Patriot Estates Zoning Revised in McHenry

McHenry City Council has unanimously approved a correction to its zoning map which caused difficulties for home buyers in the subdivision at Crystal Lake Road and Bull Valley Road. Up to 50 lots in the subdivision were impacted by a map error which applied RS-3 zoning to the land, instead of the denser RM-2 district under which the development was originally planned and approved.

The less dense RS-3 zoning required side yard setbacks of 15 feet, rather than the 7 foot setbacks proposed by the developer. This discrepancy had delayed a closing on one of the newly built homes when the mortgage lender objected to the lack of a zoning variance for the smaller side yard. In order to correct the discrepancy, city officials pushed through a map amendment which avoids the issue of needing a variance for each new home built.