McHenry County Blog

Yesterday I drove a friend to Belvidere for medical treatment. I had about an hour to wait, so I went exploring in the city I represented in the Illinois House of Representatives for eight years in the 1970′s. Since I knew that the Amtrak route selected by Governor Pat Quinn when through the town, I wondered where the station would be.

I stopped on Business Route 20 (State Street) and took the picture above. I wondered if the little white building across the tracks might turn into a train station.

The train would be coming in from the east. The empty spaces you see on the left and right on the other side of the street to the east are parking lots. I drove down to see if Pat Mattison, the publisher of the Belvidere Daily Republican I knew, who was running Belrock Printing after he sold the paper, was still in there.

He wasn’t.  His old office and plant was now the new Belvidere City Hall. I figured someone inside would know where the new train station would be located. I hit the jackpot.

Alderman Andrew Racz was walking in the building as the woman at the City Clerk’s office was telling me that a display was inside the locked door. He recognized me and, while I couldn’t pull his name out of my ancient memory vault, I did remember his face.

He ushered me into to see the mayor, Frederic Brereton, who was outside in his reception area. I thanked him for his council’s having endorsed an Amtrak station in McHenry County before the McHenry County Board did. He told me there was a good working partnership.

Brereton showed me the display outside his office, telling me the train station was going to be across the street from City Hall.

“Go out the front door, stand in the middle of the street and look to your left. That’s where the station is going to be.” He told me that State Senator Brad Burzynski had gotten some state aid and that by eliminating a grad crossing by putting the station across Whitney Boulevard, he hoped that Amtrak might kick in some money as well, since the fewer grade crossing the better, as far as Amtrak was concerned.

So, I went outside, stood in the middle of the street and took the photo you see above. What will the station look like?

Here’s another drawing I found outside the Mayor’s office.

Here’s 16th District Republican Congressman Don Manzullo’s reaction to the Stare of the Union Address:

Rep Manzullo Responds to President Obama’s State of the Union Address

(WASHINGTON) Congressman Don Manzullo (R-Egan) tonight issued the following statement responding to President Obama’s State of the Union Address to Congress and the nation:

“It’s good to hear President Obama talk about the need to help create jobs in America. But I’m concerned his fix will involve more deficit-hiking government spending. We have actually lost 3 million jobs since the President signed into law the failed $862 billion stimulus bill, and our national debt has surpassed $12 trillion.

“We need a colossal change in thinking here, and I implore President Obama to halt the ineffective government spending that is burdening future generations with debt, and instead focus on helping the private sector create jobs.

“At a minimum, Congress needs to stop pursuing job-killing legislation – like the health care and cap and trade bills – that would put another 8 million Americans out of work and hike taxes and health and energy costs for Americans.

“My American Jobs Agenda offers a host of legislative avenues to help create economic opportunities for our employers to put Americans back to work.”

There’s nothing wrong with Northwest Herald reporter Kevin Craver’s front page article about Metra’s board voting to purchase McHenry County Board Chairman’s property in Ridgefield.

It contains much of the same information in these McHenry County Blog articles (listed in reverse order of publication):

Friday, 8-14-9 Metra Votes to Purchase Ridgefield Station Site

Friday, 8-14-9 Craig Steagall Unleashes Broadside Against McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler over Metra State Land Purchase

Friday, 8-14-9 Metra Scheduled to Approve Former Flowerwood Land for Station in Ridgefield This Morning

Thursday, 8-13-9 $1.5 Million Being Paid for Ridgefield Metra Site Half-Owned by McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler

Thursday, 8-13-9 Metra Transparency Worse than McHenry County College’s

Wednesday, 8-12-9 Ridgefield Businessman Takes on McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler over Proposed Metra Station

Friday, 8-7-9 Musings on the Proposed Ridgefield Metra Station

Wednesday, 8-5-9 Alexander Lumber’s Move to Ridgefield, Proposed Metra Station Implications

But the headline writer might make people think that Metra is “tentative” about the deal.

That appointed board is not.

If the City of Crystal Lake annexes the land and agrees to manage the parking lot, it’s a done deal.

There may be a real fight on the Crystal Lake Zoning and Planning Board and the Crystal Lake City Council, but that will probably be over whether the site makes sense from a regional planning perspective.

That is a very real question, in my opinion.

Is this the first step into turning Country Club Road north toward McConnell Road into a commercial and industrial strip?

Will Crystal Lake annex all of Downtown Ridgefield?

Will the city council decide that there is more sales tax revenue in a Walgreens or CVS than the antique shops on the triangular shaped land on the north side of the narrow part of Country Club Road that runs through Ridgefield?

Hey, the road has to be widened anyway,

That means the antique shops have to be demolished anyway, right?

Will the city use condemnation powers to take the land, as Cicero, Chicago and other cities have done in the name of economic development, or will a retail establishment agree to pay enough for the land that the present owners will willingly sell and, in return for appropriate zoning, “donate” sufficient right-of-way for a widened road?

Think massive development of that area isn’t being contemplated?

Then, consider this viewpoint, found in Marna Pyke’s Daily Herald article, by former Lake County Board Chairman, now a Metra board member, at Friday’s meeting:

“Metra Director Jim LaBelle, who represents Lake County, said he regretted there were no plans for housing next to the train station.

“‘It looks like a parking lot in the middle of the country,’ he said.”

As with the McHenry County College stadium fight, residents near the proposed Metra stop won’t carry much weight in City of Crystal Lake deliberations because they live outside the city limits. And considering the city’s unwillingness to annex the Crystal Lake Manor, which it complete surrounds, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for city officials to become interested in making current Ridgefield residents taxpaying citizens. (And, there wouldn’t be any advantage to the Ridgefield residents anyway, because there is no water and/or sewer required by the commuter parking lot.)

One argument those living outside of Crystal Lake might be able to develop is the same one used by stadium opponents–the covering of Crystal Lake’s watershed with a big asphalt parking lot.

757 parking spaces covered with an impermeable surface might move those interested in the health of the lake to action again.

And, since the biggest potential beneficiary is McHenry County College, a coalition might be built that contains both supporters and opponents of the college’s minor league baseball stadium.

Surely a station on the college’s (west) side of the railroad tracks would be more convenient and safer for students who might use the train to get to classes.

No one really knows how much use college students might make of such service. But planning for future growth at the college campus, which now is right across Ridgefield Road from the train tracks should receive serious consideration.

College officials I talked to knew of no contact about the suitability of the location from Metra since the parking lot site was selected January 5, 2009.

One told me she first learned of Metra’s selection “from reading the paper.”

The NW Herald article is posted as going up on its web site Tuesday, August 4th. I think it was printed on Wednesday, however.

So, a major question exists about why Metra kept it a secret from the public for seven months.

Why were there no public hearings on such a growth generator?

Why was this deal rushed through?

Why does the contract have a clause saying,

How complete absurd, unless there is more than meets the eye.

Why is Metra paying so much more than the $67,000 an acre McHenry County College paid just last year for 57 acres down the road?

MCC negotiated its contract on the Gilger property at the top of the real estate boom.

Now McHenry County is in the canyon of the market.

Metra will not win the transparency award for 2009.

The paperwork given Metra board members indicates that Crystal Lake officials were in the know earlier than the public.

No change of policy there.

Remember the college stadium time line?

No knowledge of it appeared in the NW Herald until the day after McHenry County Blog broke the story. Then, Mayor Aaron Shepley filled the paper’s front page with its praise.

There will also have to be vote of the McHenry County Board, but it’s about money spent for roads when 84 Lumber was built after approval by the county board.

Without a favorable vote, the deal, as approved by Metra’s board, will not go through.
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You see Devil’s Mound above on the left.

The canyon is in Idaho near Balanced Rock.

At the bottom is Balanced Rock. You can see a boy who has climbed up to it. This story reminds me of the apprehension that some might have that the rock might fall on them…or on us taxpayers.

Calling the proposed Metra station purchase McHenry County Board Chairman “Ken Koehler’s boondoggle,” Craig Steagall took the Dave Letterman approach in a Northwest Herald ad yesterday. Steagall has property across the tracks that was under consideration by Metra for a Ridgefield Metra commuter station. The contents of an earlier ad appear here.

He says the deal is

Steagall throws out all sorts of nuggets including a company named “Lily Pond Stone L” having purchased land to the northwest which was the third site considered for $12,165 an acre. Lily Pond Road, of course, is the southern boundary of the site Woodstock zoned for a minor league baseball stadium. Both the price and the hint that the purchaser wants to mine gravel are interesting.

In addition, mention is made of the McHenry County Ethics Committee. I wonder what that is.

Here is the text,

1-It is on the wrong side of the tracks. Legal counsel says I am too wordy – this is concession to their counsel.

2-Take the time to find the right location!! Go northwest, so southwest, but go on the south side of the tracks. The City of Crystal Lake has held informational meeting touting the grand expansion of Highway 14 with a grass medium strip and expanding to 4 lanes between Crystal Lake and Woodstock. It is logical to tie a new Metra station into road infrastructure designed for the traffic volume associated with a 650 to 750 car Metra parking lot. It is not logical to buy property then study what needs to be done to make a pig’s ear work. Metra will destroy downtown Ridgefield and turn county roads into major traffic arteries that are ill-suited for handling Metra station traffic.

3-Metra, you have stated you have studied 3 locations. The third location, near Lily Pond Road recently sold for a price of $12,165 per acre. The Hana Family Ltd sold to Lily Pond Stone L, on April 9th, 2009. With land prices this low and continuing to drop, Metra’s opportunity to find a straight approach off of Highway 14 is excellent. Metra, perform more due diligence before you cave to the political pressure.

4-Save me, Craig Steagall, from this bold and reckless offer. Metra, if you are buying Ken Koehler’s property for appraised value and it is $12,165 per acre, I will purchase the property from Metra for $13,000 per acre. Metra makes $835 per acre and we save Metra, Ridgefield businesses and countless homeowners who will be negatively impacted from this illogical and dangerous (because of the roads) Ken Koehler boondoggle. The feedback I have received lumps the current situation into the typical Blagojevich style government that has made Illinois fodder on the Dave Letterman show.

5-Prudence and legal counsel dictated I omit Number 5. My apologies. However if I do run another ad, which I hope I don’t, I will share the sad saga of a developer who bought property across the street from Ken Koehler’s 84 Lumber sale. The delevoper’s property was also purchased from Ken Koehler. It is a woeful tale. Having just met with the developer who bought the adjacent property, I believe new information has come to light that calls for an investigation of the travesty committed in the construction of 84 Lumber, Country Club road construction issues and the subsequent flooding that occurs on the developer’s property.

6-Metra, this is a quagmire that will only get more legs if you purchase this property. It is tainted with Chicago-style politics and Blago stench. And the citizens of McHenry County know barnyard smells.

7-Save Metra spokesman Michael Gillis from himself. Michael Gillis stated to the Northwest Herald that road improvements would be decided by a traffic study. BUY PROPERTY AND THEN DO TRAFFIC STUDY. McDonald’s would not put a golden arch in a corn field and then perform a traffic study to determine how to get traffic to their site. Some rudimentary level of competence must be applied to a site location, oft times described as common sense. The only reason this site makes sense is that a politician wants to sell his property during an ugly economic period. If he doesn’t get it sold now, he may not be on the County Board when it will sell. Fixing the roads to make this pig’s ear work is a waste of taxpayers money and destroys much of what citizens find attractive about rural McHenry County. IT’S ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACKS.

8-The McHenry County Ethics Committee has not had a chance to review this land sale by the county board chairman. Give the committee a chance to weigh in before making a decision. This might require the time necessary for a committee chairperson to be appointed by the county board chairman – aka Ken Koehler and an actual ethics committee to be established by the county.

9-DEBATE – save me the potential embarrassment of mispronouncing words during a debate. I propose that we prevail upon the City of Crystal Lake for use of their auditorium and City Council chambers for the purpose of a TOWN HALL FORUM DEBATE. Ken Koehler/Craig Steagall/Metra spokesperson, moderated by Mayor Aaron Shepley. Let’s show government at its best – a rousing public debate on the pros and cons of the Metra station. Ken, fill in the blanks; METRA DEBATE – TOWN HALL MEETING
DATE______ TIME______ WHERE_______. (This debate may require renting a local school gymnasium, the outrage is building.)

10-IT’S WRONG – the Metra site selection has been compromised by a county board chairman with a litany of questionable self-serving actions during his term as county board chairman.

In very small type, the following appears below:

Thank you to all of the individuals who have shared their comments and support for putting a stop to this ill-suited Metra location. It is a sad commentary on our county government that the ads I have run highlighting this malfeasance were even necessary. The Metra site selection should have benefited from sunshine on the topic and not decided in back room political havens.

There are other elements of this story that should be aired, but I am growing weary of earning mileage points on my Northwest Herald ad purchases.

Updates will be posted on WWW.METRAQUESTIONS.COM in the future. Please type in full address and not simply Google metraquestions.

Want to post comments? Send comments to metraquestions@gmail.com.

Future Topics will include:

1. How a county official approached me years ago to build a cost effective McHenry County Animal Shelter on rural, cheap property that permitted steel construction.

2. The dismissal of Sue Ehardt as Department head for Planning and Development.

3. The discussion of why a wetland study is being undertaken by Metra and no wetland study was required for 84 Lumber.

4. More information on the road requirements for 84 Lumber and how a different standard may have been applied for expediency reasons.

5. Other Topics floating to the top of the septic tank of McHenry County politics.

6. A YouTube posting featuring a bike rider with a mini cam biking down Oak to Hillside to Country Club to the proposed Metra site. If Metra Board members have not taken the time to visit this third proposed Metra site, they can get a firsthand look at the destruction of rural roads and the danger of the rail crossing at Ridgefield and Country Club.

And finally, the Web site will soon feature an apology to Phil Pagano-Executive Director of Metra and Orest Chryniwsky, Senior Real Estate and Development Specialist Law Department. I regret they were thrown on the tracks. I believe both of these individuals are decent hard working civil servants who were working towards a land acquisition with the public’s best interest in mind. Political influences pushed them down a path that necessitated their falling in line and doing what benefited a politician rather than what was right for the Metra rider and the citizens of McHenry County. That pressure was not exerted by a singular Ken Koehler effort. Ken is powerful, but not that powerful he could swing this albatross without help.

*Note: To those readers who I have confused on the reference to Alden Road.
Explanation: The County has proposed expanding Alden Road-sometimes called Charles Road with 30 foot easements on each side of the road. The comparison I was making is if this road called for this type of expansion, then imagine what Country Club Road, Hillside, Oak Street look like after the County expands those roads with 30 foot easements. A forest of trees will be cut down, roads will be on residents front porch and the space available in downtown Ridgefield would require bulldozing of buildings to accommodate expanding the roads for proper width and easements.

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The top photo is of the gravel mining just north of Lily Pond Road.

The map from Google shows about where the train station would be located on Country Club Road.

Next there is a photo of the Route 14 Crystal Lake McHenry County Animal Control Shelter.

The picture below is of the property in question. Metra plans to buy 17.5 acres.

Other articles that might be of interest:

Alexander Lumber’s Move to Ridgefield, Proposed Metra Station Implications

Musings on the Proposed Ridgefield Metra Station

Ridgefield Businessman Takes on McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler over Proposed Metra Station

Metra Transparency Worse than McHenry County College’s

Metra Scheduled to Approve Former Flowerwood Land for Station in Ridgefield This Morning

After having been public in a Northwest Herald story on August 5th–a mere nine days ago–Metra’s board is scheduled to purchase 17 acres in Ridgefield for $1.5 million from a trust half-owned by McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler today.

The preliminary concept plan, however, was completed on January 5, 2009.

No public hearings about the suitability of this major traffic generator have been or will be held by Metra, according to an aide to Metra Executive Director Phil Pagano.

The purchase document states,

although former McHenry County College President Walt Packard told the MCC Board on the night it paid $67,000 per acre for 57 acres across the road from the railroad tracks that

“the property was perfectly sited to take advantage of a future Ridgefield Metra station maybe 20 years away.”

There will be 757 parking spots on the Crystal Lake watershed property.

The purchase is contingent on

• funding availability
• an annexation agreement with Crystal Lake
• approval of various permits and
• Crystal Lake’s agreement to operate and maintain the facilities.

Among other conditions are that

• Crystal Lake will not require Metra to “extend the City’s water and sewer systems to the Property”
• an “authorized and executed intergovernmental recapture agreement by and among the Purchaser, the City of Crystal Lake and McHenry County which may be expended by the Purchaser for improvements which benefit other properties, whether they develop in the City of Crystal Lake or within the jurisdiction of McHenry County, which is in form and substance acceptable to Purchaser in its sole discretion”

According to the documents being considered,

“Metra board member and former State Senator Jack Schaffer informed Metra personnel that Liberty Outdoor Advertising, a company Director Schaffer has an interest in, has a small sign structure on the property through a long standing Agreement. Subsequent to any closing, however, Meta will require the sign to be removed promptly, usually within 30 days depending upon weather conditions.”

Metra wants the deal closed in 120 days, but is willing to wait longer.

The seller and buyer “represents and warrants to Purchaser that the only real estate broker utilized by the Seller and Beneficiaries is Mike Deacon in connection with the purchase and sale of the Property to whom Seller and Beneficiaries have agreed to pay a commission.” The layout seen above is contained on an earlier page.

Among the attached exhibits is a blank page for “Preliminary Concept Plan.”

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If the train station is built, it would be visible across the tracks next to the barbed wire fence. Click to enlarge the image.