Successful citizen uprisings have a long history in McHenry County.
Tuesday, two more groups won big victories for their neighborhoods.
Nunda Neighbors, who first fought off a truck depot, now have won a 17-6 zoning victory against those developers who wished to turn their residential area into a strip mall.
Located west of Woodstock, Seneca Township homeowners saw a gravel pit go down to defeat 19-4.
Both had neighborhood sign campaigns and web sites.
(Seneca Township;
Nunda Neighbors.)
As Northwest Herald reporter Kevin Craver pointed out, four of the six votes against what the local people wanted came from the same people:
- County Board Chairman Ken Koehler of Crystal Lake
- Marc Munaretto of Algonquin,
Mary Lou Zierer, who lives between Marengo and Harvard and - Dan Shea of Fox River Grove
The two extra, who ignored the Nunda Neighbors’ pleas were
- Sue Draffkorn of Wonder Lake and
- Lyn Orphal of Crystal Lake.
All of the county board members voting in opposition to the local residents pleas are Republican.
It is pretty extraordinary for a county board chairman to be on the losing side of issues. I have not been keeping track, but, besides these zoning issues, Crystal Lake’s Koehler has been in the minority
- on the McHenry County Republican Cat Tax fight,
- banning flash photography and
- the attempt to spend $773,000 more on renovating the old State Farm Insurance building on Route 14 into an animal control shelter.
= = = = =
The head shot is of McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler.