‘Very disappointed in the County Board’: Crystal Lake mayor vents over self-storage facility vote

Renovations and additions will be made to the McHenry County Department of Health building in Crystal Lake after it received City Council approval.

The health department received the Crystal Lake City Council OK in a 5-1 vote Tuesday to change the architectural design and add more parking spaces, an accessibility ramp, more office and lobby spaces and add a clinic with a drive-thru.

The 3-acre site at 100 N. Virginia St. has been home to the McHenry County Department of Health and Animal Control and Adoption Center since the county purchased the building in 2006.

The health department will temporarily relocate some services for the upcoming construction, according to a McHenry County Department of Health news release.

Immunization clinics and Women, Infants and Children services will be relocated to health department’s Woodstock location at 2200 N. Seminary Ave., Building A. Clients with existing appointments will be contacted with updated location details, according to the release. Services through the Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program and the Illinois Wisewoman Program will be relocated to the McHenry County Mental Health Board at 620 Dakota St., Crystal Lake.

The Animal Control division will remain open at the current 100 N. Virginia St. location, according to the release.

The City Council overrode the Crystal Lake Planning and Zoning Commission, which unanimously agreed last month not to recommend the plan. The main issue between petitioners and commissioners came from the language of the city’s code that requires at least 60% of the facade to be brick or stone.

The existing structure is made of red brick with a “silver metal mansard roof,” according to city documents. Architects are looking to add “thin brick veneer” and gray fiber cement accents that look similar to metallic panels, Chris Hansen of Kluber Architects and Engineers said. The 1½-inch-thick panels are as durable as brick and are similar to materials used for the Lake County Health Department Center that Hansen’s team also designed, he said.

“It may be modern,” Commissioner Jeff Greenman said. “Modern doesn’t necessarily means it’s improved.”

After the Planning and Zoning denial, designers returned to City Council with a changed design that meets the city code’s requirements by removing some of the panels and added more brick veneer.

“We simply had to look at the numbers as it related to the financial side of this, which we are also having to consider as this is a county project being funded by a grant,” Hansen said. “We are confident that we can make this work with the requested changes that were brought forward to us” at the Planning and Zoning meeting.

The building is located on the Crystal Lake watershed, and the plan calls for an increased surface coverage of almost 2,600 square feet. City staff have no concerns about the plans regarding the watershed, as they will be adding landscaping and abiding by all of the city’s guidelines, City Planner Elizabeth Maxwell said.

Council members were receptive to the changes, while Mayor Haig Haleblian brought up his frustration with the McHenry County Board for recently voting on a zoning change at the former Flowerwood property at the corner of Routes 176 and 14. That change allows for a self-storage facility on the site, which is just outside the boundaries of Crystal Lake; the city objected to those plans.

“I will support this, but I am very disappointed in the County Board,” he said. “You’ve really put us in a hard spot by that vote. We’ve worked really hard over the years to make Crystal Lake what it is, and I’m very frustrated with what went on at that meeting.”

The city of Crystal Lake filed an objection to the County Board with opposition against developers from transforming the site into a self-storage facility.