County inspectors cite more than 50 violations at Hide-A-Way Lakes Campground

UPDATED 12 P.M. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 18

YORKVILLE – A local campground that has gotten attention from recent incidents involving law enforcement was cited for more than 50 violations after their annual inspection last week, according to Kendall County officials.

Matt Prochaska, chairman of the Kendall County Planning, Building and Zoning committee, said the cited violations against Hide-A-Way Lakes Campground, off Van Emmon Road in Oswego Township, include 33 inoperable vehicle violations and 29 junk and debris violations. He said that was after the inspection for the campground that occurred Thursday, Sept. 12.

"So there was quite a bit out there," Prochaska said.

The preliminary inspection results comes after county officials called for a full inspection of Hide-A-Way Lakes Campground in light of several recent events that happened at the there, including an apparent hit-and-run, an aggravated assault involving the unlawful use of a weapon, a crash involving a car and a train, and a residential burglary.

Tom Tanner, owner of the campground, has accused the Kendall County Sheriff’s Office of unfairly targeting him and said he is in compliance with his county-issued special-use permit. He said he hasn’t received the report as of 11:50 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18, but he’s hoping to get it in his hands soon so he can get to work to make those remediations as soon as possible.

“I’m prepared to make any repairs necessary,” Tanner said.

Tanner said the average campground is about 100 sites, where Hide-A-Way Lakes campground is about ten times that size. He said that "nobody should be excited that we should have 30, 40 or 50 violations," considering the campground's size.

County zoning officials also recently expressed interest in looking at changing recreational vehicle and campground regulations during their regular committee meeting last week after the recent issues at the Yorkville-area campground.

Prochaska said there were no cited violations specific to the campground's special-use permit and the less-serious violations came from other county ordinances. He said the county cannot guarantee whether anyone lives on the campground longer than four months at a time because management doesn't keep track of when visitors leave.

"The only way to figure that out is if we get a copy of his books once a month," Prochaska said.

Prochaska said an official full report of the annual inspection at the campground will be released in the coming days, which may include remediation on the campground’s part if anything occurred. He said if the issues aren’t resolved in 10 days and are filed with the state’s attorney’s office for compliance, the campground could face fines of up to $500 a day, for each violation count.