McHenry County Blog received the following letter from North Shore resident Doreen Orist. She and her husband have been regular attendees at Crystal Lake watershed meetings.
Her questions are provoking, meant to be read by city council members, but I thought I would share them with you.
10/11/2007
Why do you want to take paradise
and put up a parking lot????
My questions to you are:
Why build in the Watershed?
Is there not other available open land in Crystal Lake that MCC could build on?
Why not the Vulcan Lakes area which is being developed now?
Crystal Lake is the only geological lake of its kind.
Leave it alone !!
Mankind is its own worse enemy, it is a known fact that we destroy and destruct.
I am familiar with the term B.P.M. (Best Management Practices) these are practices that are good for now and only now…. I am not being disrespectful of the professionals or their field on knowledge, but…
WHO KNOWS WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN 5, 10, or 100 YEARS
When I started in the field of Arboriculture we used to “Flush cut”, you know cut as close as you can to the trunk, and then paint it as thick as you can with the black paint to keep the bugs and disease out!!! Well after many years of this B.P.M. we now know the damage we have caused to the trees. Arborists now use a pruning method based on proven scientific research of how a tree responds to wounding. This methodology developed by Dr. Alex Shigo has been labeled C.O.D.I.T (Compartmentalization of Decay in Trees). How many trees were damaged, diseases spread and trees destroyed as a result of this B.P.M.?
WHAT IF ?
The lake dries up, gets polluted and we no longer have a lake? All of us will suffer from this.
Crystal Lake has always been known as a “Resort Type” city. When I mention to people all over the world that we are living in Crystal Lake, Illinois almost everyone knows someone that has lived here or is still here.
I moved here in 1999 with my husband Ron, who lived on the lake 1957-1978. After retirement we decided to move back to this wonderful “Great Place to Live” community. We purchased a home on the lake a few doors from where he was raised.
After 3 or 4 years I can hardly open my windows on my beautiful lakefront home, the noise from Rt14, Randall Rd and others, the sirens, the light pollution from Lippold Park, and the streets cause me anxiousness instead of calmness and relaxation.
As I look around the City of Crystal Lake it seems to me that it is becoming plagued with vacancy both residential and owner/operated businesses, serious crimes, graffiti, and loitering. I do not feel safe anymore on the streets of Crystal Lake. It does not give me the warm fuzzy feeling that it did just a few years ago. I would hope that the City Council would focus on a beautification project and that you would implement it NOW!!!
I am not opposed to M.C.C .and its mission of continuing education. It is a very important aspect of our society.
I am opposed to building on our watershed.
I am opposed to increasing the allowable building area from 20% to 50%.
I am opposed to building a Baseball Stadium.
I am opposed to increasing our taxes to pay for this endeavor.
I urge you to vote NO on the M.C.C. petition.
I urge you to vote NO on the Watershed Manual
Respectfully submitted;
Doreen Orist
927 North Shore Dr
Crystal Lake, Il. 60014