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Mundelein to condemn recycling facility if owner won't sell land

Mundelein officials on Tuesday announced plans to condemn a recycling facility in the downtown district.

The Alan Josephsen Co. has operated at 101 E. Maple Ave. since 1978. The company recycles cardboard and paper and offers other services.

It's one of the few industrial businesses in the downtown area.

Village officials want the firm gone, however. They say that type of business doesn't fit their long-range vision for the downtown district, which has been undergoing a redevelopment for the last decade or so.

At its meeting Monday night, the village board authorized the filing of an eminent domain lawsuit if the company's owner refuses to sell the 1.85-acre site voluntarily. Such a suit, if successful, would force a sale.

“It's time for the village to step up and say we need to do this,” Trustee Ray Semple said Tuesday.

Owner Alan Josephsen declined to comment Tuesday.

The business is on the south side of Route 176 and just west of the Canadian National Railway tracks.

Officials have been trying to negotiate a purchase with the Josephsen Company for years and have offered to help the business move elsewhere in town. But they've been unable to seal the deal.

The most recent purchase offer was $990,000, officials said.

Officials said they'd rather see retail and residential buildings on the land. Semple called the operation “an eyesore” and complained about the truck traffic it generates.

“There is zero benefit to downtown Mundelein to have that business where it is,” Semple said.

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