Elgin will award $100,000 for historic rehabs

Elgin City Council members agreed to award $100,000 in grants to six local owners of historic homes during the Committee of the Whole meeting Wednesday night. The money is allocated through the 50/50 Historic Architectural Rehabilitation Grant Program, now in its 16th year.

Donna and Tom Leetz, owners of the O’Connor-Leetz Funeral Home, applied for $20,000 in grant funding — the maximum amount — for a project that will cost upward of $45,000. Members of the Elgin Heritage Commission Grant Review subcommittee ranked proposals for councilmen, marking the Leetz’s project as most qualified for the funding.

Jennifer Fritz-Williams, Elgin’s historic preservation specialist, said the program helps people restore original details with original materials.

“It provides that extra incentive for historic property owners to restore their homes back to the original historic condition,” Fritz-Williams said.

The Leetz family received grant funding in 2006 to do work on a side porch. This year, the money will go toward restoring the original porch back to the front of the home.

The couple will be working off an old photo from the 1950s showing the way the house used to look.

Besides columns that are made in Canada, Leetz said all of the materials will come from Elgin and all of the work will be done by Elgin companies.

She expects it to take a full year to complete the project.

“It’s a great opportunity for anybody in Elgin to apply to bring these old homes back to the way they used to be,” Leetz said.

The program began in 1995 and has allocated almost $1.7 million since then. The money comes from the Riverboat fund and has varied over the years but has been as high as $200,000, according to Fritz-Williams.

Property owners are eligible for up to $20,000 but must pay at least half of the project cost on their own.

Living in the historic district comes with restrictive guidelines, but Fritz-Williams said this grant program provides a perk.

“It is the carrot that comes with the stick of being in the historic district,” Fritz-Williams said.

Grant recipients have 18 months to complete their rehab work. Many projects include roof, siding and porch work.