Elgin's historic David C Cook mansion closer to becoming a home again
While the David C Cook office building on Grove Avenue continues to sit vacant, the mansion once occupied by the company's founder may be on the verge of becoming one of the most occupied single-family homes in the city.
Elgin planning and zoning commissioners voted 4-2 on Monday to recommend approval of plans to convert the full 16,000-square-foot, 12-room home into living space for the current owners, Sam and Ramona Jones, and their six sons along with their extended families. The city council must next vote to approve the plan before action is final.
The couple purchased the property two years ago. It most recently operated as the Bowes Retirement Home but sat vacant from 2010 until the Jones family moved in.
The family doesn't plan any major changes to the exterior of the property other than the removal of the chain-link fence and boarded up windows. That spikes any need for a historic preservation review even though the property, at 105-115 N. Gifford St., is within the city's historic district.
The family is living in a building along the north property line at the site and will continue to do so while renovating the mansion. The city staff praised the plan, but it didn't pave the way for a unanimous approval recommendation.
"We do believe this is a very good reuse of what was constructed as a single-family home back into a single-family use," said Damir Latinovic, a senior planner with the city. "This is essentially a deconversion of a nursing home into a large, single-family home. If restored properly, it can be a significant positive for this immediate area."
But some commissioners had concerns about the number of people possibly living on the property as well as the number of vehicles those people might have to park in the paved but mostly open areas of the site. There is no garage at the property. That's a deviation from city rules about single-family homes the city council would have to eventually approve for the Jones' plans to move forward.
"The occupancy of potentially seven families, and potentially, at a minimum, 14 vehicles because most families have at least two vehicles - is there enough space?" Commissioner Loretta Revesz asked,
Ramona Jones said there is.
"But that's a plan that we have further down the line," Jones said. "That's just a wish that we have. Right now it's three of our boys living with us with a daughter-in-law and the two grandbabies. So all of the boys are not living with us at this time."
Latinovic told the commission the property has a unique amount of land that vehicles could park on. The city staff doesn't consider the future potential parking needs to be a concern.
Other commissioners expressed surprise that there were no comments for or against the plans from any neighbors. Commissioner Karin Jones suggested that may be because neighbors already made their feelings known when the Jones family bought the property.
"The Gifford Park Association, where this is located, is a very active community," Jones said. "They would certainly be heard if there was opposition, but when this was initially purchased they did come out in support of the redevelopment."