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Wait for housing too long from some seniors
(by Sue Reid - April 02, 2009)
Wait for housing too long from some seniors
By SUE REID
Solon resident Alfred Phaneuf said there appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel regarding the promise of a senior-citizens housing complex in the city. But it's been a long tunnel, he said.
"We're not talking something that is four, five or six years old," Mr. Phaneuf said of plans for the complex on Aurora Road, "but something that has been talked about for 10 or 12 years.
"We've been kind of wondering if we would live long enough to see it," Mr. Phaneuf, 81, said of himself and his wife, Helen, 85. "This has been a long time coming."
Gross Builders, of North Royalton, has committed to renewing construction work on the Carrington Court project, which includes single-family homes and apartments for senior citizens, within 30 days.
Solon voters approved zoning for senior housing to allow the project to move forward in November 2004.
"There's been a lot of seniors buried that would have been at the senior housing, had the housing been available," Mr. Phaneuf said. "We understand that it takes time."
Mr. Phaneuf said he and his wife have waited to move into the complex all these years and desire an apartment. The couple live in a four-bedroom colonial along with their 46-year-old son, who is learning disabled.
"The house is too big for us," Mr. Phaneuf said. They have lived in Solon for 20 years and have held off selling their home in anticipation of the senior complex, he said. "Obviously, if we would have sold our house, we would have moved someplace else. But by the time we decided to try to sell it, the housing market has not been that good."
Solon Senior Center Director Jill Frankel said that is the issue facing many seniors who are "anxiously awaiting the arrival" of the complex.
"Many have been waiting to move there since the project was first suggested, and they have remained in their houses and waited to put it on the market," Ms. Frankel said. "Now, with the market the way it is, they're nervous that they will be able to accomplish the move. It's like watching the clock. That second hand is moving very slowly."
Solon senior Margaret Dzurko said it has come down to a matter of timing for her.
"If they could have built two years ago, and I could have sold my house. I would have had a chance," Ms. Dzurko said. A 48-year resident of Solon, she lives on Bainbridge Road, where an upcoming road project will make it "pretty tough for me to sell my house," she said.
"I'm waiting to see how the timing will work out, when they'll be ready for occupancy and when I can sell my house," she said.
"I've held on," Ms. Dzurko said. "I've not moved into Twinsburg in their apartments, because I wanted to stay in Solon."
Former Solon resident Phyllis Bandera said she, too, wanted to wait but just could not. She and her husband, Joseph, moved to Solon in 1997 and lived in the Liberty Hill Apartments on the second floor. "There were no elevators, and my husband just could not do the steps anymore," she said.
"We were anxious for the senior housing to get up," Mrs. Bandera said. "In fact, we voted for it in Solon years ago, but we had to move, because he could not do the steps." The couple moved to the Arbor Glen senior housing complex in Twinsburg in 2004. Mr. Bandera has since died.
"We would have stayed in Solon," she said. "We were looking forward to the housing. We made a lot of friends there but just couldn't wait."
Ms. Bandera still belongs to the Solon Cenior Center to be with all of the friends she made, she said. "I have a lot of friends in Solon."
Mr. Phaneuf, who attended the groundbreaking for the senior complex last October and until recently sat on the senior advisory board at the senior center, said he has talked about the issue with a lot of seniors.
"We've lost a lot of seniors who have gone to Twinsburg for their senior housing," he said.
"We still want to do this," Mr. Phaneuf said of moving to the Solon complex, "but it's not going to be a tragedy if I don't do it in the next five months.
"It's great that it's finally getting off of dead center and things are happening," Mr. Phaneuf said. "You could see the ground is moving, and they're doing something. At least it's a good sign and something we appreciate."
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