WOODSTOCK, Ill. — The McHenry County Board on Oct. 21 declined to approve a zoning reclassification that the City of Crystal Lake formally objected to and later approved a separate zoning consent item, while residents packed the meeting to oppose a conditional-use permit request for a proposed slaughterhouse on a landlocked parcel in the Wonder Lake area.
The board voted against item 10A3 after members raised concerns about acting over a municipal objection; a separate motion to approve item 10A6 carried. During public comment, more than a dozen neighbors urged the board and staff to deny or delay a conditional-use permit and related variances for the Sunbury Farm proposal, citing lack of public road frontage, emergency access, odour, groundwater and property-value impacts, and proximity to Greenwood Elementary School.
The zoning matter linked to the slaughterhouse will next go to the Zoning Board of Appeals; county staff told the board the first official ZBA hearing is set for Nov. 19 and that a final county decision is unlikely until early next year.
Why it matters: The rejected reclassification required consideration of Crystal Lake’s statutory right to object within 1.5 miles of its boundary, a legal limit some board members said the county should respect. Separately, the slaughterhouse petition has prompted sustained neighborhood opposition over public-safety and environmental concerns, and residents asked the county to enforce frontage and access standards in the McHenry County Unified Development Ordinance.
Board votes and legal context
Campbell, a county board member who addressed the board before the vote, cited state law and Crystal Lake’s objection, saying the county must consider municipal land-use plans. "The state's statute allows the County Board the legal authority to consider municipalities' objections when voting on zoning map reclassifications," Campbell said, referencing the citation given at the meeting as "Illinois Compiled Statutes 5 for municipalities, article 11 division 13." Dr. Seager said he would vote no because Crystal Lake had used its opportunity to object and because the board should respect that local planning process.
The board took these actions on zoning items that were removed from the consent calendar for separate votes: approve item 10A3 (motion by Mr. Scala; second by Mr. Smith) — outcome: motion does not carry. Approve item 10A6 (motion by Mr. Gotemoller; second by Mr. Scala) — outcome: motion carries. The recorded roll-call tallies were not provided in the meeting transcript excerpt.
Public concerns on the Sunbury Farm conditional-use petition
Multiple residents described the proposed slaughterhouse as a poor fit for a parcel that lacks public road frontage and relies on a long, single-lane easement. Linda Heimbaugh, who said her property is adjacent to the petitioner's land and that she owns the easement, told the board the parcel has "0 feet of frontage and is only accessible via a 1,550-foot easement over private property," and urged denial of the conditional-use permit and the variance that would reduce the required 330 feet of road frontage to zero.
Neighbors cited safety and emergency-access concerns, pointing to a prior slaughterhouse fire elsewhere that required response from many departments. James Ferretti, who identified himself as a certified safety professional, said Greenwood Elementary School — less than a mile from the site — and its special-program students are especially vulnerable to any accidental chemical or air releases.
Several speakers described potential economic impacts. Rob Feller and Renee Trojan, a real-estate agent, cited studies and market anecdotes indicating nearby intensive animal operations and CAFOs can reduce house values; Feller estimated potential loss in assessed value for dozens of nearby homes. Roy Stoltzmann and other neighbors emphasized that the petitioner does not live in McHenry County, that product sales would occur outside the county, and that locals would bear most impacts.
Technical and ordinance points raised
Speakers and commenters noted several regulatory constraints and facts cited during the meeting: the county's unified development ordinance requires 330 feet of road frontage for certain high-impact uses; the petitioner is asking for variances to reduce that requirement to zero and to reduce the distance between the proposed facility and on-site residences; the easement that provides access was described in historical conveyances as intended for agricultural uses such as "thrashing" grain, not for commercial slaughter operations.
Linda Heimbaugh warned that approving access for a commercial operation over a private easement could create liability for easement owners and said there are no nearby hydrants, so fire response would require water to be trucked in. County staff present in the meeting said the Department of Transportation has not yet determined whether the easement should be classified as a major or minor access point and that the petitioner must obtain permission from each property owner whose land the easement crosses if traffic will increase.
Next steps
County staff said the zoning petition process is essentially restarting: the first official Zoning Board of Appeals hearing is scheduled for Nov. 19, and "it's not likely there'd be a decision on Nov. 19, so it's very likely that this isn't going to be before you guys until early next year," staff told the board. Neighbors and board members said they intend to continue monitoring and participating in the ZBA review.
Votes at a glance
- Item 10A3 (zoning map reclassification subject to Crystal Lake objection): motion to approve failed. (Mover: Mr. Scala; Second: Mr. Smith.)
- Item 10A6 (separate zoning item removed from the consent agenda): motion to approve carried. (Mover: Mr. Gotemoller; Second: Mr. Scala.)
(Recorded vote tallies were not specified in the transcript excerpt.)
Community context and claims of impact
Residents said the site is adjacent to the Greenwood Cemetery and within a radius that could affect the Deerpath and Woods Creek subdivisions and users of private wells and septic systems. Commenters requested the county enforce frontage and access standards in the McHenry County Unified Development Ordinance (the meeting referenced "section 16-20-040" by number) and sought clarity on how waste, odour mitigation, and emergency response would be handled if a slaughterhouse were permitted.
Chairman comments and staff timeline
Chairman Bueller and county staff repeatedly emphasized that the ZBA process remains the vehicle for review and that additional hearings and staff analyses would follow. County staff said they would return to the board with outcomes from the ZBA process and that the board should expect the item to proceed "into early next year" rather than be resolved at the Oct. 21 meeting.