The Barrington Hills Observer

Village of South Barrington

Last night at the Village Board meeting,  the Barrington Hills Board of Trustees voted to approve a 20 year extension of the intergovernmental agreement (IGA) between us and the Village of South Barrington.  This agreement will renew and replace their prior agreement and will protect South Barrington’s borders to develop, and protect land adjacent to Barrington Hills, while assuring Barrington Hills against annexation or development inside their 5 acre zoned residential village.

Negotiations began in 2016 between the two communities on this new agreement.  The IGA will now be presented to South Barrington’s Village Board for final approval.

The forging of a new agreement is not surprising, as Village Presidents Martin McLaughlin and Paula McCombie (of South Barrington), and their communities’ respective boards have worked well together before, having solving legal land issues between their communities and Sears, which could have cost their taxpayers millions, and could have bankrupted their villages in the process.

The two towns had earlier sought a tri-party border agreement including Hoffman Estates, but Hoffman Estates had declined the overtures. Nonetheless, we are suitably  impressed that the two different communities could come to a long-term agreement at the same time as  development proposals like Plum Farm in Hoffman Estates are occupying local media headlines.