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A McHenry County judge on Thursday denied a request by the Pistakee Yacht Club to bar the Johnsburg Village Board from approving a zoning map at its meeting that night, apparently because the board had not yet voted on it.
Later Thursday, the board approved that updated zoning map – an annual requirement – that also removes the yacht club’s 1970 McHenry County variance the club believes allows it to store boats and trailers on its lot.
In an emergency request filed by yacht club attorney Tyler Wilke in McHenry County court, village attorney Michael Smoron advised Wednesday that the village planned to “unilaterally adopt a zoning map stripping and removing the variance granted by the county in 1970.”
Since last summer, the yacht club and the village have been locked in a dispute over the property adjacent to the yacht clubhouse on Pistakee Lake.
Club leadership said if it is not allowed to store member boats on the lot, the club will have to close. The village argued that the McHenry County variance is not valid to allow storage there. The two sides have sued each other over that variance.
Smoron called the emergency motion request “meritless” and noted that the judge indicated “this wasn’t something you can get a judge’s order to command you not to vote on,” as it is legislative in nature.
On the zoning map issue Thursday night, Trustee Jamie Morris voted no; Trustee Josh Hagen, a yacht club member, abstained; and Trustees Greg Klemstein, Beth Foreman and Mike Fouke voted yes. With a 3-1 vote and Trustee Scott Letzter absent, Village President Ed Hettermann voted to get to a 4-1 majority.
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That vote came after an amendment from Hagen to remove the yacht club’s property from the zoning map update. He also abstained on the vote, which caused a 2-2 tie – Morris and Fouke voting to remove the yacht club property, and Kelmstein and Foreman voting to keep it in.
Hettermann also voted, breaking the tie.
When Judge Kevin Costello denied the emergency order request, he continued the case to its next scheduled status date, April 4.
Now, Tom Kartheiser of the Sailing School at Pistakee said, the question before the judge is a constitutional one.
“They changed the village map while this is in litigation,” Kartheiser said “It is a due process question when something is in litigation.”
Laura King, the yacht club’s vice commodore, called the vote “incredibly disappointing. Being denied due process is terrifying, that the government is the one not following the rules.”
At its last meeting March 11, the Johnsburg board approved a letter proposing settlement language with the yacht club over the land fight.
Earlier this week, the yacht club replied to Johnsburg’s proposed settlement letter. In its response, the club asked for “in-person negotiations” between yacht club representatives and the village, including publicly elected trustees.
The club said it “strongly believes that representatives from the village and [the club] can best negotiate this matter without attorneys, and we ask the village to sit down with us to compromise and reach a win-win.”