St. Charles sues to check out 35-year project

In 1975, Gerald Ford was president and a gallon of gasoline was about 36 cents.

A long time has passed since then, which also was the year St. Charles officials say a homeowner began a renovation project for his home and has subsequently refused to let the city inspect his work.

Kane County Judge Michael Colwell on Nov. 30 will hear arguments from the city and the homeowner, Clifford McIlvaine, after city officials filed a lawsuit and search warrant for McIlvaine's home at 605 Prairie St. on the city's near west side.

McIlvaine believes the city is picking on him and contends that just because he was granted a building permit, it gives the city no right to inspect his home or property.

“We might even end up in the Supreme Court because I'm mad as hell,” he said.

McIlvaine declined to say what he was building, but attributed the long time frame to the fact that he's doing the work himself.

“I'm an independent thinker,” he said. “I like to build things and build them so they last. When you build something fast and cheap, it destroys itself.”

The lawsuit cites neighbor complaints and exterior code violations for McIlvaine's home and says those factors, combined with the duration of the project, are “reasonable cause” to believe more construction code violations exist inside the home.

Some examples of outside violations are that he has parked a box trailer in his yard for 11 years and has parked vehicles under a tarp outside of the garage and in the yard for 12 years, according to the lawsuit.

Brian Townsend, St. Charles city administrator, said the city generally tries to work with homeowners to correct code violations.

Townsend said McIlvaine has been uncooperative for several years and the city has received numerous complaints from neighbors about the home.

Townsend said this case is the first in his memory that the city pushed for a search warrant to inspect construction.

“It's a very rare step, but we are dealing with a very rare case,” he said. “Our primary, secondary and tertiary goal is compliance. We want Mr. McIlvaine to complete the project, complete the project in a reasonable time, and fix the violations we identify. This is not about money for us.”