McHenry Co. wants judge to close Algonquin businesses
McHenry County is suing a pair of Algonquin business, alleging they unlawfully dumped wastewater behind their shops and one later corrected the problem by tapping into a village sewer line without permission.
The suit, filed Thursday in McHenry County Circuit Court, asks a judge to order the businesses, European American Auto Services and Nu-Shine Car Wash, shut down until they correct the problems.
"(The issues) pose a serious public health and environmental risk that threatens the public health, safety and welfare of the citizens of McHenry County," Assistant McHenry County State's Attorney Lynn Criscione states in the lawsuit.
A listed number for European American Auto Services had been disconnected. An answering machine at Nu-Shine indicated it was closed until Oct. 9 while the business undergoes sewer upgrades.
The suit is the culmination of multiple inspections and complaints dating back to 2006 at businesses at 1065 W. Algonquin Road.
The suit states that county health inspectors, and later officials with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, began visiting the site in August 2006 to investigate complaints a septic tank there was leaking into a nearby creek.
The initial inspections, and several more over the next two years, found that wastewater was flowing into a septic tank operating without permit, and then leaking from the tank into the ground, according to the suit.
In June, the suit states. inspectors found that the septic tank had been abandoned - again without a required permit - and that the someone had connected the car wash's drain pipes to a village sewer line that runs under Algonquin Road.
Village officials later said the car wash did not have permission to connect to the sewer line, the suit alleges.
Besides a court order shutting down the businesses, the suit asks a judge to order the businesses to remove waste from the property, including old tires behind the car wash, fine them $500 for each day they are in violation of county ordinances and to hire an environmental consultant to test for potential soil contamination.