Lincolnshire residents critical of animal hospital plans
The term NIMBY - an acronym for Not In My Back Yard - often is used to describe homeowners who publicly criticize construction projects they don't want in their neighborhood.
Very rarely does the nickname actually apply to a battle over a backyard. But for Lincolnshire resident Linda DeGuide, it's on the nose.
DeGuide and some of her neighbors oppose the proposed expansion of the Lincolnshire Animal Hospital, 420 Half Day Road. The hospital is behind DeGuide's North Hotz Road home.
Despite being a customer of the hospital for more than 30 years, she objects to the plan because, among other reasons, it calls for a new rear parking lot that would adjoin her property.
She also is concerned about additional animal noise - dogs barking, in particular - that a larger hospital could bring.
"We have concerns (about) safety, security, property values and quality of life," DeGuide said.
Animal hospital co-owner Stuart Clarke said he and his architect have been working with village planners for more than a year to ensure the proposal is right for the area.
"It has been an honor and privilege to provide health care for the pets of Lincolnshire and surrounding communities," he said in an e-mail. "The expanded facility would allow us to continue to provide the residents of Lincolnshire a hospital that can offer the standard of care in medicine they have come to expect."
The building plans call for the hospital, which opened in 1975, to grow to 5,200 square feet from 2,900 square feet. A rear parking lot for hospital staff, a space to walk hospital patients and new trees are among the other proposed improvements for the roughly 1-acre site, Clarke said.
The new trees, Clarke said, will provide "significant, year round screening for our neighbors," he said.
The village board was set to vote on the plan Feb. 9 but delayed a decision until Monday, Feb. 23. Officials requested the hospital team consider adding a fence around the rear parking lot and some additional landscaping.
Those elements could provide more security and a sense of privacy for the residents, Mayor Brett Blomberg said.
Such a fence could resolve the privacy issue, DeGuide said, but other concerns would remain. More cars could create noise and air pollution, she said, and a larger hospital building and parking lot could create drainage problems.
"I don't want my property to be part of the wetlands," she said, referring to nearby green space.
There's also the matter of the additional dog noise that might occur if the hospital expands and takes on more patients. DeGuide said she's put up with nighttime barking in the past, but is concerned it will worsen.
"We've been good neighbors," she said. "(But) now we're going to get more noise and more intrusion."
Lincolnshire resident Stuart Schwalb, who lives in a townhouse east of the animal hospital, is concerned about noise from garbage trucks and other vehicles going to and from the proposed rear lot.
The trees that would be planted on the site won't be big enough to act as environmental screens for 20 years, Schwalb said.
Monday's meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. at village hall, 1 Olde Half Day Road. If the requested fencing and landscaping changes are made, Blomberg expects the plan to pass.
Fighting: Village presses animal hospital to update plans