Johnsburg yacht club loses round in court against village in boat storage lawsuits

McHenry County Judge Kevin Costello ruled earlier this month that the Pistakee Yacht Club’s 1970 McHenry County zoning variance does not allow open-air storage of sailboats and trailers on its Johnsburg property, dismissing part but not all of the club’s lawsuit against the village.

Then, on Tuesday, May 20, Johnsburg’s attorney filed another motion for summary judgment, looking to put an end to the back-and-forth lawsuit between the village and the yacht club that began in early 2023.

“The village is doubling down” in seeking a judge’s rulings on whether the club is in violation of Johnsburg’s ordinance for the storage of boats, said Tyler Wilke, the club’s attorney. The two sides are set to be back in Costello’s courtroom Friday to set the next steps in the lawsuits.

In a mixed ruling May 8, Costello said that he would not rule entirely in the village’s favor with a summary judgment, which would have effectively ended the suit. A remaining question is whether the village annexed the property “as is” in 1991, which could mean the village would have to continue to allow the club to store boats on the property at 3300 N. Rocky Beach Road, Costello’s ruling appears to say.

“The court finds ... Pistakee Yacht Club’s current open storage of boats and boat trailers is not an allowed variation,” Costello wrote in his ruling, which also notes “the village has offered no competent evidence that Pistakee’s property was under terms other than ‘as is.’”

The evidence presented - an affidavit from Village Manager Claudett Sofiakis stating that the annexation was not “as is” - “states no facts,” Costello wrote, and is “just a legal conclusion.” Sofiakis’ Johnsburg home is adjacent to the lot in question.

The club has allowed open storage of boats on its property since 1970 and was doing so when it was annexed into Johnsburg along with the former village of Sunnyside, Wilke said.

“The village has the burden to prove that it was not annexed ‘as is,’” Wilke said.

The latest filings from Johnsburg attorney Michael Smoron had “very little about the annexation ordinance,” Wilke said.

The yacht club and Johnsburg have been at odds since mid-2023. That is when the village first noted that because the property - across Rocky Beach Road from the lakeside clubhouse and docks - was zoned residential and the open storage of boats owned by its members was not allowed.

Without that boat storage, club officials argue, it cannot operate as a sailing club. After months of wrangling, the yacht club sued Johnsburg in late 2023. The village countersued, and the Village Board in March 2024 approved an updated zoning map that did not include the 1970s variance.

Costello’s ruling follows a May 1 hearing on the lawsuits.

The judge “basically said the ordinance violation issue is not one he is going to decide, but that the annexation is the issue,” Wilke said.

In response to a request for comment on Costello’s ruling from village officials, Mayor Ed Hettermann only addressed the portion that was dismissed.

“We are pleased with the judge’s decision in support of the Village’s position that the purported variance did not provide for the storage of boats or trailers on the Yacht Club’s property, thereby dismissing the Yacht Club’s complaint against the Village,” according to Hettermann’s prepared statement.

The yacht club has not determined its next steps, said Mark Hoffman, commodore of the club. “We need some sort of agreement,” Hoffman said, noting that the dispute has been ugly at times.

“I am very hopeful that we will reach some sort of understanding,” Hoffman said. “We both may have to give up a little bit.”

To Wilke, the new filing from Johnsburg “seems to be kicking the end out further” rather than bringing the suits closer to an end.

“The village is continuing to take a hard-line stance against the yacht club,” he said.