Judge weighs in on Barrington Hills wood pile

A McHenry County judge issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday barring a Barrington Hills man from allowing any more wood or felled trees on his property while the court decides whether the massive stacks already piled there are a violation of county ordinances.

Judge Michael Caldwell could issue that ruling Feb. 16, the next time landowner Philip Maksymonko and lawyers for the county are expected in court on authorities' effort to force a massive cleanup of the site.

Maksymonko said he has no problem with the temporary restraining order.

"That's fine, your honor," he said. "I haven't brought any more on in a year." The judge issued the order after wrapping up a second day of testimony in the county's lawsuit asking a court to force Maksymonko to remove wood, landscaping waste and other items labeled rubbish from his property in the 3100 block of Spring Creek Drive, near Barrington Hills' border with Algonquin.

Neighbors have testified that the piles are huge - larger than a 3,100-square-foot home - and in some areas spilling onto their property. The county alleges that, besides being unpleasant to look at, the piles violate numerous health and environmental regulations.

Maksymonko, an attorney representing himself through the proceedings, has said he uses the wood to heat his home.

Among the final witnesses Tuesday was county Environmental Specialist Alicia Law, who testified that wood, logs and landscaping materials have been dumped in wetlands on Maksymonko's land. The dumping, she said, could harm four-toed salamanders- members of the state's threatened species list - living on the site.

"Mulch was being thrown on top of its habitat," Law said.

Caldwell also heard from Maksymonko neighbor Ann Malinski, who said between 2005 and 2008 trucks from landscaping and tree companies would drive to the site and dump logs and other landscaping waste.

"The wood stopped coming in 2008, but nothing has left," she said.

Maksymonko did not testify on his own behalf, instead choosing to give his side through a written memorandum due to the court in two weeks. Outside of court, however, he reiterated earlier claims the lawsuit was the result of a dispute with his neighbors.

"It makes me really unhappy because this is government interference into private property rights," he said. "I like it natural and wild, and my neighbors don't."

Maksymonko agreed that some of the wood spilled onto his neighbors' land, but said he has been working to have it removed.