Six families in Johnsburg’s Chapel Hill Estates subdivision have filed a lawsuit to overturn the Village Board’s decision to allow a funeral parlor to open near their homes.
The Village Board voted unanimously last month to approve a zoning change to allow Mark and Nancy Justen of McHenry to open a funeral home at 3212 Chapel Hill Rd.
The funeral home would include a crematory operation, which the owners have said would compose about 5 percent of the business.
The conditional-use permit endorsed by the Village Board provides for extensive landscaping around the property.
“We’re hoping a judge will find that the Village Board’s decision was arbitrary and capricious; that it did not take into account property values,” said attorney Stephen Oakley of Coonen & Roth Ltd., a Crystal Lake law firm representing the neighbors who live in the 72-residence subdivision.
Oakley said he plans to argue that the plaintiffs’ property values are likely to decline if the funeral home is built. He also will argue that the approved zoning is inconsistent with the previously allowed uses at the vacant parcel.
“These people bought homes there not knowing (the village) would allow uses not listed in B-1 zoning,” he said. “It’s not anything someone could have anticipated when they bought the property.”
The Justens own George R. Justen & Son Funeral Home in McHenry, as well as funeral homes in Wonder Lake and Round Lake. The Johnsburg Village Board approved their request for a conditional-use permit to allow a funeral home and crematory service after the village Zoning Board gave its OK.
Many area residents spoke in opposition to the plan, even after the Justens agreed to do extensive landscaping to conceal the building.
Residents also expressed concerns about possible health risks.
But the Justens said they plan to install a double-walled holding tank with an alarm system to hold body fluids and chemicals used in embalming. Those materials would be removed by an appropriate waste hauler, they said.
Oakley said the landscaping would do little if anything to mitigate the impact on property values, because the building’s location at the subdivision entrance would require any prospective home-buyer to drive by it.
But during public meetings on the matter, McHenry Township Assessor Carol Perschke said she doubted the funeral home would have an adverse impact on the area’s property values.
Johnsburg Village President David Dominguez said he could not comment on the litigation, and Mark Justen also declined comment.
Johnsburg Village Atty. Michael Smoron said he had not yet seen a copy of the complaint, which was filed late Tuesday in McHenry County Circuit Court.
However, Smoron said the village “absolutely” would contest the lawsuit.
