Closed Session to discuss the litigation between the Village of Johnsburg and Pistakee Yacht Club

 The Village of Johnsburg will be going into closed session at the July 7th 2026 board meeting to discuss the litigation between the Village of Johnsburg and the Pistakee Yacht Club.  This case is set to go to trial in late August.  It appears the trustees will be voting on a motion approving attorney fees associated with this trial.  Come out and show your support for the yacht club and stop this wasteful spending.

Place: Johnsburg Townhall 1515 Channel Beach Ave Johnsburg IL 60051

Time:  Meeting start at 7:00 pm

Note:  You must submit a request to speak during the public portion of the meeting if you wish to speak.

Background

Hello Yacht Club supporters and wasteful spending opposers

The lawsuit, where the village is trying to apply R1 zoning and associated ordinances to the yacht club properties, is still ongoing yet it is drawing little attention.

 To our knowledge the village trustees have never voted to support this legal action and the associated legal costs.  The village has spent ninety thousand on legal fees this year and most are likely involving this legal suit since the village lawyer has been in court multiple times and submitted numerous voluminous briefs.  This case has been before a judge since October 2023 so there must be significantly more spending by the village associated with this case.  Likely hundreds of thousands of dollars.

 This started when the village asked the Pistakee Yacht Club to remove all boats and trailers from the back lots in 2023.  The club responded that, when we acquired the lots in 1970, before there was a Village of Johnsburg, McHenry County granted a variance to allow club members to park boats and trailers on the back lots. This relieved congestion on Rocky Beach Road at the turn by the yacht club. By moving boats to the back lots, traffic freely moved around the bend.  During this dispute, the village asked the club to ask a judge to interpret the variance that had been in place without dispute for almost 50 years.  When the club did ask for a judgement the village leadership and administration instructed the village lawyer to countersue which they can do and, it appears, did do without board approval.  The countersuit has resulted in the case being in court for almost three years versus getting a simple ruling concerning the variance.

 In May of 2025 the judge made a ruling that said the variance did not allow for storage of boats, but that there appeared to be a historical “as is” use.  The judge left it open for the VOJ to prove otherwise.  At that point, all yacht club legal claims were dismissed and the case was closed.  The village leadership and administration chose to continue the lawsuit and, instead of trying to prove no historical use, they sought a summary judgement, claiming there are no issues of fact and the village can apply their R1 ordinances to the back lots and the club house property.

 After another year, the judge disagreed with the village, stating there are multiple issues of fact that would allow the use of the properties in support of the yacht club.  He even said his review was causing him to reconsider some of his previous decision on what the variance allowed.  He stated a trial was needed to sort this out.  He has set a trial date for the end of August.  The village asked the judge to reconsider his decision and he denied that request.

The yacht club does something very special.  It is a place where there is shared access to a limited resource, the Chain O’ Lakes.  This is magnified by the yacht club hosting the Community Sailing School @ Pistakee and by hosting other events open to the community.

 Most communities work to create community space.  Johnsburg’s is working to eliminate this treasured and historic community space, requesting its use be R1 which provides exclusively for single family residential use on half acre lots.

 Please come to the village board meeting and ask the trustees to get involved and to vote in support of this 129 year old institution within the community of Johnsburg.