March 17, 2010
Editor:
Dave Uphoff
The closing of the sale of Section 6 by the City of Minonk to H & H Farms of Plano for $2,826,100 this week marks the end of a remarkable saga involving this square mile of land north of the Minonk city limits. The story started in 1992 when Section 6 was purchased by USA Waste, a waste disposal company from Texas. After the purchase it became known that plans were being made to build a large landfill on the property. This prospect spurred local action to prevent the landfill from being located on the city's doorsteps. The feeling was that having a landfill located so close to the city would discourage new residents, create odor and rodent problems, and eventually contaminate the local water supply.A citizens group was formed called CAL, which was an acronym for Citizens Against Landfill, and later was changed to the more genteel name, Community Action League. This writer was a member of the CAL group in which many meetings were held, many trips were made to Springfield, and many confrontations were had with City Hall, which initially did not express its stance on the proposed landfill. With a new city council seated in 1994 and the overwhelming support of the community, the city was now ready to reject the permitting of a landfill in Section 6. Miraculously, the CAL group was able to to get the state legislature to pass a bill which gave the city the right to accept or reject the location of a landfill north of Minonk rather than leave the decision to the Woodford County Board. Meanwhile, USA Waste merged with Waste Management, the largest waste disposal company in the country. However, with the community united in its opposition to the landfill and the demonstration of our ability to get a state law passed for our protection, plans for the landfill were eventually dropped. With this backdrop who would have imagined the final outcome of this story? Five years ago, Waste Management of Illinois gave the City of Minonk an option to purchase Section 6 for $3200 an acre - a magnanimous gesture considering the opposition we gave them 15 years ago. The City exercised this option and sold the land for $5002 an acre in January. The transaction will give the City nearly an $800,000 profit after deducting lawyer fees and other expenses.
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Much credit is due to Mayor Bill Koos and the city council for engineering this outcome. When Koos took office in 2005, the city had entered into a tentative agreement with developer Randy Hellyer to build a raceway on Section 6. However, Hellyer was never able to come up with the money to purchase the land. When Hellyer's option expired, Koos and the city council wisely decided to discontinue doing business with Hellyer and instead decided to get another developer. However, with the downturn in the economy, development potential dried up and the City decided to exercise its option to purchase Section 6 and then turn around and sell it for a profit – a process which will be completed this week. Not only did the City make an $800,000 profit on the sale of the land, it also was able to keep 19 acres for expansion of the City's water treatment plant, donate 6.5 acres to Minonk Township for expansion of the Minonk Township Cemetery and keep 27 acres for development of a nature trail to the Jumbo ½ mile north of the city. Who would have imagined such an outcome 18 years ago? On behalf of the CAL committee, I wish to thank Waste Management for their generosity and their willingness to overlook the acrimony that existed between them and the Minonk community 15 years ago. Instead of burdening the city with the negative image of a landfill next to our borders, their decision to give the land back to us for a profit will be considered one of the greatest gifts this city has ever received. Their action along with the wise decisions made by Mayor Koos and the city council has given the city of Minonk a tremendous boost in developing a better community.
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