Senior group homes to say open in Geneva

Two Geneva group homes for the elderly will be allowed to stay open, but with fewer people, while the owner obtains a state license for the homes.

Robin's Nest homes, at 1522 and 1819 Fargo Blvd., will be allowed to have three ambulatory residents living on the first floors of the two-story houses in the Eagle Brook subdivision, according to a settlement reached with the city of Geneva and the homes' owner Friday. Plus, the owner's grandmother will be allowed to continue living in one of the homes.

Currenty, seven women live in one of the homes and one woman and two men live in the other.

The city agreed to "expedite" the building permit process by "immediately addressing" permit applications, according to the order.

The city had asked for an injunction in January to close the homes, contending they were unsafe because of the lack of sprinklers and other violations.

The owner, Dr. Robin Ross of St. Charles, has said she was treated unfairly by the city. She and her husband, William Horvath, bought the first home in July 2006 and the second in July 2007.

At that time, the state did not regulate board-and-care homes for the elderly. All that was required was that the homes be registered with the state Department on Aging, which she did.

In October 2007, a new state law took effect, requiring licensing of board-and-cares and shifting the regulatory burden onto the Illinois Department of Public Health. On Nov. 14, the city sent a notice to her that she was in violation and, in December, it asked her to cease operations or risk being fined. At the end of November, Ross applied to the public health department to run the homes.

"Nobody wants these homes safer than I do. My own 97-year-old grandmother lives there. I started this business because I genuinely care about seniors and I believe they need an alternative to the institutions that are available in this area," Ross wrote in an e-mail to the Daily Herald in January.

That may be, but Mayor Kevin Burns said he believes Ross should have done the work before ever allowing a person to move in.

"She had a moral obligation to bring those up to code," Burns said.