Monday evening during the Zoning Board of Appeals Public Hearing, a few residents spoke of the equine boarding history in Barrington Hills and how so few problems have arisen from these operations. Most others urged the Board to consider reasonable restrictions that, apparently, are unpalatable to horse boarders and owners.
No doubt, the keeping and boarding of horses goes back decades in Village history. But for many, horses also go together with hounds that used to leap over fences, logs or stacked wood piles chasing foxes across our rolling hills during fox hunting events. The annual autumn “Blessing of the Hounds” is a rite so steeped in our Village history that it was included in a documentary aired on WTTW. Whether for sport or companionship, hundreds of residents have one or more dogs on their property.
The wood piles those hounds hurdled are a centuries old tradition back to the days when the first settlers needed wood for fires to cook their food and for heat in the winter. Today nearly all residents have a stack or two of firewood handy for the enjoyment of a fire or in case of a winter power outage.
If you’re wondering why dogs and wood piles are mentioned in a column about commercial boarding restrictions, then you must read, “Of dogs, logs and a slog through the courts,” published in the July 2, 2010, edition of the Chicago Tribune.
It has taken many years of effort and legal costs to try to resolve issues with a resident who reportedly kept eighty-one (81) dogs and massive piles of wood on their Village property at the expense of their surrounding neighbors. Six years after the first complaints occurred, this property matter still remains unresolved, primarily due to inadequate codes to protect neighbors at the time to remedy the situation in 2006.
The saga of this ongoing dispute clearly demonstrates why the residents of Barrington Hills deserve practical codes to control commercial boarding or any other conceivable property uses that may encroach on the peace and privacy rights of neighbors. If you agree, but have not shared your opinion with the ZBA, you must do so before 5:00 PM today. Send your opinions to the ZBA via clerk@barringtonhills-il.gov.
– The Observer
An interesting, logical perspective. Question is will logic be ignored by our village leaders when this all shakes out?