My question involves real estate located in the State of: Mchenry co, IL
Let me provide some background before I ask my question:
I built a home in a rural subdivision about four years ago, but was never told there would be an association once the subdivision was completed. Well, my home was one of the last ones so low and behold they turned over an association to the homeowners. I should also state, for the record, that I was never given a plat of survey until my closing date. Here's the issue, there is a walking path that goes right through the middle of my backyard. This is a path that starts at the street and goes through my yard and several others, but then dead-ends in someone's backyard so it isn't a truly public walkway. I opted to be one of the board members of the HOA so I could have a say in what goes on. Well, we held a vote and everyone was in favor of dissolving the HOA and removing this useless path so we could all have our yards back. I should also mention there is a bike path physically painted on the street in front of our homes. In the covenants it states that if we, the homeowners, want to dissolve the association and remove the path then we would need to install sidewalks, even though the newer adjoined subdivision of custom homes has neither a path or sidewalks!
My question to you is this, does the city have any legal standing to enforce the sidewalks should we tear out the path and how do we go about legally dissolving the HOA, removing this path and getting our land back (abolishing the easement)? It should also be noted that the builder has the city attorney in his back pocket so when we attend the city council meeting next week I'm fairly certain they are going to give us a hard time. Is there a way to circumvent the city and get approval at a state level to waive the sidewalk rule if we remove the walking path?

