Local Residents Sound Off on Crystal Lake South Bleachers

The Illinois Supreme Court ruled last week in favor of the city of Crystal Lake in regards to the massive, $1.2 million bleachers built in recent years at Crystal Lake South.

• Illinois Supreme Court Sides With City on Case of Controversial Bleachers

The high court voted 7-0, siding with with the city of Crystal Lake, which has contended that zoning laws prohibited the bleachers from being constructed, the Daily Herald reports. The school district has said school land is exempt from city zoning laws.

Moving forward, the school district will ”fully comply with all court orders regarding the demolition of the bleachers,” District 155 Board of Education President Ted Wagner said in a statement Thursday.

The case has wound its way through the court system since the summer of 2013 when homeowners living on Amberwood Drive said they were never given advance notification about the project, or an opportunity to share their concerns or input. The homeowners objected to the height and width of the new stands.

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling, local residents took to Facebook to voice their opinions.

Here is what some Crystal Lake-Cary Patch and Algonquin Patch Facebook users had to say:

• Tim Haverty: “What a colossal waste of taxpayers’ dollars!”
• Douglas Blake: “My tax money well spent! I think whomever was on the BOE committee that pushed this through should lose their jobs and be fiscally responsible for the cost of building and demolition of these bleachers. Anyone with an ounce of common sense should have known erecting something like this may have issues!”
• Dean Graf: “The district should have never thought they were above the rules!”
• Bill Linquist: “We should get a group property tax credit for this next year. Let the school administration take the hit out of their wallets not ours.”
• Mike Makila: “They spent taxpayer money to build them and then taxpayer money to defend them and it will be taxpayer money to take them down. In the end taxpayer gets screwed.”
• Kurt Regep: “It’s disappointing but perhaps understandable that in their email to parents, D-155 still is not taking any responsibility for their poor decisions throughout the entire process.”