Couple's garden pride goeth before a bulldozer

A Highland Park couple who have spent 25 years landscaping theirbackyard soon will lose one-third of it because all along it was parkdistrict property.

After losing a lawsuit to the suburb's park district last year,Charles Sherrell II and his wife, Trutie, must remove a concretepatio, underground lighting, a frame shed, a Japanese fountain, astone walkway and two fences by July 1.

"I've been trying to make the place beautiful, and these guys(park district commissioners) are punishing me for doing so," saidSherrell, owner of WBEE-AM (1570), a Chicago jazz radio station.But Michael Fisher, president of the park district, said it isjust reclaiming its property and protecting Sleepy Hollow Park, apartially wooded area that abuts Sherrell's land."What he's done with the yard is pretty - it's attractive - butit's not his property," Fisher said.Sherrell recently sent a letter to neighbors, telling themtheir property values will be reduced because of the "destruction" ofhis property.An avid gardener, Sherrell said one of the main reasons he andhis wife purchased their house in the 1000 block of North Avenue in1972 was the large wooded yard.Now he estimates he will have to spend $12,000 to $15,000 tobring in workers and a bulldozer to remove the patio, landscaping andother additions. The Sherrells' yard will shrink from about 140 feetby 80 feet to 80 feet by 70 feet, he said.Fisher said the problems between the park district and Sherrellbegan last spring, when Sherrell cut down five trees (two oaks andthree ashes) without park district permission. A city ordinancerequires homeowners to seek permission before cutting down any treesmore than 6 inches in diameter.Fisher, who lives in Sherrell's neighborhood, said he heardchain saws from his house and arrived to see the trees cut down."I realized right away they cut down trees on park districtproperty, and that his yard was encroaching into the park," Fishersaid.Sherrell said he thought the trees were on his property becausethey were on his side of a chain-link fence. Sherrell said the treeswere dead and decaying, but Fisher said they were alive.Sherrell said the park district conducted a survey of SleepyHollow Park, and informed him he had to remove much of hislandscaping because it was on district property. Fisher said fourother homeowners in the area also were informed that they wereencroaching on park district land. Three moved their fences, and thefourth moved a shed to comply, he said.Sherrell offered to purchase the property, but park districtcommissioners refused to sell.He sued the park district last spring, claiming that since hehad lived on the property more than 20 years, he had a right to itstitle under what is called "adverse possession" law.The district countersued, and Lake County Court Judge Emilio B.Santi ruled in December the Sherrells had to give up the land.