Grafton Twp. residents OK buyback, sale of properties

Grafton Township residents on Tuesday did something their elected officials have been unable to do for three years.

They put to rest, at least for the time being, two lingering issues: Where should the township government reside in the immediate future, and what should the township do with a parcel of land it bought from Lake in the Hills?

That plot of land was supposed to house a new $3.5 million township hall. But because of a lawsuit filed by Linda Moore and other township residents before Moore was elected township supervisor, the new building is effectively stalled until voters weigh in on the issue on the November 2010 ballot.

Residents on Tuesday voted to sell the Haligus Road property back to Lake in the Hills - if the village wants it. In case the village isn't interested, residents directed the township board to sell the property to whomever will take it - provided the sale price is above $99,500.

Residents also had to vote on where the township should operate out of because township officials, anticipating the move to Lake in the Hills, sold the current township hall on Vine Street in Huntley to the township road district.

Now that the new building is stalled, the township government is effectively homeless and has been staying in the building now owned by the road district rent-free for close to two years, officials said.

Township residents voted Tuesday to essentially reverse the sale that transferred the Vine Street offices to the road district.

The township will now buy back the building from the road district for $700,000, allowing the road district to pay off the principal and interest on the loan it took out to finance the sale, according to an attorney for the road district. The road district would then lease space from the township in the current building for 20 years.

Some 400 residents debated and voted in a heated, chaotic meeting at Huntley High School lasting about two-and-a-half hours.

At one point, an older man fed up with the acrimony asked, "Is this the way Christ would want it?" before he was shouted down.