Nearly two years after the McHenry County Board struck a deal to sell 19.6 acres of land to Mid-West Acquisitions of Chicago, the sale still hasn’t gone through.
So it probably should have come as no surprise that it took thec County Board nearly 40 minutes of closed-door discussion, another 15 minutes of open-session argument and three votes to amend the sales contract and delay the sale again.
Some provisions of the amended contract did come as a big surprise, however, to officials of Woodstock, who discovered that the county had agreed to pressure the city for zoning approval and even to join the developer in a suit against Woodstock if the approval was not forthcoming.
Those provisions did not pass without a fight. But in the end, the board voted Tuesday 18-4 to give Mid-West up to two years more to close on the property, which the company agreed to buy for $2.25 million.
The property at Country Club Road and Seminary Avenue in Woodstock includes the County Highway Department garage and offices and 15 acres leased to the McHenry County Fair Association. Mid-West plans to build a 160,000-square-foot shopping center there.
The sales contract amendment adds a promise that the county will help Mid-West “obtain zoning, permits and other approvals from governmental or quasi-governmental authorities,” including by joining in “any petition, application, plat of subdivision or parcelization, action or suit that purchaser may file or undertake” to get approvals or keep existing ones.
That provision appears to be a shot across the bow of Woodstock, whose new City Council last month voted to change the development agreement approved for the site by the previous city administration.
That change requires Mid-West to build a $400,000 access road to the property from Irving Avenue to the north. That road would reduce traffic on Illinois Highway 47, which borders the west edge of the property.
Woodstock City Manager Tim Clifton said Mid-West officials have not responded to the City Council’s demand for a connecting road. He added that the city will not give final plan approval until Mid-West includes the road.
Mid-West representative Mark Youngman declined to comment on the demand for the road or on the sales contract amendment.
Clifton did not want to speak directly about the contract amendment, but he did say city officials were taken by surprise.
“The City Council was upset,” he said. “The city was trying to share information with the county. You’d think that as a professional courtesy, they’d have told us about this.
“It’s a very convoluted issue,” Clifton said. “You’ve got the developer, the city, the county and the fair association, all with their own interests.”
The contract amendment drew the ire of several County Board members, who were most upset at the language committing the county to join in any lawsuit or other actions that Mid-West might initiate against Woodstock.
“I read this paragraph, which puts us in opposition to a municipality where we have our courthouse, and I think it’s a mistake for us to have that paragraph in there,” said board member Don Larson.
Board member Virginia Peschke joined him in objecting to the provision, noting that “it leaves it entirely up to them (Mid-West)” to decide whether to take any legal actions against the city.
But Larson’s motion to delete the language was defeated.
The provision does include a requirement that Mid-West cover legal costs the county incurs by joining in a lawsuit. But Larson said the developer could go bankrupt, leaving the county to pay the bills.
The amendment is so complicated that McHenry County State’s Atty. Gary Pack decided no one in his office had the expertise to handle it. At his suggestion, the county hired attorney James Militello III, an expert in real estate law, to negotiate it.
The amendment also appears to give the developer a contingency clause that did not exist in the original contract.
The additional clause says Mid-West must close by Aug. 8, 1999, provided that the company gets all necessary approvals for the project. The prior contract said nothing about the sale hinging on the developer getting all approvals.
If Mid-West failed to close on the property after receiving approvals, the company would have to pay the county $100,000.
County Administrator Bill Barron said the amendment will make it easier for the sale to go through. He said he recommended delaying closing the sale, which had been set for this October, because Mid-West officials do not want to pay the $2.25 million price while the development plans are in dispute.
And without that money, Barron does not want to begin construction of the county’s new Highway Department facilities, slated for Nelson and Harland Roads northwest of Woodstock.
The extra time also gives breathing room to the McHenry County Fair Association, which will probably have to find a new location to hold the annual county fair once the land is sold. Mid-West would acquire the fair’s grandstand, track, 4-H food stand, washrooms and an exhibit hall.
