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Alvin T. Smith could have two kinds of neighbors – growing industries or growing families.

Having been dead for 125 years, Smith himself has little voice in the matter. However, the caretakers of the Forest Grove home he built in 1856 on what is now Elm Street, have expressed their enthusiasm for city officials’ plans to change the zoning surrounding the house from industrial to institutional.

Roger Nipp, secretary of the Friends of Historic Forest Grove, said officials have averted what could have been a nightmare on Elm Street. No one in the group wanted to see industrial development, he said.

“We were all really excited to hear what the city has planned,” said Nipp, whose group manages upkeep of the house. “This is exactly what we wanted.”

Nothing is finalized yet, but the effort is expected to keep 3.5 acres from being developed for industrial use.

Community Development Director Jon Holan said city officials want to buy the acreage directly adjacent to the A.T. Smith House on South Elm Street. Through a text amendment, officials could allow selected bits of industrial use. More likely, Holan said, city officials will opt for a map amendment – changing the entire parcel to an institutional zone so that parks and other recreational amenities could be developed.

“That would obviously be more in keeping with the nature of the house,” Holan said.

For now, community development staffers are drawing up plans and doing costs analyses, he added.

“It will be another month or two months before any of this comes before the zoning commission,” he said.

The A.T. Smith House was one of only two structures in Forest Grove documented for the Historic American Buildings Survey in the 1930s. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 by the Zurcher family, the owners at the time.

The remaining original windows in the classical Greek Revival-style home were restored in 2005, when the Friends of Historic Forest Grove bought the house and adjacent property. If city officials were to buy the property next door, they would relieve the volunteer group of a $210,000 loan from the city.

City Planner Dan Riordan said the current zoning prohibits recreational use. Changing the zoning could allow for not only parks but an RV park or community garden next to the historic home, he said.

Planning Commissioner Chairman Tom Beck said the property will not be used for industrial purposes by the owner, whether it’s the Friends of Historic Forest Grove or the city. Officials might as well change the zoning, he said.

That makes sense, Commissioner Carolyn Hymes said.

“A nonprofit owns it,” she said. “They’re trying to preserve something, which is phenomenal.”

Plans for zoning changes for the house come as part of a revamp of the city’s Comprehensive Plan, Holan said. That plan also includes creating incentives for developers to build more concentrated multifamily housing downtown.

Holan said that if a developer were to agree to build off-street parking or add a green space, the number of housing units allowed per acre on a project could jump from to 40 to 90.