McHenry County Blog

Heading north on I-55, here's the new sign you see.

Memorial Day, Normal’s CornBelters Frontier League team played its first game in its new stadium, called the Corn Crib.

They lost 3-2 to Windy City, but filled the new stadium.

The stadium is near the intersection of I-39 and I-55. I think you see a photo of it above.

It’s built on the campus of Heartland Community College.

White Sox owner Bill Veeck’s son Mike is the most familiar name.

The lights lead me to believe this is the Corn Crib statium.

Subsidies from both the college and the town of Normal subsidized the construction.

This article in All Business, a reprint of a Bloomington Pantograph article, reports the “ownership group, and not the city, owns the stadium and pays for its construction.

“‘It is an unusual deal, but I think it will be the wave of the future,’”

said team President Steve Malliet.

This drive-by shot may show the entrance of the Corn Crib.

So far, 700 season tickets have been sold. As with all minor league teams, group sales are the key to success, said Malliet.

Meanwhile, McHenry County College’s pioneering effort got mired down in Crystal Lake watershed problems and objections to MCC taxpayers guaranteeing the 25-year bonds while minor league teams go belly up every five years or so.

Developer Mark Houser showed up again in Woodstock, where he was more successful with the city council. Although he has been granted $3.5 million in TARP loan authorization by the McHenry County Board, so far he does not seem to have marshaled the financial resources to follow in Normal’s footsteps.
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Meanwhile Meijer’s has partnered with the Kane County Cougars to give away free tickets, as you can see from the press release below

MEIJER TO GIVE AWAY FREE
KANE COUNTY COUGAR TICKETS

Attention all you Cougar fans! Meijer has partnered with the Kane County Cougars for the 2010 baseball season. Customers should present their Meijer receipt at the Elfstrom box office when purchasing a 2010 Cougar General Admission ticket for any Monday home game and receive a second General Admission ticket FREE!

This offer is good for up to four free tickets with the purchase of four tickets using a single receipt. Offer begins NOW and expires September 6, 2010. Don’t miss this chance to see the Kane County Cougars in action on their home field!

For complete schedules and rosters, visit the team Web site at http://www.kccougars.com/

The team was named the “CornBelters.“

Nice play on words.

The “Corn Crib” is what the stadium will be called.

I wonder if it will be decorated like South Dakota’s Corn Palace. It’s covered with murals made out of corn cobs. One local told us it was “the world’s biggest bird feeder.”

How’s construction going?

“Concrete has been set around home plate for the sitting bowl, from which fans will be able to view all the action of the CornBelters Baseball excitement front and center.“The outfield is starting to take shape for its players, while the field surface is being laid into place. The first and third base side dugouts have been installed and will begin forming the outer line of the dugout for the CornBelters, as well as their opposing teams.

“The concourse is also starting to look warm and inviting for all the CornBelters’ fans to enjoy.“

The name of the team mascot?

Corny.

You can find more on the team here.

McHenry County College’s location for baseball stadium, of course, is still a corn field.

The first home game in Normal is scheduled for May 21st.

That’s the month baseball promoter Pete Heitman wanted his team to start playing at MCC.

No construction has begun on the replacement Woodstock site across from Centegra Hospital.

With only councilman Richard Ahrens voting in opposition, the Woodstock City Council approved a special use permit for gravel mining across Route 14 from Centegra Hospital down to Lily Pond Road.

A privately financed minor league baseball stadium promoted by Mark Houser and Peter Heitman will be built northeast of Lake Shore Drive and Route 14.

The third of the threesome who showed up at a secret meeting of the McHenry County College Board in March of 2007, Frontier League Commissioner Bill Lee, only to duck out the back door of the board room, was also present for Woodstock’s public meeting.

The stated plan is to have baseball games starting in May of 2010, but when the council was discussing how the 38 acres to be occupied by the stadium would be conveyed to the city ownership if a stadium were not completed within five years of approval of the rezoning, Houser asked for an extra five months.

If a stadium is not completed by May of 2014, the city would get the parcel.

So, two years if all goes well and five if there are hitches.

In the meantime, Merryman Aggregates will be mining gravel, stockpiling enough each year to provide what the firm thinks it can sell.

Tom Zanck, attorney for the proposal, and others kept calling the operation by other names, e.g., “aggregate extraction.”

Members of the newly renamed McHenry County Defenders, now, the Environmental Defenders of McHenry County complained of the fast track for the re-zoning. The report from the McHenry County Soil and Water Conservation District had just arrived Monday and had not been reviewed by city staff.

Those wishing to slow down the approval process pointed out that it should have been ready before the Planning Commission had reviewed the petitioners’ plan.

Right before the vote, starting at 12:42 AM, Mayor Brian Sager read the report’s executive summary.

In his summation, Sager reported that 41 citizens had contacted him prior to the council meeting had been “strongly in favor.” One was distinctly opposed and two others wanted to make sure certain questions were answered.

Ahrens opposition centered on the far eastern parcel in the proposal.

It fronts on Lily Pond Road, which is where the gravel trucks would leave the property.

Ahrens thought the highest and best use would be something other than the county fair and exhibitions.

Several members had made lists of pros and cons. The pros obviously were considered more persuasive for the six voting in favor of the re-zoning. (Except for the mayor, they are listed in alphabetical order. Picture are in seating order, from left to right with the exception of Ahrens.)

Mayor Brian Sager
Councilwoman Julie Dillon
Councilwoman Maureen Larson
Councilman RB Thompson
Councilman Mike Turner and
Councilman Ralph Webster

But they didn’t agree with the proposal without placing upwards of 50 conditions, a couple of which were strongly disputed by the petitioners.

One was the citing of a state law which said that the city could impose a ticket tax.

When Houser objected, city attorney Richard Flood pointed out that they could take it out, but this council could not bind future council in such a matter. And, since it was in the state law anyway putting it in the document did not harm to the petitioner.

Houser finally agreed.

More contentious was a city proposal which would allow levying an extraction tax. Merryman wanted his surety bond used first, if something were not done which he had promised. It turns out the city wanted to hold his business responsible for any infrastructure failures of the baseball promoters as well, which the council must have thought unfair, because they limited the liability to the mining operation.

Several times, Mayor Sager said that he didn’t want to end up with the problems that Woodstock’s neighbor to the east, aka, Crystal Lake, had with Vulcan Lakes.

Merryman did not propose a pit going beneath the water table and he proposed reclaiming the land as he moved from one part of the property to the next.

Ahrens, Thompson and Turner are running unopposed for re-election.

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On top you can see Equity One’s Mark Houser explaining his and partner Peter Heitman’s baseball stadium proposal. Below is Frontier League Commissioner Bill Lee on the right and Heitman on the left. A shot of some of those attending the meeting follows. Mayor Brian Sager is seen directly below with dissenting Councilman Richard Ahrens below him to the left. The council members voting from the proposal are from left to right on the top row, RB Thompson, Maureen Larson and Mike Turner. On the next row you seen Ralph Webster on the left and Julie Dillon on the right. Mark Houser talks to his attorney Tom Zanck directly below. Woodstock City Attorney Richard Flood is below right. At the bottom is another picture of the audience, this time from the back of the room. All photos may be enlarged by clicking on them.

With only councilman Richard Ahrens voting in opposition, the Woodstock City Council approved a special use permit for gravel mining across Route 14 from Centegra Hospital down to Lily Pond Road.

A privately financed minor league baseball stadium promoted by Mark Houser and Peter Heitman will be built northeast of Lake Shore Drive and Route 14.

The third of the threesome who showed up at a secret meeting of the McHenry County College Board in March of 2007, Frontier League Commissioner Bill Lee, only to duck out the back door of the board room, was also present for Woodstock’s public meeting.

The stated plan is to have baseball games starting in May of 2010, but when the council was discussing how the 38 acres to be occupied by the stadium would be conveyed to the city ownership if a stadium were not completed within five years of approval of the rezoning, Houser asked for an extra five months.

If a stadium is not completed by May of 2014, the city would get the parcel.

So, two years if all goes well and five if there are hitches.

In the meantime, Merryman Aggregates will be mining gravel, stockpiling enough each year to provide what the firm thinks it can sell.

Tom Zanck, attorney for the proposal, and others kept calling the operation by other names, e.g., “aggregate extraction.”

Members of the newly renamed McHenry County Defenders, now, the Environmental Defenders of McHenry County complained of the fast track for the re-zoning. The report from the McHenry County Soil and Water Conservation District had just arrived Monday and had not been reviewed by city staff.

Those wishing to slow down the approval process pointed out that it should have been ready before the Planning Commission had reviewed the petitioners’ plan.

Right before the vote, starting at 12:42 AM, Mayor Brian Sager read the report’s executive summary.

In his summation, Sager reported that 41 citizens had contacted him prior to the council meeting had been “strongly in favor.” One was distinctly opposed and two others wanted to make sure certain questions were answered.

Ahrens opposition centered on the far eastern parcel in the proposal.

It fronts on Lily Pond Road, which is where the gravel trucks would leave the property.

Ahrens thought the highest and best use would be something other than the county fair and exhibitions.

Several members had made lists of pros and cons. The pros obviously were considered more persuasive for the six voting in favor of the re-zoning. (Except for the mayor, they are listed in alphabetical order. Picture are in seating order, from left to right with the exception of Ahrens.)

Mayor Brian Sager
Councilwoman Julie Dillon
Councilwoman Maureen Larson
Councilman RB Thompson
Councilman Mike Turner and
Councilman Ralph Webster

But they didn’t agree with the proposal without placing upwards of 50 conditions, a couple of which were strongly disputed by the petitioners.

One was the citing of a state law which said that the city could impose a ticket tax.

When Houser objected, city attorney Richard Flood pointed out that they could take it out, but this council could not bind future council in such a matter. And, since it was in the state law anyway putting it in the document did not harm to the petitioner.

Houser finally agreed.

More contentious was a city proposal which would allow levying an extraction tax. Merryman wanted his surety bond used first, if something were not done which he had promised. It turns out the city wanted to hold his business responsible for any infrastructure failures of the baseball promoters as well, which the council must have thought unfair, because they limited the liability to the mining operation.

Several times, Mayor Sager said that he didn’t want to end up with the problems that Woodstock’s neighbor to the east, aka, Crystal Lake, had with Vulcan Lakes.

Merryman did not propose a pit going beneath the water table and he proposed reclaiming the land as he moved from one part of the property to the next.

Ahrens, Thompson and Turner are running unopposed for re-election.

= = = = =
On top you can see Equity One’s Mark Houser explaining his and partner Peter Heitman’s baseball stadium proposal. Below is Frontier League Commissioner Bill Lee on the right and Heitman on the left. A shot of some of those attending the meeting follows. Mayor Brian Sager is seen directly below with dissenting Councilman Richard Ahrens below him to the left. The council members voting from the proposal are from left to right on the top row, RB Thompson, Maureen Larson and Mike Turner. On the next row you seen Ralph Webster on the left and Julie Dillon on the right. Mark Houser talks to his attorney Tom Zanck directly below. Woodstock City Attorney Richard Flood is below right. At the bottom is another picture of the audience, this time from the back of the room. All photos may be enlarged by clicking on them.