January 24, 2014 by Barrington Hills Observer
The Village has released edited audio recordings from the January 22 Zoning Board meeting. To access the menu of the meeting’s topical audio recording segments, click here.
There was one rather interesting subject brought by Trustee Gohl during public comment. A direct link to that discussion can be accessed here.
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The audio of Mr, Gohl’s comments is short and worth listening to by clicking the link in the Observer’s message. Confused! The beautiful Horizon Farms property may soon be under control of the Forest Preserve and there is talk of opening a riding center to the public. Mr. Gohl expressly states that his comments before the Zoning Board are as a private citizen, not as a Trustee (though separating the 2 is difficult). He expresses concern that people will be able to ride our trails that are not residents and stronger zoning requirements may be needed.
Doesn’t our Barrington Hills “park district” Riding Center conduct similar practices without collection of fees beyond membership from non-BH residents? Neither practice is good if it exposes our trails though private property to non-residents. Yet, why the double standard? Commercial boarding is OK to manipulate for personal political cronies as in the case of Oakwood Farms, or as promoted by the BH “park district” Riding Center. Zoning has to be consistently managed or others will argue that our practices have created precedence for large scale commercial operations, private or public. To take it further, once commercial interests are allowed for equestrian activity, what’s to prevent other large scale commercial operations entering the Village?
The CCFP livery discussion in public comment was planned and Fritz was the stooge to bring the matter up. He plays it well but the ZBA members, particularly the chair, are poor actors.
This Riding Club dominated Zoning Board which has acted as something of a kangaroo court of late had better tread lightly when proposing code restrictions on Cook County Forest Preserve owned property. A mountain biking association known as CAMBr (Google them) is chomping at the bit to ride mountain bikes throughout the Spring Creek Preserve trails. Other enthusiasts might also want trails opened in winter for cross country skiing so proposed restrictions can and will backfire.
AND if CCFP forks over the millions to buy the Horizon property, they will find some way to connect to Spring Creek trails private or not. IMHO this is nothing but the Riding Club trying to protect trails they think they’ve “owned” for decades on land they do not just like the trails residents have offered out of kindness or in some cases, coercion.
Well articulated Richard Saunders. The issue is not whether hourly (daily) rental of horses (livery) is permissible under BH Village Code; rather the issue must be viewed through the broader lens of whether large scale commercial horse boarding is a permissible activity under the Village’s home occupation ordinance.
I suspect Fritz’ coach did not want Fritz to frame the issue under the broader context of the Home Occupation Ordinance given the “goings-on” at Oakwood Farms. Instead, Fritz was instructed to opt for limited review by raising the issue of “livery”. Fritz did this, not as a BH Trustee but as a BH resident. Really!