Two Illinois Appellate Court decisions have now made clear that one particular large scale commercial horse boarding operation is unlawful under the Village’s zoning laws and not permitted under the Village’s HOO. So Trustee Messer wants to change our laws—and apparently in a hurry, for reasons which only he knows. Now, horse boarding is again on the Zoning Board agenda for the next meeting on Monday, May 19, 2014.
These pages have long chronicled the drama of commercial horse boarding, including one notorious facility, in our Village, beginning with the first appellate court “win” for the Village – Veni, Vidi … Vici (we hope); followed by the former village president’s squandering of that win and failure to enforce the law as written – Is Bob Abboud a Liar? You Decide; and capped off by the startling revelations that then candidates (and now Trustees!) Messer, Selman, and Meroni accepted and tried to hide campaign contributions from the operator of one of the largest boarding businesses in town – Errors were made; others were blamed.
Unfortunately, with Trustee Messer’s recent actions, this drama is returning to our Village and now all residents must suffer through this matter again.
The Riding Club of Barrington Hills is doing its best to whip up fear among the horse riding community by advertising that one of the recent Appellate Court decisions threatens even private backyard “boarding of one or two horses for neighbors.” Not so! But their erroneous last minute email message, sent the day of the May 14 Village Board meeting to a select group of members, can be viewed here.
It is now beyond clear, after two Appellate Court decisions, that a large scale commercial boarding business, where the business and not the residence is the primary use of the land, is unlawful and not permitted under the HOO. There is no more room to debate that issue.
But what should be equally clear is that our current Village Board and ZBA cannot and should not be trusted to address the issue of horse boarding businesses in our Village. The Board includes three Trustees (Messer, Selman, and Meroni) who are hopelessly conflicted from making any unbiased decisions.
That’s because they accepted and tried to disguise campaign contributions from a large commercial horse boarding business owner. We shouldn’t forget that offense, which tells us something about their motivations. (The State Board of Elections ruled that they had violated campaign disclosure laws and imposed a two-year probation in 2011.)
Riding Club members, whose recent scare-tactics email demonstrates they cannot be trusted to be rational and objective, dominate our ZBA. The ZBA also includes many appointments from the former administration—an administration that behaved irresponsibly in handling horse boarding issues for years.
Instead, if the Village is going to take up again the issue of commercial horse boarding, it must do so in a responsible, transparent, and unbiased manner. It must be done with public involvement and without the conflict, or even the appearance of conflict, that prevents both the Board and the ZBA from handling the matter properly.
The solution, we submit, is for the Village President to appoint a special “blue ribbon” committee to study this issue, take public comment, and then provide an objective recommendation back to the Village Board for consideration and possible inclusion as a referendum, to be voted on by residents.
We have expressed in these pages an economic proposal to regulate horse boarding businesses that do not violate zoning codes – An economic proposal to control horse boarding businesses. That is one solution, recognizing that we have big businesses operating in our Village that do not pay commercial taxes to the Village (which would reduce our residential tax burden, as in the Village of Oak Brook).
Some have suggested a ban on the business of horse boarding altogether, which would surely preserve the quiet, residential character of our Village. But that is not likely a viable solution. We all must recognize that horses and equestrian pursuits are part of our character.
So something must be done, and what cannot be done (as Trustee Messer is suggesting) is to stretch and pull and twist and turn the HOO to accommodate a commercial operation. We have written about this wrongheaded approach before – The peg is still square, the hole is still round.
What is not part of our character, at least it should not be part of our character, is to allow bias and conflicts of interest to prevent a responsible resolution of this long playing drama. For that reason, the Village Board and the ZBA should and must refrain from attempting to deal with commercial boarding, and certainly should pause while litigation involving one of those businesses is ongoing.
Once again, the most rational and fair solution for our community as a whole is for the President to appoint an impartial, special committee to address the issue, leading to a referendum for action by all residents at the ballot box.
– The Observer