Bob's Woodstock Motel facing multiple building, fire and health code violations

A Woodstock motel is facing multiple reported violations of health department regulations, city building and zoning rules, and fire department codes, and is named in a civil lawsuit from a former employee still living on the property, local government and court records show.

Bob’s Woodstock Motel, located on Lake Avenue behind the vacant Napoli’s Pizza building, has incurred multiple notices from three agencies that the building needs to be repaired and improved to ensure the health and safety of guests and staff.

“As you are aware this department, along with the Woodstock Fire Rescue District, Woodstock Police Department and the McHenry County Department of Health have been following up on concerns raised by your tenants,” Woodstock Building and Zoning Department code enforcement officer Rob Walkington wrote in an Oct. 19 letter to motel officials.

“The building department encourages you to complete an entire assessment of this property, correct the items listed below and make a sustained effort to address the appearance of this blighted property as well as upkeep on interior of the building and the units within to prevent further actions by this department and/or other jurisdictions,” Walkington wrote.

Elizabeth Espina, a property manager for Bob’s Motel, said motel owner Robert Chidester is trying to make repairs when he can.

“The building is like 50 years old, so you know things break down, things fall apart. It’s an old building,” Espina said. “He’s doing the best he can with what he’s got and with the finances that he is allowed to fix things.”

Bob’s Woodstock Motel is on the city's radar for potential redevelopment, Woodstock Building and Zoning Department Director Joe Napolitano said in an interview this month.

“Absolutely we try to identify areas in town that are in need of help, and we try to work with owners, work with developers to get these properties redeveloped," Napolitano said. "I don’t know if we have specifically reached out to talk to [Chidester] about selling and redeveloping the property. But we definitely would be interested in that.”

With the vacant Napoli’s Pizza site right in front of Bob’s Woodstock Motel, Napolitano said an opportunity could exist for a combined redevelopment effort.

The motel property is in the city’s second tax increment financing district, established in January 2019, which allows sales and property tax revenues generated within district boundaries to be dedicated to improvements in the area.

“That’s generally an incentive that we can use to assist a developer,” Napolitano said. “Anything that can increase the value of the property is great for the TIF. … If the current owner wants to make improvements to the property, we can work with them.”

Espina said the owner was unavailable for an interview for this article.

“I’m pretty sure he doesn’t know what he is going to do with the property a month from now or two months from now," she said. "Right now, he is just trying to survive day to day, with the economy the way it is and the whole coronavirus. He is just trying to run things day to day,” Espina said.

Since September, the motel has been cited by the city for violating rules requiring signs to be maintained in a safe, presentable and good structural condition; sidewalks, walkways, stairs and driveways and parking spaces to be kept in a proper state of repair and free of hazardous conditions; exterior walls to be free from holes, breaks and loose or rotting materials and weatherproof; windows, skylights and doors to be in sound, weather-tight conditions; and other regulations.

Walkington also listed as “cautioning issues” that the building's ceiling had staining “indicating the plausibility of past leaks,” and recommended the ongoing treatment of insecticide after a tenant submitted a video to the city of what appeared to be a cockroach moving toward a shower stall.

Another warning was given in regard to several areas of the building’s exterior decking, hand and guard rails leading up to motel units on the second floor “that appeared to be at or near the end of their life expectancy,” Walkington said, suggesting an assessment of the areas “prior to a failure of the assemblies.”

Woodstock Fire Protection District last year cited the property for not having a working fire alarm, which was resolved in February, according to fire department records obtained by the Northwest Herald.

But the firefighting agency returned to the property Oct. 9 and found the motel had violated fire code rules requiring electrical wiring and components to be in repair. The property was also cited for holes in the ceiling or walls that needed to be patched and for fire extinguishers on the property that were out of date, records show.

Plus, the county health department in September 2019 found public health department violations that put the building “in a condition prejudicial to the health and safety of the public,” records show.

That agency’s report instructed the property owner to properly dispose of filth and litter, and to address mold-like substances or conditions conducive to the growth of mold-like substances.

By October 2019, those issues had been remedied, according to a report of a follow-up inspection by the county health department.

In January, another inspection revealed violations of health codes for the harborage of animals or vermin, according to county health department records. That problem was corrected by February.

Health department inspections Oct. 14 and 16, after allegations of waste accumulation and an issue with indoor air pollution at the motel, resulted in the agency declaring that further review would be needed to evaluate the complaints.

Photos included with last month’s health department report show there were non-active water leaks found in two units as well as a “moderately saturated carpet” in one of them, deteriorating flooring adjacent to a refrigerator in a kitchen, a non-active water leak in a kitchen closet ceiling, visible outdoor light through the kitchen sink drawer, a shower head in disrepair and a warped floor beneath a bathroom toilet.

The motel is also the target of a lawsuit filed last month by Emilie Graham in McHenry County small claims court alleging harassment and allegting that Chidester owes Graham $10,000 due to being wrongfully terminated as a motel employee.

Espina, the property manager, said there is no basis to the lawsuit.

No decisions had been made on the lawsuit as of Monday.

Graham, who made several of the complaints acted upon this year by the municipal, fire and health departments, has remained living on the property in what she and Espina described as the manager’s quarters, even since Graham was fired Sept. 30.

Graham pleaded guilty last year to a Class 3 felony aggravated identity theft charge, according to McHenry County court records. She was paid “roughly” $50 a week after being hired by Bob's Woodstock Motel, Graham wrote in an email. She and her husband were also allowed to reside rent-free in the manager’s quarters for months this year, Espina said.

“We were expected to be available seven days/week, 24 hours/day. If we were not we were yelled at and threatened with termination and homelessness,” Graham wrote in the email.

Espina said the couple is still living on the property and refusing to leave despite repeated requests they exit. Graham has interfered with workers and motel ownership as they have tried to fix the issues cited by local authorities, Espina said.

Woodstock police have been called multiple times to the property for disputes this year but have determined the issues are civil in nature, not criminal, Deputy Chief Jeff Parsons said.

The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office is following Gov. JB Pritzker’s moratorium and guidelines on not performing evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, sheriff’s office spokeswoman Sgt. Aimee Knop said.