The Zoning Board of Appeals will be holding a continuation of their July meeting this evening at 7:30 PM at Countryside Elementary School. Tonight’s meeting will include a public hearing followed by a board discussion of a proposed amendment to the current commercial horse boarding codes. A copy of the agenda, including reference documents, can be viewed here.
Many residents have reported they received a form letter over the weekend urging them to attend the meeting. The letter (seen here) came from a resident who wrote, “Some months ago a clique of [unnamed] area residents associated with [undocumented] high density commercial housing development initiated a subtle, but strategic campaign to defeat and dismantle the statutory defenses that preserve the character of the Village of Barrington Hills.”
As we illustrated in our recent editorial, “Here we go again,” playing the unsubstantiated “developer” card has become extremely wearisome to most residents after so many years.
If “high density commercial housing development,” is the motivation behind the currently proposed amendment, then where was this letter writer’s outcry when recommendations from both the Equestrian Commission (seen here) and an equestrian-laden Zoning Board of Appeals (seen here) advocated very similar guidelines for commercial horse boarding under a previous administration back in 2011?
In fact, there was little, if any, uproar from the equestrian community at that time, so why is the sky suddenly falling now?
Frankly, we think residents are too savvy to fall for the incessant cries of “wolf” such as this latest one in every election cycle and every time prudent commercial horse boarding codes are being considered.
However, since he raised the topic of commercial residential development, we’d like to pass along something we recently ran across that should be of interest to residents.
It seems Barrington Hills Farm (whose chairman happens to be the aforementioned letter writer) has engaged a website developer to promote, “600 acres of pristine, undeveloped land located at Haegers Bend and Spring Creek Roads at the northwestern most corner of Barrington Hills,” as depicted below (please click on the image to enlarge for better viewing):
We found it interesting that this prototype website (click here to view it) is grouped with other sites under development promoting businesses and commercial developments in Chicago in a staging web address as seen here, so perhaps the chair of Barrington Hills Farm would like to share their development plans sometime sooner than later with residents.
Very disappointing to see this nonsense from J.R.
This has been the Riding Club strategy for years…
http://images.slideplayer.com/2/719131/slides/slide_22.jpg
I’m one of the “clique of are residents associated with high density commercial housing development” who is accused of “initiated a subtle, but strategic campaign to defeat and dismantle the statutory defenses that preserve the character of the Village of Barrington Hills…”-I sued the Village over the illegal Anderson II amendment, based on my belief that the amendment takes away my residential zoning protections provided by the Home Occupation rules in effect. Those who promoted the illegal amendment challenged “sue us” in response to an overwhelming majority of residents who were not in favor of the Amendment. It passed in lightning speed nonetheless.
WE SUED THE VILLAGE. We were not trying to be subtle!
I have no association with any commercial developers, never have, never will. I checked with my co-plaintiffs in Drury/Reich/O’Donnell v. Village of Barrington Hills – they too are NOT associated with any commercial developments.
A friend shared this quote which is relevant to the outcry and repeated erroneous statements we hear from a few in the Village:
Anyone remember Joseph Goebbels;(Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945.)
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
Let’s not forget Mr. Yeterian’s,a former RCBH president, plea a few years ago at a Public Hearing on the Commercial Horse Boarding Amendment. “We have to make LeCompte legal!” The former ZBA and BOT made the Amendment retroactive to correct the zoning violations of LeCompte/Oakwood Farms.
And by the way, every law firm that was interviewed for Village Attorney recommended against passing any ordinances favoring any one party – “make LeCompte legal”. Figure it out!
Finally, with ~1400 households and 4,000 residents, only a fraction support the Anderson II, which robs an overwhelming majority of property owners of residential zoning protections they once had. This Village is residential – it allows horses – not the other way around!
James T. O’Donnell
Property Owner / Resident of VBH
jodonn1935@aol.com
Thank you, Observer. [This resident’s] letter dusts off the inaccurate scare tactics of Save5Acres making accusations of development. A classic political technique is to deflect the truth with false accusations. Your editorial points us to “follow the money.”
The equestrian extremes, not the true Barrington Hills residential open spaces equestrian, have driven a calculated plan to create Barrington Hills as a commercial boarding destination.
John Rosene in a 2005 “white paper” stated in its strategy:
“I believe our mission is to ensure that all new residents of Barrington Hills are, in fact, equestrians.
How can we accomplish this?
One approach is to ally ourselves with another “special interest group,” the National Rifle Association, and simply shoot in-coming non-equestrians as they arrive with their moving vans. This is probably the most cost-effective way to go. Or, we can ‘convert the heathens.’”
Mr. Rosene is President of Barrington Hills Polo Club and is a Commissioner on the Barrington Hills Park District Board. [A close relative of his] acted as a ZBA member re-appointed by [the former village president] in violation of the Open Meetings Act in findings from the Attorney General’s Office. She participated in the approval of the 2014 Commercial Boarding Text Amendment approval as well as the Polo Field/Arena approval constructed for “personal only” use.
Worth seeing is that polo construction on the corner of Algonquin and Old Sutton Road. The Text Amendment approved a 7 year retroactive provision to the benefit of Oakwood Farms that hosts the Barrington Hills Polo Club annual LeCompte/Kalaway event.
THAT WAS THEN . . . .
R.J. Davis’ (“Davis”) letter speaks of “a clique of area residents associated with high density commercial housing development” and destruction of “the right to board horses in Barrington Hills” yet it was Davis who in recent years made sizable campaign donations to former Village President, Robt. G. Abboud in the many Thousands of Dollars.
Yes, the same Robt. G. Abboud who with the majority vote of his “Save 5 Acres” Board authorized payment of VBH tax funds to former Village attorney Burke-Warren totaling @$167,000.00 to close down commercial boarding operations at Oakwood Farm at both the trial and appellate court level. The view espoused by Davis’ former candidate, Robt. G. Abboud when it came to commercial boarding of horses in Barrington Hills can be best summed up in Abboud’s statement in the Village of Barrington Hills Newsletter dated February, 2008, where Abboud said when it comes to “commercial scale operations”. . . “The Village has enforced this area of [the] zoning code in the past and will continue to do so in the future. The effort ensures the protection of surrounding properties, protects health and safety, and prevents traffic congestion.”
When Davis speaks of that clique of area “residents associated with high density commercial housing” and “destruction of right to board horses in Barrington Hills”, is Davis speaking about his former candidate, Robt. G. Abboud? If so, why did Davis support Abboud for the highest office in Barrington Hills? Why didn’t Davis issue the same letter in 2008, when Pres. Abboud sued Oakwood Farm in the name of VBH and made his statement against commercial horse boarding in Barrington Hills in the village newsletter?
Adding further confusion to Davis’ views, Davis has furnished each member of the ZBA (except me) with a Fed-Ex. packet of information which of all things includes the illegal “Schuman Letter” issued by his candidate in 2011 while holding office of VBH President. By furnishing the Schuman Letter to all on the ZBA but me, is Davis asking the ZBA to take open testimony concerning the illegal “Schuman Letter” issued to Oakwood Farm by Pres. Abboud 34 days after the 3 illegal-secret campaign donations by Oakwood Farm to Abboud’s “Save 5 Acres” political slate of Messer, Meroni and Selman?
Davis’ position on matters in Barrington Hills were much better understood by me when Davis was in the background hosting coffees and writing sizable campaign checks to candidate Abboud’s political committee. I do not know about you, but given Davis’ historical support for former Pres. Abboud, Davis’ letter left me very confused about where he stands and why.
Comments from [the letter author] are so misleading!! Hard to understand his aggressive stance on these matters!! His operation has been zoned “COMMERCIAL” in unincorporated McHenry county. I believe this requires more stringent zoning requirements and commercial taxation. This should apply in Barrington Hills also!!
Since Mr. Abboud has suggested in his blog elsewhere that my and others’ political donations were made, perhaps the Residents of the Village would be reminde by a little more History.
Bob Abboud posted on another blog site under the heading “Bob Abboud Speaking of pay for play….” that in the 2011 and 2013 elections, David Stieper received a total of $5,150 in campaign contributions from Messrs. Drury, Wolfgram, O’Donnell, Reich and Hayward, and referenced the latter four as “from those with documented direct interest in restricting equestrian property rights and breaking our zoning.” He should be challenged to provide this documentation!
What he did NOT include in the posting was the fact that Doc Ben LeCompte made a campaign contribution in February of 2011 to Mr. Stieper of $5,000, which was timely reported by Stieper to the Illinois State Election Board in a manner as prescribed by law. In that same election, LeCompte made campaign donations of $5,000 each to Candidates Messer, Meroni and Selman (total of $15,000), who reported them as their own when endorsing the LeCompte checks to the Save5Acres Campaign Committee, thus not identifying the contributions in a manner as prescribed by law. The infractions were reported to the Illinois State Board of Elections and, following hearings, the defendants were found guilty of violating Election Law by the Illinois State Board of Elections.
In the same elections, the following made donations to Save5Acres, Fritz Gohl and Save Open Spaces: J.R. Davis (including related parties) over $40,000, A. Robert Abboud (including related parties) over $10,000, Rick Hardy (including related parties) $30,000 and Jason Elder (including related parties) over $30,000. These contributions total over $110,000!
Bob is apparently resurrecting the tired argument that evil developers will wreak havoc on the Village and they must be stopped in their tracks, just as he intoned when he crafted the original Save Five Acres campaign with Steve Knoop, Dan Lundmark and John Rosene.
Bob is now preaching a different sermon than he was in February of 2011. One can only speculate why, but it seems at least two individuals are pushing very hard and willing to spend big money to save legislation not beneficial to the Village, but certainly serves the ends of the two to impose large scale commercial enterprise on the Village with no offsetting controls.
Following is email of Abboud’s sent on February 28, 2011:
“Robert G. Abboud Mon, Feb 28, 2011 at 11:37 AM:
Ms. and Mr. Dowling:
Thank you for your feedback and input.
I can assure you that I will not support any changes to our residential zoning regulations that support commercial activities beyond that currently provided for in the intent of the Home Occupation Code (5-4-4(D) of the BH Village Code and the Village Comprehensive Plan – see http://www.barringtonhills-il.gov/ ). There are currently hundreds of residential scale businesses that operate successfully within the Village and without notice to their neighbors under the HOC.
Note that the ZBA has no instruction from the Village Board to provide for ‘commercial’ activities in residential districts. The word ‘commercial’ is a misnomer that that has been fostered in the local discussion. I have heard some pretty wild accusations of recent regarding the ZBA’s activities.
What the ZBA (along with the support of some of our other committees) is instructed to do is to look at the issues associated with equestrian boarding operations which currently exist throughout the Village as they pertain to the current Home Occupation Ordinance. They are to report back to the Village Board with recommendations on code changes to address concerns regarding current equestrian boarding practices.
This effort is part of a larger effort to continually modernize our code as technology and other factors change within the Village. What will not change is the rural and equestrian character of our community, as defined in our Comprehensive Plan, and the protection of private property rights.
I appreciate that with the election season, many statements are being made that have no basis in fact. Such as, that the Village can spend money ‘secretly’ without a fully public vote by the board, or that the Village spends millions of dollars yearly on attorneys against developers. These kinds of things are completely false. I hope you will avail yourself to the Village WEB site for updates and fact checking. see http://www.barringtonhills-il.gov/
Please let me know if you have any further questions. I would be happy to address any further concerns you may have.
Best Regards. Bob A.
Robert G. Abboud President, Village of Barrington Hills President,
RGA Labs, Inc.
From: Dowling
Sent: Monday, February 28, 2011 10:28
To: Robert G. Abboud; Fritz Gohl; Karen S. Selman; Walter E. Smithe; Steve Knoop; Beth Mallen; Elaine M. Ramesh; Joseph S. Messer; Robert Kosin
Subject: ZBA
We are VERY MUCH AGAINST permitting commercial operations withing all R1 residential zoned properties of Barrington Hills.
Please acknowledge receipt of this e-mail.
Jane S. Dowling
Edward G. Dowling
The ZBA meeting last night was a train wreck. Same old hashing out of the LeCompte/Drury dispute. ZBA Chair and Attorney representing the ZBA allowed “questions” of Mr. Burney to be nothing more than re-litigation by LeCompte and a few large scale commercial boarders protecting their commercial businesses. The Chair and attorney missed their obligation to fair treatment.
We fail as a Village to grasp 2 points. One, we are all guilty of allowing the Village government during the Abboud administration and Freeman ZBA to intervene in the Oakwood law suit with a 7 year retroactive clause. If that injustice were perpetrated on anyone of you impacting your home, you would be outraged! Acts emblematic of special interest corruption should not be tolerated in our government.
Two, this is no longer just about Oakwood/LeCompte (though that issue remains unresolved). The Anderson II text amendment is a violation of the residential rights of the 5 acre property owner. Current code under Anderson II allows unlimited size of buildings on 5 acres exceeding the size of a residence and not even requiring a residence. There are no longer Home Occupation protections for adjacent neighbors. Unlimited horses are now allowed on 5 acres.
The prior ZBA and BOT sold their souls to the highest bidder to protect a dream of threading a commercial boarding and polo connection with Oakwood and the Riding Center. Best question of the night exposed that current code will not prevent another Polo arena like that constructed on Algonquin and Old Sutton from being built without Village authority or adjacent property owners input.
Silent majority, wake up. Your 5 acre properties are now exposed.
The August 1 meeting of the ZBA was a Kangaroo Court and a train-wreck. To watch the equestrian egotists wash their dirty laundry in public without blinking an eye was like watching an episode of The Housewives of New Jersey without the sex. The passions of this crowd may be horses but put in a hot seat was an attorney who was there to answer testimony questions…not personal questions about Mr. Drury. A very pompous Pappas failed in his attempt of an imitation of Johnny Cochran at the O.J. murder trial and was so excitable he was almost asked to leave.
The ardor that these folks have in protecting M/M LeCompte is unwavering for their own personal reasons but damage to this community with their behavior is unacceptable. As they stoke the fires of discontent, the silent majority of residents without a clue have their own property rights in jeopardy.
This preoccupation these zealots display is because they have a total misunderstanding of the role a Board of Trustee member. They don’t understand that it is a volunteer position, pays no stipends and those elected “should” serve at the behest of all residents not just a small, vocal group that have a private agenda. Abboud’s reign set a dangerous precedent for our sleepy village because the idea of simple volunteerism was replaced by a more intrusive idea of POWER.
My parody of close friend and pocketbook for Abboud, J.R. Davis, was to simply point out that there are usually two sides to every story. It is my side of the story that needs to be heard by the silent majority.
Dede;
You nailed it!
Why not identify in name who these “clique of community residents are? Years back, this same strategy was used…The fact that they are willing and don’t identify them makes it clear that they are simply brainwashing residents in a way that distorts the truth. The worst type of politics. Those who continue to defy their base by speaking about phantom developers when there are none mentioned, just serves to negate any positive factual information they folks are trying so hard to push.
My advice look for a new strategy, this one isn’t working, time to change this message and stop splitting our community.