After a community-wide survey, hours of research and discussion, and several months of meetings, there will not be a garage sale of any kind in Sun City.
The community’s board of directors voted 5-2 on May 4 to reject a proposal for a community-wide indoor garage sale in Prairie Lodge. The final discussion and vote came at a committee of the whole meeting of the board. Karen Kennedy, former chairperson of the Neighborhood Advisory Council (NAC) and current at-large member of the council’s executive board, reported on results of a community survey of residents and made some suggestions on how a sale could be planned and implemented.
Board member Bill Bendick made a motion to form a committee to plan a sale after about 25 minutes of discussion. Bendick and board member Steve Bytnar voted yes, and board members Ken Andersen, Linda Davis, Dennis O’Leary, Bonnie Bayser, and Bill Berendt voted no.
When the discussion began, Kennedy revealed that a total of 21, or about half, of the community’s neighborhood reps responded to the NAC survey.
“The board told us they would consider approving a community-wide garage sale that was properly planned and supervised if there was sufficient community interest in participating in one,” Kennedy said. “Our reps asked their residents if they would be interested in participating in a sale at Prairie Lodge by renting a table that might cost from $5 to $10. A total of 171 residents in the 21 neighborhoods said they would. That represents about 3% of the community’s residents.”
Board members cited legal and insurance liability issues, the complexity of setting up guidelines and rules regarding what items could be displayed, the limited space in Drendel Ballroom and lodge corridors, possible safety and walking hazards, and the availability of other resources for getting rid of unwanted stuff in a household.
The community’s Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC&Rs) in the Business Use section (Sec. 10-15) prohibit garage sales at dwelling units. The overall intent of this prohibition is to prevent a dwelling unit from becoming a regular or frequently established place of busi8ness. A proposal to hold a community-wide sale in the Prairie Lodge parking lot was rejected by the NAC, primarily because of weather concerns.
“When people have garage sales it takes up a whole driveway,” said Linda Davis. “How can we do it by allowing only one table per participant? Also, there are many outlets and locations to take away your stuff in our community.”
Three of these mentioned at the meeting included Sweet Repeats at the Huntley Outlet Center, a resale shop on the square in downtown Huntley, and the Good Will store on Kreutzer Road a block east of Route 47.
“There are always a lot of people who want to go to a garage sale, I understand that,” said Bendick. “But it isn’t just a matter of getting rid of stuff, it’s wanting to come and buy things. The survey only asked if people wanted to come and try to get rid of stuff.” “Our role was a fact-finding one,” said Kennedy in a post-meeting comment to the Sun Day.“Our role was survey our members and report back on the results. The board decided not to move forward with this idea. I think they discussed the issue seriously and made their decision. That’s it regarding this topic.”
