Wonder Lake-area residents are making their final push to the McHenry County Board ahead of a scheduled vote Tuesday on a nearby slaughterhouse proposal.

Several neighbors urged the board at a committee meeting Thursday to vote down the plan, noting it got a negative recommendation from the Zoning Board of Appeals.

Among them was James Ferretti, who said neighbors have spent a lot of time and money fighting the slaughterhouse off Greenwood Road.

“Clearly, it does not need to be here. Again, it does not support our community,” he said, claiming the petitioner is using the slaughterhouse as a “dumping ground.”

Jacob Trom, who lives near the proposed site, said the “stigma” of it could cause his home value to fall go down 10% to 20%, which for him would be a loss of $40,000 to $80,000.

“The value of my house, it says a lot for where I live,” Trom said, adding that people want to move to McHenry County and have a place to enjoy with their family and friends. He also asserted standards have not been met for the proposal.

The petitioner, Sergiy Bazylyuk, aims to build a 4,200-square-foot facility, excluding a front porch, his attorney Terry McKenna told the zoning board. Bazylyuk confirmed the proposal would be just over 1 acre.

Bazylyuk plans to use the property to process animals he raises, and estimated about eight to nine customers will come by weekly for pickup orders. The rest of the meat would go to farm stores he runs. The petitioner plans to have up to four employees on site at a time and to run the slaughterhouse on a part-time basis, up to three days a week, according to county records.

McKenna said it would be a small operation, limited to Bazylyuk’s animals and designed to limit odor and noise.

Plans call for a septic system that would handle washrooms and sinks and would be similar to residential septic systems, McKenna said, adding animal waste will be collected in a holding tank and rendered off-site.

McKenna said the facility will be farther away from residential areas than a larger building that’s already on the property and will be shielded by that building and about 30 acres of orchards.

McKenna said the location is hidden from neighbors and that such facilities have to operate within government standards.

“The public has been misinformed” about what will happen at the facility, how waste will be disposed of, and that the facility would pollute the land, McKenna said.

Bazylyuk has asked for a variation on the typically required minimum frontage. The property is accessed by an easement that cuts through the Greenwood Cemetery property. Some of the residents brought that up Thursday and talked about safety and whether it’s respectful to the people in the cemetery.

According to county records, the petitioner is not expecting more traffic than what currently happens with farm activities and has proposed to locate the facility on the property “to minimize traffic congestion and hazard on public streets.”

Bazylyuk is also asking for a variation to allow a house on his property to be about 217 feet from the facility rather than the 500 feet required under county rules, according to county records.

Previously, county officials had interpreted their requirements to allow for an exception to the 500-feet rule if the house was on the petitioner’s property. But that interpretation has been reassessed and reversed.

McKenna could not be reached for comment Friday.

The county’s zoning board voted 6-1 to deny the petition last month, in large part because the board members felt county standards had not been met. The zoning board first took up the proposal last year, but a July hearing was called off because notice requirements had not been met.

The proposal went back to the zoning board and after a hearing that was postponed multiple times to allow the board to complete its work, the slaughterhouse received the negative recommendation Jan. 8.

The county board last year approved a different slaughterhouse near Woodstock, and neighbors had also objected to that facility. County records indicate there is an active lawsuit regarding that facility, which is due back in court March 3.

During the County Board’s Committee of the Whole meeting Thursday, at least one board member indicated he would not he would not be voting for the Greenwood slaughterhouse.

Board member Michael Skala, R-Huntley, noted there were 10 pages of comments from the zoning board, something he said he hadn’t seen before but it showed the detail the zoning board went into.

He also said it boiled down the standards for approval not being met. He encouraged his colleagues to vote no.

The county board is expected to vote on the slaughterhouse Tuesday evening during a meeting that starts at 7 p.m. at the county building, 667 Ware Road in Woodstock. The proposal will need a three-fourths majority to pass, meaning 14 of the 18 members must vote in favor.