Gasser Announces Future County Board Votes on Valley Hi Fee Increase & Eminent Domain

At its 7 PM meeting Tuesday, the McHenry County Board will be voting on whether to increase Valley Hi Nursing Home fees and condemning property at the corner of River and Dowell Roads.  This is just south of Route 176  near Holiday Hills and Island Lake.

River and Dowell Roads, near Holiday Hills.

River and Dowell Roads, near Holiday Hills.

If I remember the debate on the road project, a roundabout is planned and there certainly is an unwilling seller.  She has gone so far as to put the land in the hands of the McHenry County Land Conservancy.

The County is proposing paying $750,000 for the corner.

The other issue is raising the fees for private pay patients at the county nursing home by $5 per day.

Gasser says that with $40 million in the Valley Hi bank account he can’t justify raising patient costs.

On his web site, McHenry County Board member Andrew Gasser announced he will be voting against each proposal.


Comments

Gasser Announces Future County Board Votes on Valley Hi Fee Increase & Eminent Domain — 14 Comments

  1. The intersection needs improvement without question, the owner is over the top and the $750k is more than generous.

    There is no land there that is special and needs to be conserved, that is just part of the game the owner is playing.

    Drive by yourself.

    I’d agree that the 40m should be used up first mostly, but Valley Hi people asking for more per patient, that needs more of an explanation.

  2. I spoke with the Land Conservancy of McHenry County. I have drove by. The owner does not want to sell and is trying to protect her property.

    You, nor any other government bureaucrat, gets to decide. If she does not want to sell her land the county will survive.

    Nice to see patronage in action.

  3. Ya I said the owner was not playing along, what is the value in the land, is it different that any other normal land that it needs conservancy?

    The intersection is dangerous by design standards meant to save somebodies life, do you have a better solution?

    Put that out, your solution for all to see and analyze, traffic circles are cheaper than traffic signals in the long run.

    If you mean patronage to fellow citizens in this country and worried about a life, ya I’m guilty.

    You think you know me, but since we have never really talked, why the negative attack about patronage?

    Eminent domain isn’t a good thing, neither is holding out by a owner when there is a known problem and there is no real lose to the environment in a quasi urban area.

    It’s for the kids! LOL

  4. Cautious: Like Andrew you read more into it than is there.

    Being in opposition or for something else than what you want doesn’t make a person somebodies whipping boy.

    No rock throwing, ya OK fine.

  5. The 40 Million Dollars on hand at Valley Hi does not belong to Valley Hi but County tax payers who were illegally assessed sums above what was necessary to operate this facility.

    The 40 Million should be returned to the “general fund” and for the next 8 years taxpayers of this county should be assessed 5 Million Dollars less per year.

    When taxing bodies overtax residents, the answer is not to keep the money and use it to defray anticipated future costs or price increases to occupants, but rather return it or offset these excesses against future levies on the general fund.

    Otherwise stated, when a thief robs someone but uses the money for a good cause this subsequent act does not mitigate the crime or lessen damages to those harmed.

    RETURN THE MONEY TO THE TAXPAYERS!

    Both candidates running for Chairman of Board have failed to account to electorate on how annual assessments for Valley Hi could have been approved by Board when such larges sums of cash were on hand.

    As such, neither Michael or Joe are qualified to Chair the Board as they approved every assessment every year for Valley Hi without once raising this grotesque stockpile of cash.

    This is because they failed to read the financials of Valley Hi before approval or worse!

    What we have is so-called conservatives behaving like liberals. . . . Then again, this is McHenry County ranked 29th highest taxed county in U.S.

  6. This is definitely land that needs to be protected

    are you a moron

    Griswald lake is a glacier lake with natural spring and this area is wetlands that recharge our aquifer.

    Every elected official in Lakemoor, Island Lake, Nunda Township and all District 3 County Board members at the time were against this project and it was rammed down their throats.

    I am not a fan of the owner of this property but kudos to her for creating a road block to a project that never should have been a round about.

  7. No Government entity should have a right to TAKE over someones property.

    We have land up to the conservation district.

    We and our home could be next.

    This is wrong, its just not right.

    The over reach of Government and the disposal of human rights.

    No flipping way..

  8. Stand4truth,

    Thxs, my original question was does that property need protecting, and Andrew never answer that like you just did with a explanation why.

    I have looked into that area further and also briefly found out what options are being looked at to improve the intersection.

    McDOT has looked into the environmental issues and by law of course will actually control run off better than it is now, and water quality in the lake should improve, not get worst.

    Often the run off issue drives the cost way up, not like years ago when new roads and improvements just were rammed in, which this will not be.

    The $750K number is a large budgetary number, and it sounds like the actual amount will be less.

    Like I said eminent-domain when forced on somebody isn’t good, but I this case, what one out of four property owners are fighting it says something.

    The amount of property in dispute is minor, not like taking multi acreage.

    The negotiations process must be flawed to some extent or the whole story isn’t being presented here, which isn’t surprising.

    Safety and environmental concerns always are on the top of my list, so lets getter done.

  9. Stand4truth,

    Some years back Carol Stream was sued for not correcting a know safety problem.

    It involved a sign down marking a middle median that Public works knew about, and a drunk motorcyclist that hit that median and got hurt real bad.

    Then he sued for damages and the Village had to raise property taxes to cover the costs.

    That could easily apply here as McDOT has now identified a known problem.

    At tad more information on the issue given to those local elected may have changed their attitude about the project.

    Just saying.

  10. David M. Stieper,

    What you are saying is that the 40m at Valley Hi should not be used to offset higher patient costs there, correct?

  11. I have a good friend who had his property taken through eminent domain.

    The City of Chicago seriously lowballed him on the value of his property, but after talking to a lawyer my friend decided it would be too expensive to fight them in court.

    If a government agency wants to seize property against the owner’s will, it should be required to pay a substantial premium over market value.

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