McHenry County Blog

A view from above of the Meyer Gravel Pit next to the Fox Trials Subdivision.

That’s what Meyer Gravel Pit watch dog Bruce Janu wants to know.

He sent an email to those wanting to follow the issue Monday morning:

“Good morning friends and neighbors,

“So tomorrow is a Village Board Meeting and, according to the Chicago Tribune reporter I talked to the other day, the Village is set to vote on the Meyer extension request.

“Meyer sent a letter to the Village last month asking for more time. As it stands now, little is known about what is to happen tomorrow night.

“Will they vote for the extension? Will they vote on allowing Meyer more time to present its case? No one seems to know.

“And, of course, the Village is way behind in notifying residents.

“There is no agenda posted yet on the website. In fact, the minutes for the last two meetings haven’t even been posted yet.

“Even though the Zoning Board did not recommend Meyer’s request, it was only a recommendation. The Village can vote in favor of the plan and it may happen tomorrow night.

“The Board Meeting will take place January 3, 2012 at the Village Hall at 7 pm.

“Hope to see you there. As soon as I get more information, I’ll let you all know.

A follow-up email says,

“As for tomorrow’s meeting, I was told that Meyer is not expected to be there.

“The Village Board will be voting on Meyer’s request to have more time to present to the Village Board.

“So, as I understand it, they will not be voting on Meyer’s proposal per se—but on whether or not to grant Meyer more time to put together a presentation.

“How long of a time period they are asking, I am not sure.

“The vote on Meyer’s proposal will probably occur at a later date depending on what the board decides tomorrow.”

I continue to be amazed at how McHenry County Blog is used by people as a research tool. Sometimes comments are left on articles that were written a long time ago. Here’s a commentary from someone who lives on McConnell Road that was found today below this article from a year and a half ago.

It’s about the proposed baseball stadium, the land for which is to be donated after gravel mining is completed on the rest of the property.

It states on the Woodstock City website that, “Woodstock is the kind of city that people fall in love with.”

This can’t be the furtherest from the truth due to the gravel pit (aka baseball stadium, NOT) on Lily Pond Rd.

You can see the conveyor belt that probably is a cause of some of the noise starting at 7 AM.

The noise starting at 7:00 a.m. is horrible and the dust is so bad that you can’t open your windows year round anymore.

We don’t live on Lily Pond but do live on the west side of McConnell Rd. I can’t even imagine what the people on Lily Pond Rd. or closer are going through!!!

I have talked to many people and many can’t wait to leave Woodstock, IL and definitely would not recommend living here.

The local governments lack of support for it’s people and the well being of Woodstock was made clear when they allow this gravel pit to exist.

This brings to question, Can the government here be bought or are they just plain ignorant?

I think we all know the answer to this question!!!!!

Lily Pond Road residence near the gravel pit.

My ex-wife Robin Geist and I used to live on Lily Pond Road, so I know the area well.

There was a gravel pit then (the late 1970′s) between Lily Pond Road and the railroad track, but it wasn’t very active.

Thanks to Gus Philpott’s “Woodstock Advocate” for pointing me to the Seneca Township web site NoForPit opposing the Merryman gravel pit zoning.

The opponents have this update from Judge Maureen McIntyre’s courtroom:

Illinois Judge Maureen McIntyre ruled on August 19th. 2009. that the decision of the McHenry County Board on July 24th 2007, DENYING the Merryman Aggregate’s Gravel Pit permit was justified.

Therefore the decision to DENY application to Merryman for Conditional Use Permit for Gravel Mining is affirmed and the case is dismissed.

Judge McIntyre made this decision after considering the record and arguments presented, she found the decision of the McHenry County Board is NOT against the manifest weight of the evidence.

IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the decision of the McHenry County Board on July 24th 2007, DENYING the application for Conditional Use Permit is affirmed and the case is dismissed.

This Gravel mining operation was to be located on the property at 15613 South St., about a mile west of Woodstock city limits.

The following are NOT in support of the Gravel Pit:

• Judge McIntyre
• The McHenry County Board
• The Zoning Board of Appeals
• The 100’s of local residents
• ALL Abutting Land Owners and
• McHenry County Soil and Water and
• others.

There’s no visible movement on the Woodstock baseball stadium planned for Route 14 between Woodstock and Centegra’s Woodstock hospital, but the operation that is going to finance the land has begun.

Driving on Lily Pond Road between McConnell Road and Route 14, below you can see what my son and I saw Saturday:

Coming from the north, we saw a sign saying,

That was in front of a pile of dirt and an erosion fence.

Next we came to the entrance.

Earth movers were parked near the piles of dirt they had moved around. If plans for the minor league baseball stadium come to fruition, I imagine people will be able to see the stadium in the distance.

The final shot is what seems to be the Northeast corner of the gravel pit part of the property.

Between there and Route 14 is where my ex-wife Robin Geist and I used to live in a second floor apartment. We used walk down Lily Pond and beyond on McConnell Road. Somehow, I don’t imagine the Lily Pond neighbors are looking forward to all the development.

Last Friday, the Chicago Tribune ran an article by Andrea Brown about how Dundee Township has a 160-acre mined out gravel pit.

That reminds me of a hint dropped by Ken Koehler back in 2001 when I got so fed up with the McHenry County Conservation District’s ignoring of the Crystal Lake, Algonquin, eastern Lake in the Hills area that I applied for one of the board vacancies.

Of course I didn’t get selected.

I told the interview committee that my goal was to redress the discrimination against this part of the county by MCCD boards over the years.

I suggested that redress could be achieved by buying gravel pits in the area.

At the time there were several thousand acres of pits between Crystal Lake, Cary, Algonquin and Lake in the Hills. Here’s my dream for the area.

Koehler hinted that the purchase of a gravel pit might be in the conservation district’s future.

Now, eight years later, it seems to have been far, far into its future.

I don’t know about you, but I would rather see mined out gravel pits become parks than sites for subdivisions or row houses.

So, I guess the Northwest Herald ad placers are not the only ones dissatisfied with the way the conservation district buys property.

Mayor Aaron Shepley has weighed in on the Crystal Lake Planning and Zoning Board’s unanimous rejection of McHenry County College’s baseball stadium and fitness complex.

You might have thought he would be asking, “What happened?

Instead, I think I could sum up his reaction as, “No Problem.”

He apparently is convinced he has control of five of the seven city council votes…and, maybe, he does when enforcement, maintenance and financing mechanisms are added to the Crystal Lake watershed ordinance.

Shepley came up with this gem:

“In this day and age, I think there is nothing that can’t be surmounted with good planning.”

But, that’s the point, isn’t it?

There is no plan for developing the watershed north of Route 176.

And, if passed, the baseball stadium proposal would allow any land owner to build on the watershed using restrictions as loose as the college’s.

Precedent would have been set.

Rain water would come faster to Crystal Lake with ever acre covered with impermeable parking lots and roofs.

It would become harder and harder to get through Crystal Lake on Route 14.

Huntley is in the process of solving that problem on Route 47 north of the tollway.

It forces every developer to widen that road to four lanes.

It’s a wonder that the Crystal Lake officials can’t figure out how to follow that example.

Reporter Tim Kane caught this hallway conversation after the zoning board’s rejection of the baseball stadium:

“After the meeting, college trustee George Lowe angrily told college President Walt Packard that he was ready to ‘pull the plug’ on the proposal. Lowe said that college officials had worked closely with the city for more than two years, and that the panel’s unanimous rejection was ‘a slap in the face.’”

The next day, however, Lowe had cooled down and decided to wait to see how the city council voted.

Packard seems to think the deal has already been cut with the city council. He told the Tribune that no changes would be made on the proposal.

And, indeed, it may have been.

After all, discussions have been going on with city officials for two and one-half years, even though the first indication of inclusion of a baseball stadium was in McHenry County Blog’s March 12th article.

I do have one thought to the trustees outside of Crystal Lake.

Where would you put an MCC baseball stadium in your community?

Maybe in the gravel pit south of Fox Trails.

Maybe in one of the gravel pits bordering Route 120 west of McHenry.

= = = = =
The top two pictures are of Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley.

Below is a map of Crystal Lake’s watershed. The property owned by McHenry County College, plus the one it wants to purchase, if it gets permission to build on 50% of it, are in yellow.

The confab in the hall after the zoning board turned down the college’s request shows MCC President Walt Packard on the left talking to MCC Trustee George Lowe of Cary.

The six small photos at the bottom, which, like the others, can be enlarged by clicking on them, is of the various moods of Walt Packard as he tries to answer questions of zoning commissioner James Jouron about the college’s build-out plans. I decided to put them up because of the smiling photo of Packard that the Northwest Herald had on its front page. I didn’t see Packard smile once at the meeting.

Mayor Aaron Shepley has weighed in on the Crystal Lake Planning and Zoning Board’s unanimous rejection of McHenry County College’s baseball stadium and fitness complex.

You might have thought he would be asking, “What happened?

Instead, I think I could sum up his reaction as, “No Problem.”

He apparently is convinced he has control of five of the seven city council votes…and, maybe, he does when enforcement, maintenance and financing mechanisms are added to the Crystal Lake watershed ordinance.

Shepley came up with this gem:

“In this day and age, I think there is nothing that can’t be surmounted with good planning.”

But, that’s the point, isn’t it?

There is no plan for developing the watershed north of Route 176.

And, if passed, the baseball stadium proposal would allow any land owner to build on the watershed using restrictions as loose as the college’s.

Precedent would have been set.

Rain water would come faster to Crystal Lake with ever acre covered with impermeable parking lots and roofs.

It would become harder and harder to get through Crystal Lake on Route 14.

Huntley is in the process of solving that problem on Route 47 north of the tollway.

It forces every developer to widen that road to four lanes.

It’s a wonder that the Crystal Lake officials can’t figure out how to follow that example.

Reporter Tim Kane caught this hallway conversation after the zoning board’s rejection of the baseball stadium:

“After the meeting, college trustee George Lowe angrily told college President Walt Packard that he was ready to ‘pull the plug’ on the proposal. Lowe said that college officials had worked closely with the city for more than two years, and that the panel’s unanimous rejection was ‘a slap in the face.’”

The next day, however, Lowe had cooled down and decided to wait to see how the city council voted.

Packard seems to think the deal has already been cut with the city council. He told the Tribune that no changes would be made on the proposal.

And, indeed, it may have been.

After all, discussions have been going on with city officials for two and one-half years, even though the first indication of inclusion of a baseball stadium was in McHenry County Blog’s March 12th article.

I do have one thought to the trustees outside of Crystal Lake.

Where would you put an MCC baseball stadium in your community?

Maybe in the gravel pit south of Fox Trails.

Maybe in one of the gravel pits bordering Route 120 west of McHenry.

= = = = =
The top two pictures are of Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley.

Below is a map of Crystal Lake’s watershed. The property owned by McHenry County College, plus the one it wants to purchase, if it gets permission to build on 50% of it, are in yellow.

The confab in the hall after the zoning board turned down the college’s request shows MCC President Walt Packard on the left talking to MCC Trustee George Lowe of Cary.

The six small photos at the bottom, which, like the others, can be enlarged by clicking on them, is of the various moods of Walt Packard as he tries to answer questions of zoning commissioner James Jouron about the college’s build-out plans. I decided to put them up because of the smiling photo of Packard that the Northwest Herald had on its front page. I didn’t see Packard smile once at the meeting.

I admire the creativity of “Heck of a Guy” Crystal Lake blogger Allan Showalter.

He looked at the Cary gravel pits new web site www.CaryIllinois.org and wrote another story–Directions to CaryIllinois.org–about it.

I looked at the Interstate directional signs on top of his story.

Had the Fox Valley Expressway, which would have been known at the Fox Valley Tollway, been built there might have been exit signs to Cary.

Showalter’s suggestions?

Under “ROAD DIVIDERS” appears,

The word “Quarry” appears to be the new name for Cary.

A second sign for “LAST EXIT”

But it doesn’t end there.

Showalter has turned the masthead of the new web site into a massive billboard.

It features the town’s purported slogan,

Another billboard features a young woman dancing with an I-Pod in her ear.

are the biggest letters.

Below is

This is typical of Showalter’s sense of humor.

I encourage you to read the entire article.

And visit CaryIllinois.org. They have periodic news updates like Mayor Steve Loamal winning the noodling contest.

Last Sunday I posted this article about the new web site.

I admire the creativity of “Heck of a Guy” Crystal Lake blogger Allan Showalter.

He looked at the Cary gravel pits new web site www.CaryIllinois.org and wrote another story–Directions to CaryIllinois.org–about it.

I looked at the Interstate directional signs on top of his story.

Had the Fox Valley Expressway, which would have been known at the Fox Valley Tollway, been built there might have been exit signs to Cary.

Showalter’s suggestions?

Under “ROAD DIVIDERS” appears,

The word “Quarry” appears to be the new name for Cary.

A second sign for “LAST EXIT”

But it doesn’t end there.

Showalter has turned the masthead of the new web site into a massive billboard.

It features the town’s purported slogan,

Another billboard features a young woman dancing with an I-Pod in her ear.

are the biggest letters.

Below is

This is typical of Showalter’s sense of humor.

I encourage you to read the entire article.

And visit CaryIllinois.org. They have periodic news updates like Mayor Steve Loamal winning the noodling contest.

Last Sunday I posted this article about the new web site.

Yesterday, I wrote an article on the Cary gravel pit opponents’ new web site.

They have picked up the name www.caryillinois.org.

How about that?

It sounds like the official web site for Cary, Illinois, doesn’t it?

It’s not.

It is skillful ridicule of the Cary politicians who want to put a gravel pit on the second side of Fox Trails subdivision.

Today, I thought I’d look at how the two videos that the group has produced. (Actually, it’s Bruce David Janu Janu who deserves the credit for this wonderful citizen guerilla warfare.)

Today, I thought I’d look at how the two videos that the group has produced. (Actually, it’s Bruce David Janu who deserves the credit for this wonderful citizen guerrilla warfare.)

The first one,

has been seen by 865 viewers. It gives the ownership of Meyer Material, the used-to-be local company in a most gripping manner. It was 789 when I last checked in on July 25th.

The main web site of the opponents is

The second video, “Beautiful Cary” is more into ridicule than information and it succeeds so well. 608 have viewed it so far, even though it is over 7 minutes long. It was 515 on July 25th.

I love the dust angle part.

So How Are the Cary Gravel Pit Opponents Videos Doing

Yesterday, I wrote an article on the Cary gravel pit opponents’ new web site.

They have picked up the name www.caryillinois.org.

How about that?

It sounds like the official web site for Cary, Illinois, doesn’t it?

It’s not.

It is skillful ridicule of the Cary politicians who want to put a gravel pit on the second side of Fox Trails subdivision.

Today, I thought I’d look at how the two videos that the group has produced. (Actually, it’s Bruce David Janu who deserves the credit for this wonderful citizen guerilla warfare.)

The first one,
“Cary, Illinois: A Gravel Pit Community?”
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6546217386573707509
has been seen by 865 viewers. It gives the ownership of Meyer Material, the used-to-be local company in a most gripping manner. It was 789 when I last checked in on July 25th. http://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2007/07/cary-gravel-pit-video-wins-snarky.html

The main web site of the opponents is “Stop the Quarry in Cary.” http://noquarry.blogspot.com/

The second video, “Beautiful Cary” http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3261632258347602099 is more into ridicule than information and it succeeds so well. 608 have viewed it so far, even though it is over 7 minutes long. It was 515 on July 25th.

I love the dust angle part.

They have certainly got more 378 views that my YouTube posting of Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley and developer Bill Cellini talking about condemnation at the Wal-Mart shopping center have gotten.