This morning's Northwest Herald and yesterday's McHenry County Blog provide readers with plenty of humor, if you read between the lines. A battle royale is underway over the nearly-completed, new bleachers at Crystal Lake South High School.
A picture is worth 1,000 words. See the Northwest Herald article for the "whole story", right in one photo. You can see clearly the rear and the height of the new stands, which D-155 claims it needed for extra spectator seating.
Oh, and D-155 threw down the A.D.A. card, too. Just talk a look at the photo of the new bleachers. Notice how easy it will be for a person on crutches or in a wheelchair to get to the top row of the bleachers. That argument is like a sponge - sopping wet.
Crystal Lake's mayor, Aaron Shepley, says a stop-work order was issued. D-155 Supt. Jeff Puma says they didn't receive a stop-work order from the city. That's a simple one. Track it. Maybe it was "lost in the mail". Or maybe the dog ate it.
Is there one person who thinks the height of the bleachers will be reduced? Or that they will be moved to the required 50-foot setback? Or that the project size will be cut back? It's a done deal!
The City of Crystal Lake, by pussy-footing around as soon as construction started without the required City Permits, lost the battle, meaning that the residents whose properties abut the bleachers have lost value and lost enjoyment of their own property.
D-155's lawyer, Dean Krone, told the City of Crystal Lake that "municipalities cannot enforce zoning restrictions on state property" and that "cities cannot regulate areas of statewide concern."
OK, who holds the title to the real estate on which Crystal Lake South High School is located? Is it the State of Illinois?
When did the function or operations of D-155 become an area of "statewide concern"? Good try.
Since Crystal Lake doesn't want to spend taxpayer dollars fighting D-155, it should cut checks today to the property owners for their lost values. Say, about $100,000 each.
You never know who is interested…
3 months ago
1 comment:
A reader was kind enough to educate me today about school property.
"Some factual inaccuracies in your blog post.
"The local Boards of Education are considered to be part of the 'state' via the State Board of Education. Hence their property Is “state” property."
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