NewDay lawyer says Joliet plan to drive out sex offenders won’t work

An attorney for the company that owns the Joliet apartment building housing sex offenders said the city plan to build a park nearby will not drive them out.

The City Council next week may vote on the acquisition of a house that would be torn down to make room for a city park near the apartment building in order to trigger a state law on residency restrictions.

Sara Garber, an attorney for Lake Zurich, Illinois-based NewDay Apartments, said the creation of a city park will not lead to sex offenders no longer living in the building.

“Most individuals required to register as a sex offender are not subject to the 500-foot restriction referenced by the mayor,” Garber said in an email. “Adding a park within 500 feet of NewDay may change the name of the tenants at NewDay, but it will not stop NewDay from housing registrants there.”

Mayor Bob O’Dekirk at the July 19 Joliet City Council meeting announced the city’s intent to buy property within 500 feet of the apartments to build a park that would put registered sex offenders living in the Cora Street building in violation of state law barring offenders from being within 500 feet of a public park.

City Manager James Capparelli said Thursday that NewDay was “trying to parse” by claiming that registered offenders could continue to live in the building in the 1000 block of Cora Street.

He said offenders who left the building and went onto a public street could face arrest if children are playing in the park.

“If there’s a kid in that park and you’re within 500 feet of that park, you’re in trouble,” Capparelli said.

The city has been exploring options since residents in the Cunningham neighborhood raised objections after learning that NewDay acquired the building in the middle of the residential area to use as housing for sex offenders.

A neighborhood meeting in June drew about 100 people, including the mayor and several city council members.

O’Dekirk at the council meeting said the city continued to explore other means of moving sex offenders out of the house.

“The effect is something we’re not going to tolerate in the city of Joliet,” O’Dekirk said.

Garber in her email said the number of registered sex offenders living in the Cora Street apartment house is minimal when compared to the number of registrants in Joliet and throughout the state of Illinois.”

It is believed there are either five or six registered sex offenders living in the Cora Street apartments.

Garber said there are more than 30,000 people on the Illinois sex offender registry.

According to the Illinois Department of Corrections, 700 registered sex offenders have been placed in settings like the one on Cora Street created by NewDay to find residences for offenders serving prison time beyond their sentences because of state restrictions on where they can live.

Those restrictions include multiple offenders living in one apartment building, but a federal judge overturned the law in a lawsuit on behalf of sex offenders serving time beyond their prison sentences.

Garber in her email said placing sex offenders within one building provides an opportunity for safe housing for the offenders and better protection for the community.

Sex offenders at the Cora Street apartment house, she said, are under the supervision of the Department of Corrections, receive “frequent visits” from parole officers, attend mandatory therapy, and must wear GPS monitors.

“Additionally, NewDay Apartments has a selective screening process and security measures in place to protect their residents and the community, including security cameras on the premises,” Garber said.