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Chicago's largest nonprofit addiction treatment service, the Haymarket Center, sued the suburb of Itasca, Illinois, on Tuesday for rejecting its plans to build a facility there.
In the lawsuit, officials with the nonprofit said they wanted to convert a 240-bed former hotel into a new treatment center, but Itasca officials "strategically fostered, intentionally contributed to, and were unduly negatively influenced by this 'Not in my backyard' opposition."
The lawsuit accused the city of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, which protects those recovering from addiction from discrimination.
Many residents of Itasca have been against the Haymarket expansion for the past two years, with some expressing worry over a possible increase in crime, lost tax earnings and additional burden on the town's emergency service, which has only one ambulance.
Itasca Mayor Jeff Pruyn said it was not discrimination, but a fear that a town like Itasca, which has about 9,000 residents, would not be able to handle the strain of a center like this that made officials reject the expansion.
However, the Haymarket lawsuit said it had attempted to ease some of these concerns, such as hiring a private ambulance and having 24-hour medical personnel on site.
In November, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said drug overdoses spiked during the pandemic, registering more than 100,000 overdose deaths from April 2020 to April 2021—a U.S. record for a 12-month stretch. It was an increase of nearly 30% from the roughly 78,000 deaths over the same period the year before, the CDC reported.
Opponents to the expansion have held street marches in Itasca and handed out yard signs that read, "No Haymarket."
A message from the Associated Press seeking comment left for the Itasca village government Tuesday morning wasn't immediately returned.
After some 35 hearings over two years, Itasca's Plan Commission and the Village Board voted unanimously late last year against approving Haymarket's plans. Wheaton, another Chicago suburb, rejected a similar 2018 proposal for a Haymarket branch.
Before Tuesday's filing in U.S. District Court in Chicago, Pruyn and other city officials denied that discrimination underpinned their opposition, saying the proposed facility didn't comply with criteria applied to everyone.
Pruyn said at a hearing that his primary concern was a financial one. He contended that Itasca, one of the region's smallest communities, "was going to have to absorb 100% of the cost, risk and burden of servicing a facility that would be accepting residents beyond Itasca."
"We learned more and more about the immense size and scope of Haymarket's plan, and I kept coming back to one question: How could Itasca reasonably handle a facility like this?" he said. He concluded that "Haymarket's request on our village is unreasonable."
Interest in the plan in Itasca was intense from the start. One early hearing in 2019 at a high school gym that was meant to give the public a chance to comment was postponed because the venue couldn't accommodate the more than 1,300 people who showed up.
Some residents and regional leaders supported the Haymarket plans, saying a dearth of facilities outside major cities makes treatment for suburbanites less accessible. During one Itasca protest, a woman who supported the facility stood as protesters passed, holding a picture of her son who died of an overdose.
Pressure on Itasca won't only come from the new civil litigation.
Two months ago, Chicago-based U.S. Attorney John Lausch sent a letter to Itasca's mayor telling him that prosecutors are investigating whether the city violated federal anti-discrimination laws in rejecting Haymarket's proposal. The letter included a three-page list of documents investigators sought, including copies of communications between Itasca officials.
Haymarket says that between 2017 and 2018, nearly 2,000 people recovering from addictions who reside in communities outside Chicago sought treatment at its Chicago facility, which included hundreds from the Itasca area, the lawsuit says.
Those unable to pay for treatment at for-profit centers are particularly vulnerable, according to the filing. It says up to 30% of Haymarket patients have no insurance or rely on state-funded programs, and around 70% depend on Medicaid.
Haymarket cites figures that only some 10% of those who qualify for such services actually get it.
The lawsuit names, among others, the village, Pruyn and the Itasca Plan Commission as defendants. It seeks a court order allowing the facility to open and also asks for compensatory and punitive damages, as well as the payment of attorneys' fees.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
