A K-9 stadium - in your lifetime?

I'm still laughing over Monday's article in the Northwest Herald about the K-9 baseball field. That one was worthy of framing.

Why?

Merryman site manager Rich Zirk was quoted as saying, "They're (the K-9 team dreamer-uppers) one wealthy baseball fan away from being open." Man! I am really stretching to avoid a candid response to that one, and it wouldn't be polite!"

I'll give the writer of the article a break; she hasn't been on the Woodstock beat very long. She wrote, "the idea was to have the ball field open by this year." Nahhh, Chelsea... please go back and read the pitch to the City Council. That pitch should have been a called strike or hit foul down the sidelines. Instead, it resulted in a home-run for EquityOne Sports Development and Merryman.

The pressure was put on the City Council and Mayor to rush through an approval. There was a land deal by Merryman that "had" to be made - and made fast. But definitely not for the City's benefit. So the Council rushed it through with what was probably a record-breaking number of Conditions - fifty (50) of them. Whoever heard of rushing through a development with 50 Conditions??? I didn't like it then, and I don't like it now.

When was that? Fall of 2009? Wasn't opening day to be in June 2010? Well, that one came and went. And so did 2011. And so will 2012.

The developers, like those trying to push through a project in Lakewood, are wanting to play with OPM. You know that team; right? OPM - the Other People's Money team. Not their own money; somebody else's money.

Oh, and that "one wealthy baseball fan"? There's a reason he's wealthy, and why he'll stay that way. He avoids letting others get rich at his expense!

But let me thank the Northwest Herald for showing readers what Merryman has really done to the land behind the berm they built to keep it out of view. I'm reminded of clear-cutting projects. They leave a row of trees along the highway, so that passersby cannot see the devastation just beyond.

Resident critiques City Council

Woodstock resident and businessowner Mark Indyke wrote the following letter about last week's Woodstock City Council vote. The meeting was on February 3 (rather than on February 1).

To the Editor:

The City Council at the February 1^st meeting voted four to two (Councilmen Ahrens and Councilwoman Dillon dissented, Councilman Saladin recused himself) in favor of a negotiated version of the Plan Commission’s  recommendations to amend the special use gravel permit at the Merryman site.  The negotiated amendment eliminated virtually all of the Commissions stricter safe guards and penalties.   The most disturbing changes are as follows:

The Plan Commission version required the ‘Owner to provide the City with copies of testing records, and documentation required by the Environmental Protection Agency pertaining to fill materials. Such information shall be provided on a monthly basis. In addition, the Owner shall provide the City with an annual report documenting all material to the Property during the previous year along with confirmation of required testing’. The amended version states that the ‘Owner shall provide the City with reasonable access to all testing records and documentation pertaining to material deposited on the site’.

The Plan Commission version provided that the Owner ‘shall collect measurements to ground water elevation at designated sample locations and collect groundwater samples a minimum of one time a month. Groundwater samples shall be tested by an independent lab facility approved by the City. All measurements and lab testing results shall be submitted to the City monthly, no later than 30 days following the end of the month’. The amended version states that :  ‘The Owner shall collect measurements to groundwater elevation at designated sample locations and collect groundwater samples in accordance with McHenry County standards, but no less than once per year’. McHenry County standards require testing only once per year.  ‘Groundwater samples shall be tested by an independent lab facility approved by the County. All measurements and lab results shall be submitted to the City on later than 5 days following their receipt by the Owner’.

The Plan Commission version provided penalties and enforcement of violations of any provisions of the Special Use Ordinance and a time table to cure the violations. This was eliminated in the negotiated version. The Plan Commission also recommended further stringent parameters for submission of documentation, property inspection, dust control and spillage, truck coverage, maintenance of Lilly Pond Road, and barrier construction which were not included.

Unless the Council members who voted for the negotiated version can assure their constituents that they are 100% certain that their action will guarantee compliance and the safety of our water supply and environment, I believe their action was short sited and irresponsible.

Gravel pit trucks violate state laws

At last week's Woodstock City Council meeting on the Merryman Aggregates gravel pit, reference was made to numerous traffic law violations by trucks leaving the mining site. Trucks exit the pit onto Lily Pond Road at the east end of the project.

All of them now must go south to U.S. 14, because the Woodstock City Council decided Thursday night to prohibit northbound gravel-hauler traffic on Lily Pond Road, which dead-ends at McConnell Road. This new Condition on the Special Use Permit will likely be ignored by drivers, many or most of whom are probably independent contractors. Once they leave the property, does Merryman really have any control over them?

Local residents have complained about the noise of trucks early in the morning before opening hours of the pit. They have also complained about dust, debris dropped from or falling off trucks on Lily Pond Road, and untarped loads. It was stated at the meeting that Merryman has erected signs, warning drivers to tarp their loads. And if they don't?

But the major traffic problem is at the intersection of U.S. 14 and Lily Pond Road.

There is no doubt that loaded, heavy, slow-moving, gravel-hauling trucks have a hard time pulling out into U.S. 14, whether the drivers intend to turn right or left. A line of southbound trucks (and cars) builds up behind the first truck at the stop sign.

The drivers have figured this one out. A westbound truck driver, heading to the pit, will stop (unnecessarily and illegally) in the westbound traffic lane and wait while the southbound driver watches for an opening in eastbound traffic. An eastbound gravel truck driver will then stop and block eastbound traffic.

Then a whole line of gravel trucks will turn out of Lily Pond Road, convoy-style, while U.S. 14 traffic is stopped (illegally blocked by the two trucks). I have witnessed this maneuver.

The westbound truck remains stopped, so that the eastbound truck driver can make his left turn, to go north on Lily Pond Road and enter the pit. And then the westbound driver turns right, proceeds to the pit entrance and turns in.

The Beat 24 car of the Woodstock Police Department can't spend its day there, waiting for violations. Plus, the first driver to spot it will alert all the others. What a perfect place for photo enforcement!

However, the Woodstock Police Department, McHenry County Sheriff's Department and Illinois Secretary of State (SOS) Police could put their heads together and figure out an enforcement plan. Use the police motorcycles of the City and of the County in good weather. Use unmarked cars. Get the SOS Police there. They are the truck-enforcement agency of the State Police.

Or maybe some local vigilantes will figure it out. We can arm ourselves with videocameras, still cameras with long lenses, tape recorders and notepads. We will be able to identify drivers and take photos of their faces. We'll record truck identification. Then we can ask for the Woodstock Police Department and the McHenry County Sheriff's Department to issue tickets, and we can go to court to act as witnesses for the prosecution.

Citizens should not have to assume the responsibility for enforcement of traffic laws. But we shall, if the police aren't effective.

Merryman is right to resist City

Much as I hate siding with Merryman Aggregate in its resistance to (or rejection of) the desires of the City of Woodstock to fiddle with the Ordinance by which the City approved a gravel pit two years ago, after reading the December 2nd Plan Commission Minutes and today's article in the Northwest Herald (www.nwherald.com/2010/12/20/woodstock-wants-changes-to-merryman-permit/an9wwy6/), I'm going to have to take up with Merryman.

First though, Merryman should abide by the conditions in the Special Use Permit. That would mean no early hours' movement of noisy trucks on its site, ensuring that loads are tarped before leaving the property (state law, may not be a Condition), no dumping of outside fill without permission, keeping Lily Pond Road clean, etc.) and resolving other reasonable complaints from the neighbors, who seem to be keeping a closer eye on activity than City employees.

In October, as I recall, the City Council told the City staff to report on what's going on. That report was prepared and submitted to the City. The Plan Commission met on December 2. Minutes of that long meeting can be read at the Woodstock Public Library or City Hall in the packet for the December 21st City Council meeting.

When two parties make a deal, it is only fair for each to rely on the terms of the deal, unless they can agree to change it. The City is trying to jam changes down the throat of Merryman Aggregate. Merryman is right to object and resist.

The Plan Commission Minutes report the Mayor's words to calm tempers and soothe feelings. I may have to make another trip to the Library to read again what he said. As I recall, it was along the lines of "Play nice, everyone."

According to the Northwest Herald this morning, “'I think it’s incumbent upon municipalities to constantly be reviewing various agreements that are made with individuals or developers that are aggressively pursuing projects in the city,' Mayor Brian Sager said.

"He said the review was part of protocol and planning to ensure that projects were proceeding on time and that all terms of the agreement were met.

“'It was part of the normal review process that we did that in the first place,'” Sager said.

No, municipalities cannot "constantly be reviewing various agreements", if they think they can just try to change them and add restrictions. Also, the review done in October was not part of the "normal review" that the City did before it rushed through Ordinance 08-O-79. October's review was caused by neighboring residents' complaints.

There are many problems with that whole deal. The Plan Commission thinks that Merryman is trying to distance itself from the stadium deal. Financing for the baseball stadium isn't showing up. The U.S. Corps of Engineers is protecting the wetlands, which must have been identified before the deal even went to the table. The veterans' treatment/care center talk seems to have evaporated. There are mountains of dirt to rival the Rockies. Is the groundwater at risk? Is Merryman extracting below the top of the water table, whereas it was not to encroach within two feet of the water table (as I recall)?

Some chatter about a Metra station is included now; where did that come from? The possible Metra station is at Ridgefield, isn't it? Does the City now think there might be a second Metra stop between Crystal Lake and Woodstock? Metra needs riders to consider a stop. No riders; no stop.

Warning issued to gravel pit operator

At Tuesday night's Woodstock City Council session a stop-work order was threatened, if the gravel pit operator doesn't come up with a solid plan for developing the site along U.S. 14 that is to be the home of a baseball stadium and the County fairgrounds.

The Woodstock City Council is frustrated with the slow progress on the rest of the site, after they rushed to approve the gravel extraction request of Merryman Aggregate a year ago. The Council acknowledged that it had altered its usual approval plan by granting the extraction approval with 51 conditions, rather than requiring that the conditions be met before approving Merryman's request.

Now the Council is finding out why it shouldn't have done that, and perhaps the lesson has been learned. I don't think I was the only one who questioned the rush.

On Tuesday night the phrase "gravel pit" was used. This should create a huge yellow flag at City Hall. The extraction operation there is not supposed to be a "pit."

But when you look at the new "mountains" east of Woodstock, don't you have to wonder just where all that dirt is coming from? Is it really coming just from scraping the ground down to the rock that Merryman wants? And just when will those "mountains" be leveled? Or will they?

They seem to be about where Merryman would like to move the stadium and fairgrounds. They will have to be leveled, unless ball players are going to get a lot of exercise chasing flyballs downhill and then running back up to throw out a runner. And will a hill climb replace the demolition derby at the County Fair?

The City Council established deadlines for specific development actions by Merryman. One Councilman (Dick Ahrens, I believe) suggested that the City might issue a stop-work order on the extraction business, if Merryman doesn't get cracking with progress. That's Progress, not just Talk.

The threat of a stop-work order did not go un-noticed by Merryman's representative, and I'm sure the Councilmen didn't miss his response that I picked up on as, "Oh, yeah? See you in court, if you try to stop us."

Stadium update

And now the news that Woodstock has been waiting for!

Will Woodstock have a baseball stadium in the lifetime of anyone now living in Woodstock?

Rick Zirk, representing Merryman Aggregate, presented a revised plan to the City Council tonight as "information" for them. (To enlarge the drawing, click on it; then click the "Back" button on your browser to return here.)

Zirk said that Merryman had two letters from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that the wetlands were not under their jurisdiction. And then the Corps changed its mind and decided that it did have jurisdiction. Merryman has appealed, Zirk said, but the problem is not resolved yet.

Zirk said that the stadium group had its financing lined up and could build this summer, if Merryman could get the pad constructed in time. Later in the meeting Mark Houser, representing the baseball group, said they didn't have the funding in place and that he cannot guarantee that the construction will be finished in 2011.

Merryman proposes to move the stadium from the northwest portion of the property (well back from U.S. 14 off Lake Shore Drive) to a point close to U.S. 14 and east of Doty Road, where Centegra Hospital-Woodstock is located.

There is also discussion of a possible Metra station. Metra is expected to present to the Woodstock City Council in either January or February. Watch the agendas that are published prior to meetings; the agendas can be viewed online through a line at the bottom of the City's website homepage on the Friday before a City Council meeting.

Alan Belcher, Executive Director of Transitional Living Services, Hebron, was present to explain a new proposed veterans' facility in Woodstock. See the separate article about the Wounded Warriors facility.

The City Council made it plain to Merryman Aggregate that it wants to see a detailed timetable for this project, and the Council re-stated its position that it gave Merryman a real break by approving its project with 51 conditions to be met after approval, instead of holding up the project until the conditions were complied with. There are now deadlines of March 1 and April 1 for various portions of the project.

Kim Willis, of the McHenry County Defenders, spoke in defense of the wetlands on the property. She asked about any on-site expert delineation of the wetlands, whether the letters from the Army Corps of Engineers were out-of-date, the absence of identification of detention basins and the potential for contamination (of groundwater?), because aggregate has been removed.

Ballpark - Underway?

Doln Peasley wrote in today's Northwest Herald that he is "being asked whether the goal of locating a baseball stadium and a new site for the McHenry County fairgrounds still is a viable project."

What was his answer?

"The answer is workers do plan to move gravel on a portion of the 240-acre site before building the sports entertainment stadium."

Wait just one minute! Just what does that mean? Hey, okay if they move gravel for a week or two or three. But when is ground-breaking for the stadium?

Remember the rush to push this project past the Woodstock City Council? Isn't this the project with 50 (that's FIFTY) conditions attached to it?

The City was licking its chops over the proposed stadium, not the gravel "not-a-pit" pit. As I recall, the stadium project is to be on the west end of the project, and the gravel scraping will be on the east end near Lily Pond Road. Who cares when Merryman starts mining? Only Merryman (and the folks expecting to be paid for the property).

I don't see how one is connected to the other from a development standpoint, only from a property acquisition association. When the stadium is built and when the gravel is mined are two separate operations. Aren't they?

According to the article, Kate Halma, president and CEO of McHenry County Community Foundation, announced a meeting of the multi-purpose events venue community partners for March 19, 8:30AM, at the Woodstock Public Library.

Let's hope the stadium project proceeds on its rush time-table. If it doesn't, the City had better pull the plug on the gravel pit. Err, the "not-a-pit".

Seeing is Believing - NOT

When this view of the excavation site for the multi-purpose event venue was shown, I was reminded of a deforestation project out West that the environmentalists were having trouble stopping.

The forestry company, which was clear-cutting wide areas, claimed their clear-cutting wasn't a problem and that it couldn't be seen from the road; so what's the problem, anyway?

The environmentalists were having trouble persuading legislators of the destruction of the land and trees. What did they do?

They hired a plane and pilot and loaded up the legislators for a flight over the area of de-forestation. As the plane approached the area of clear-cutting, it flew low over the tree-tops of a heavily forested area.

And suddenly they arrived at the edge of the clear-cutting and the standing trees disappeared! For miles there were no trees!

Did the legislators get the message? You bet.

In the above image from Tuesday night's City Council meeting, the view shows the sight-line of a 6' person standing near a 10' berm just off Lily Pond Road. Notice that he cannot see what is going on beyond the berm; i.e., during the 'excavation" of the gravel on the Merryman property to be mined. The City Council was assured several times that this would not be a gravel "pit." Excavation is not to be done within two feet of the water table.

Now, of course, I wondered about heavy equipment operating on a surface only two feet over a water table. With the vibration of excavation equipment, how likely is it that equipment will punch through that last two feet? "Accidentally," of course.

And then what?

Mining/Stadium Plan - only one No

Councilman Dick Ahrens was the lone wolf last night. After asking questions that revealed his consideration of and sensitivity to the pleas by residents and other interested parties for the City Council to delay its decision on the Merryman mining project, Dick voted "No", standing alone while the mayor and the other five Council members voted in favor of the special use permit with 50 (I think that was the final number) Conditions.

Dick's vote was the right vote. Most present last night were not against the project. What many were against was the rush to approve it without full consideration.

Click on the image to enlarge it. Look at the size of the project. See that "little" area at the bottom that is the Memorial Medical Center campus? Then click on the Back button on your browser to return to The Woodstock Advocate.

It was 1:00AM, and I didn't stick around to ask Dick his reason(s) for voting against approval.

Thanks, Dick. Whatever your reasons were, your decision is noted.

Mining Plan Gets Green Light - 6-1

As one man put it, "Why rush to judgement?" Because it works.

In spite of an incomplete application to the Woodstock Plan Commission for a special use permit and in spite of solidly-based requests for delay in decision, late Tuesday night the Woodstock City Council voted 6-0 and gave a green light to the Merryman group for a special use permit to mine the east end of a tract roughly across the road from Memorial Medical Center and toward Lily Pond Road.

Many who spoke urged the City Council not to rush into its decision, and they gave good reasons for delaying. One important environmental report was not received by the City until yesterday. When one speaker asked for the report to be summarized by a staff member, the mayor refused to allow it. It may have been one of the reports which should have been submitted to the Plan Commission before a decision was made there. Points of law were raised and ... well, more about this another time.

More later today...