accessibility features required by the Fair Housing Act becomes more pronounced,” Boyd said. “Builders, architects and engineers must understand that failing to make apartments and condominiums accessible discriminates against persons with disabilities and violates the law.”
The Hunt Club developer must begin payments to the Justice Department 45 days after a judge approves the settlement, which was filed with the court May 9.
Residents who need to renovate their units for wheelchair use can apply to the Justice Department for money from the retrofit fund.
Working with the John Marshall Law School Fair Housing Clinic and Access Living, a Chicago-based disability rights organization, federal investigators sent testers to Hunt Club to inquire about wheelchair accessibility, according to the Justice Department.
The testers found doors within many of the units were too narrow and bathrooms too small for wheelchairs. The bathrooms also lacked reinforced walls for the installation of grab bars used by disabled people.
Recently, the developer of a Naperville apartment complex settled a similar case for $423,000.
