'It's a weapon in his hand': Man bulldozes trees on village land. His neighbors are not happy.

Some people in a Gurnee neighborhood are not happy after a man used heavy machinery to clear trees from village land near his home without seeking permission. The village is clearing the debris, removing the bulldozer from the site and devising a plan to keep the bare dirt from eroding into a creek.

The land around the two-story duplex owned by Derek Lidstrom on Blackstone Avenue looks scarred and barren, the result of being stripped of most vegetation by Lidstrom's 47,000-pound Link-Belt excavator the last three weeks. Lidstrom cleared an area of trees and brush that stretched about 300 feet along the creekt as well as several trees on his property.

Martin Peters, who lives down the street, said at the village board meeting Monday he holds the village responsible for letting the situation get as bad as it did.

"I'm dumbfounded why we can't impound it," Peters said to the board, referring to the machine. "It's a weapon in his hand. ... Our neighborhood looks horrible now. Our curb appeal is ruined, and our property values are shot."

Lidstrom said he's sorry he didn't tell anyone he was going to do what he called beautiful work. He said Wednesday he did the village a favor by using his equipment to clear trees, which he said were dead and in danger of falling over. Lidstrom said he has been wanting to clear the land near the creek for years and just decided to do it.

"When you're talented and know what you're doing and are a little bit ADD, you sometimes act on things you've been thinking about rather than going through the whole process. And for that I apologize," Lidstrom said. "If I've upset anybody, I'm sorry."

Lidstrom owns Chimney King, a custom chimney cap installer, and said he helped his late father build many homes in the neighborhood. He said he's experienced with the construction equipment, saying if there were an Olympics for using his machine, he doubts he'd have any peers.

Lidstrom said his family owned the land before giving it to the village. According to village documents, the land was donated to the village in 2002.

Lidstrom began pulling up trees on the village land around the start of the month. Village Manager Patrick Muetz said a resident called public works June 1 to ask what was going on, assuming the village was behind it. Village engineer Scott Drabicki talked to Lidstrom on June 4 and saw he'd removed a lot of trees from the land. Later that day, Drabicki sent Lidstrom a letter telling him to clear the trees and brush on village land. Lidstrom was also to seed the land so the dirt wouldn't erode into the creek.

Lidstrom attached Drabicki's June 4 letter to a tree in his front yard and wrote: "Permit 6-1-18" at the top and "your welcome Everybody"(sic) on the bottom.

Muetz said Drabicki's letter was a guideline for Lidstrom on how to clean up what he'd done, not a work permit.

Throughout June, Lidstrom continued removing standing trees. Peters said he first noticed what had been going on when Lidstrom removed three trees from the end of the berm along Blackstone Avenue, which is on the other side of Lidstrom's house.

Peters said he went to the police June 10 and asked them to intervene. Peters said he was told it was a civil matter and they would not get involved.

"If I went home and got my chainsaw and started cutting down trees outside the police station, would it be a civil matter?" Peters said Wednesday. "Why hasn't he been arrested?"

On June 15, after more residents' complaints, the village issued Lidstrom a cease-and-desist order. The order states thta on numerous occasions after June 5 Lidstrom exceeded the scope of the agreed-upon work by continuing to use his machine to move soil, trees and brush on village land.

Lidstrom confirmed he removed trees after June 4 but said they were dead and going to fall on his house.

At Monday's meeting, several residents said how angry they were the village hadn't done more to stop Lidstrom.

Mayor Kristina Kovarik tried to assure residents the village is trying to resolve the situation.

Resident Barb Jenkins, whose townhouse on Jennifer Court overlooks Lidstrom's home, was aghast.

"I can't wrap my head around people who aren't treating this like a catastrophe," she said, imploring board members to go by Lidstrom's property and see what he'd done. When Kovarik said she hadn't been there to see the damage firsthand, several residents gasped.

"We thought it was under control, and it wasn't," Village Attorney Bryan Winter told the crowd.

Village contractors were behind Lidstrom's house Wednesday tossing the fallen trees into a wood chipper.

Peters said he's glad the village is finally acting but is worried that in the end it's going to be the taxpayers who foot the bill to fix what Lidstrom did.

At the board meeting, Kovarik promised Lidstrom's neighbors the village would host a community meeting about what they will do with the now bare village land.

Lidstrom said Wednesday he is going to put an info box in his front yard to explain to neighbors why he took down the trees and what he plans to do now. He said also wants to solicit comments from his neighbors.

"I have done such a nice thing for this village ... I guess, I should have gotten permission in the first place," Lidstrom said. "Sometimes getting permission to work in the flood plain on village-owned property along a creek can take a frustratingly long time."