CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — As a multi-million-dollar project gets off the ground in Urbana, business owners and people living in the area say they still have concerns that they want addressed.

Hope Village is a facility with 30 homes. Each one-bedroom home is designed to provide housing to people who are chronically homeless. But as construction rolls on, not everyone is happy with the way it’s being built.

There are two main issues: safety around a retention pond near Carver Drive and the type of vehicles driving on that same road.

“Anything to help the homeless, I’m all for,” said business owner Leroy Dee.

But, he’s got some concerns with Hope Village and how it’s being built. Dee owns a license-exempt home daycare off of Carver Drive about 100 feet from the site of Hope Village.

“When they add in danger, a neighborhood that’s already here and children, that’s out here playing and using this as a main entrance, it’s a problem,” said Dee.

In a statement, Hope Village says: “The Entrance off Carver Drive into the site is restricted to vehicle traffic only and all parking on carver drive is prohibited to construction workers.”

Dee and others WCIA spoke with said this isn’t happening.

“With the construction workers, with ply trucks, dump trucks, everything just back and forth all day where the kids can’t come out and play because of the traffic,” Dee said.

The other issue he has is with this retention pond. Hope Village said, “storm water detention is a city requirement for all residential and commercial development.” They say this was built to not put any more strain on the neighborhood’s storm water system.

“It’s right in my front yard,” Dee said. “You can see it.”

People on this road are also concerned there isn’t any type of barrier around the lake. Hope Village says the pond will be inside the gated community when it’s finished, and until then, a temporary fence has been put up. But on Thursday, the fence was down and had several areas to get in.

Robert Lewis is a former Urbana City Council member and engineer. He says he presented a different plan with the pond on the other side of the property in 2023.

“I did not change the configuration of their buildings at all, but I did relocate the pond so that it can be controlled not only away from children, but for maintenance and cleaning,” Lewis said.

But, the project moved in a different direction.

“It’s the fact that sometimes we can feel railroaded as it relates to how things went through and how they were processed,” said Champaign City Council member Davion Williams.

Hope Village said, “The safety and wellbeing of the community is a main priority for Hope Village. Project leaders say they’ve worked from the beginning to offer an open dialogue about the nonprofit’s objectives, including three open community hearings and many more direct touch points with residents to understand any concerns.”

They are also forming a neighborhood advisory committee within their bylaws to ensure neighborhood participation and involvement in the project. Hope Village said they’re also bringing improvements to the Carver Drive neighborhood like repairing streets and sidewalks. Project leaders say the construction is projected to finish in February.