Whether hundreds of acres of prime McHenry County real estate will be included in Lakewood or Crystal Lake may depend on a judge’s ruling of when the original annexation petition was filed.
The attorney representing four landowners who want to join the village of Lakewood said he could fix errors in his July 7 petition by filing additional legal papers and mailing new legal notices to people involved.
But attorneys for Crystal Lake, the Crystal Lake Union Cemetery Association and landowner Gary Weiler–all of whom oppose the annexation–say the court ought to fix the request date at Aug. 17, the day the last of the amended papers were filed.
If McHenry County Circuit Judge Michael Sullivan does that, they argue, then their own petitions to be annexed into Crystal Lake filed Aug. 2 would take precedence.
At the end of a hearing on the dispute, Sullivan said he expects to rule by Oct. 3.
The cemetery association owns Mt. Thabor Cemetery, which sits near the center of 465 acres of unincorporated land northeast of Illinois Highways 176 and 47.
Four of the six landowners involved with that proposal have agreed to be annexed by Lakewood, but the cemetery association and Weiler have filed legal objections to the plan.
The cemetery association’s parcel and Weiler’s property are key to Lakewood’s annexation plan because they are contiguous to the village’s border. Without those two parcels, Lakewood cannot annex the rest of the land.
But because the other four landowners involved have agreed to the Lakewood annexation, Weiler and the cemetery association could be forced to go ahead.
The key will be whose petition the judge decides is valid.
Unlike Lakewood, which plans to develop some of the land into business and commercial space, Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley said the city would keep the land as mostly agricultural space.
“We view this as a nice buffer between us and the neighboring community and we want to keep it that way,” he said.
Joseph Gottemoller, who filed the original petition on behalf of four property owners who want to annex their land to Lakewood, did not sign the petition and did not give adequate notice to those involved that the issue would be heard in court.
To fix the notice error, Gottemoller sent new ones to landowners.
“There is no dispute that these people have been given notice not once, but twice,” he said.
To back up the petition, he filed additional documents Aug. 17.
Sam Harrod, Weiler’s attorney, argued that Gottemoller must decide if he wants to base his case on the original, defective petition or the new documents.
Harrod said state law says the new filings replaced the original petition because the court did not give permission to file amended documents.
“This is a case where petitioners are trying to pick and choose which rights and remedies and benefits they want,” he said.
