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Sat Aug 10 2024 at 04:00 pm

3300 Rocky Beach Road, Johnsburg, IL, United States, Illinois 60051 | Mchenry, IL

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Johnsburg yacht club, sailing school ‘fighting for the future’ amid zoning conflict with village

With no boat parking, there is no yacht club, according to groups.

A sailboats and trailers parked at Pistakee Yacht Club on Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023. The yacht club has been parking boats and trailers on a lot next to the club since 1970, with a variance from the county. The Village of Johnsburg says they are in violation and have to move the boats and trailers from the lot. (Gregory Shaver/Gregory Shaver )

The board chairman of the Community Sailing School at Pistakee Yacht Club in Johnsburg sent an email to the nonprofit’s 800-person contact list Thursday evening encouraging them to attend the next Johnsburg Village Board meeting.

That same night, Johnsburg’s board meeting was moved from Tuesday, Feb. 20, to Thursday, Feb. 22, Assistant Village Administrator Vinny Lamontagna said. The new date was posted to the village’s website Friday afternoon, and its agenda should be posted by end of day Tuesday, Lamontagna said.

At stake at the meeting, according to the Pistakee Yacht Club and officials from the sailing school, are the organizations’ futures.

The two groups have been battling the village since March, when an anonymous complaint indicated that the 127-year-old nonprofit was illegally storing boats on its property.

The sailing school and yacht club are “fighting for the future of the Pistakee Yacht Club. If it does not have boats on its property, it will be closed in a couple of years. We will not have a sailing school,” Tom Kartheiser, chairman of the sailing school board, said at the Feb. 14 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting.

This is about a text amendment. This applies to the entire village.” — Steven Dixon, Johnsburg Planning and Zoning commissioner

At that meeting, the commission gave its nod of approval to a zoning ordinance amendment that increases the fine for code enforcement violations from $25 to $200 per day. It also requires a property owner to prove a nonconforming use of a structure is legal.

The yacht club and the village are currently in court . Both have countersued, with the yacht club saying it received a variance from McHenry County allowing it to store boats on land adjacent to the club at 3300 N. Rocky Beach Road.

In its countersuit, the village of Johnsburg claims that the 1970 variance does not give the yacht club the ability to store sailboats on the lots without a building for them.

According to the county’s variance, the yacht club may “use and develop the said premises for private club parking and recreational purposes and to erect storage facilities for small boats.”

Johnsburg’s countersuit goes on to say the resolution “provides expressly that any boat storage is conditional upon the erection of storage facilities for small boats, which have never been undertaken, much less completed.”

The yacht club has allowed members to store sailboats on the property as part of the membership amenities, its leadership said.

If approved by the Village Board at a future meeting, the increased daily fine, combined with the new burden of proof that it does, indeed, have the right to store boats there may be too much for the yacht club to overcome, Kartheiser said.

If the members cannot store sailboats at the property, they will leave the group, Kartheiser said, adding that that would shut down the club permanently.

The text amendments approved Wednesday night are “not about the yacht club,” said Curt Larsen, planning and zoning chairman.

The increased fine is about residents “with an abundance of stuff laying around on their yards,” Larsen said.

In the past, when residents are fined for an ordinance violation, they have paid the fines and continued to store property illegally, village attorney Michael Smoron said.

Commissioner Steven Dixon said he was unaware of the conflict between the yacht club and the village, but that it had nothing to do with the planning commission.

“This is about a text amendment. This applies to the entire village,” Dixon said.

According to the yacht club’s pleadings in court, “none of the village’s ordinances apply to the property,” Smoron said. “According to their counsel, none of this applies anyway.”

The zoning ordinance amendment endorsed by the commission next goes to the Village Board for final approval.

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Letter from Village President Hettermann - Pistakee Yacht Club

Dear Johnsburg Residents and Business Owners,

I am writing to clear up some misinformation circulating regarding the lawsuit initiated against the Village by the Pistakee Yacht Club.

First and foremost, the Village is not trying to shut down the Pistakee Yacht Club and Community Sailing School. That statement is false and several members of the Yacht Club and Sailing School have publicly acknowledged that. The Village has always and continues to be supportive of both organizations.

Last Spring, the Village received multiple complaints regarding the improper use and condition of a vacant parcel owned by the Pistakee Yacht Club. Through those complaints, it came to the Village’s attention that the Yacht Club was collecting fees for the open storage of boats, a use that is not authorized on the property. In following up on the complaints, it was noted that several of the boats were dilapidated and that portions of the property had become overgrown with weeds and grass due to junk and debris that were also accumulating on the property. The Village notified the Yacht Club of the violations and over the past year has made extensive attempts in good faith to work with the Yacht Club to clean up the property and amicably resolve the matter. Although Club representatives acknowledge that junk and inoperable boats were being stored on the property and have made efforts to clean up the property, they maintain that the Club is allowed to charge fees for unlimited open boat storage on the property, based upon a variance it sought in 1970 through McHenry County. In turn, they chose to pursue litigation against the Village regarding the matter. The Village reviewed the documents related to the matter and disagrees with the Club’s position. Upon that review, it was discovered that notice for the public hearing never referenced boat storage of any kind and violated people’s due process.

At this past Thursday’s Board meeting, the Village took action to adopt an updated zoning map, an activity that must be conducted each year in March. In light of discovering that notice was not published for boat storage, the Board approved the zoning map without a variance designation for the vacant lot. To do so otherwise would be endorsing the unfairness and lack of due process that occurred when the Club sought its so-called variance.

The Village has a responsibility to enforce ordinances and protect all of its residents from being adversely impacted by the misuse of property. We have repeatedly expressed our willingness to work with the Yacht Club. This past Friday I again reached out to the Yacht Club’s commodore requesting a meeting in an effort to reach an amicable resolution to the matter. I am still awaiting a response.

We realize what both the Pistakee Yacht Club and Community Sailing School bring to our community and also wish to preserve their heritage and future. I again ask that as we work towards resolution, people are treated decently and with dignity. Further circulation of misinformation, and the use of intimidation and other tactics being pursued, only create a further divide on this matter.

Respectfully, Edwin P. Hettermann Village President

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Village of Johnsburg 1515 Channel Beach Ave. Johnsburg, IL 60051 Phone: (815) 385-6023

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707 Sprint event at Port Edgar Yacht Club

Pos	Boat	Sail No	Bow Number	Helm	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Pts
Yellow Fleet
1st	Tsunami 2	7031	31	Gillies Munro	PEYC	1	‑4	1	1	1	2	2	8
2nd	More T Vicar	7052	52	Ben Williamson	RIPPON SC	4	2	‑5	2	3	1	3	15
3rd	Monarch	7035	35	Kenny Watson	Royal Tay YC	2	‑6	6	3	5	3	1	20
4th	Valhalla	7003	3	Andrew Lawrie	PEYC	5	3	2	6	‑7	4	4	24
5th	Racehorse	7032	32	Rudi Barman	Scarborough YC	6	7	3	5	4	‑9	5	30
6th	Jetstream	7102	102	Justin Venton	PEYC	3	1	7	‑8	6	8	6	31
7th	Isbean	7068	68	Richard Gibson	PEYC	‑9	5	4	4	8	7	9	37
8th	Poimandres	7055	55	Guy Mitchel	Leeds Uni SC	8	8	‑9	7	2	6	7	38
9th	Mojito	7042	42	Guy Neville	PEYC	7	‑9	8	9	9	5	8	46
Blue Fleet
1st	Racing Demon	7084	84	Will Normand	PEYC	1	1	1	1	1	‑3	3	8
2nd	Beluga	7033	33	Helen Cowie	Royal Findhorn YC	2	‑7	3	2	4	1	1	13
3rd	Thin Ice	7043	43	Nicky Medley	PEYC	‑4	2	2	3	2	2	2	13
4th	Bella Luna	7028	28	Martin Crook	PEYC	3	5	‑8	6	3	6	7	30
5th	Freya	7096	96	Sandy Robertson	Burntisland SC	7	3	7	4	7	‑8	4	32
6th	Rocinante	7089	89	Greg Mosgai	PEYC	‑6	6	5	5	6	4	6	32
7th	Synchro	7070	70	Mike Miller	PEYC	‑8	4	6	8	8	5	5	36
8th	Old School	7037	37	Walter McDonald	PEYC	5	‑8	4	7	5	7	8	36
9th	Fandango	7063	63	James Watson	PEYC	‑9	9	9	9	9	9	9	54

, the All-Russian Sailing Team Championship was held at Taganrog's yacht club "Pier 5" ("Pyaty Prichal") on May 4-10. The event is organized by a partnership between Taganrog Yachting Federation, "Pier 5" Club, Rostov Oblast Yachting Federation and Russian Yachting Federation. The championship was sponsored by VTB Bank.

� Sergey Plishenko

Over 150 athletes from Saint Petersburg, Sevastopol, Kaliningrad Oblast, Krasnodar Krai, Primorsky Krai, Republic of Tatarstan, Rostov Oblast, Samara Oblast, Saratov Oblast and Volgograd Oblast competed in team races in several sailboard categories. Trainees of Taganrog's Youth Sports School of Olympic Reserve No. 3. participated as well.