The Illinois Department of Transportation has announced that it will begin a patching and resurfacing project on Route 59, starting April 19th. Daytime lane closures are expected on the stretch of roadway from Barrington Road, south through Barrington Hills to Higgins Road/Route 72 in South Barrington. Motorists should expect delays. The work is expected to last throughout the summer.
Archive for April, 2017
IDOT to begin Route 59 roadwork
Posted in Uncategorized on April 16, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Barrington Hills village president preparing for new term after election night
Posted in 2017 Elections, Politics, Uncategorized, Unite Barrington Hills, Village Board, Village Government, Village President, Your Barrington Hills on April 7, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Seeing a victory on election day, Barrington Hills Village President Martin McLaughlin said his new term will build on past initiatives in the village.
But the future is less clear in the race for trustee spots on the Barrington Hills Village Board with only one apparent winner — incumbent Colleen Konicek Hannigan — emerging among a crowded field of seven candidates. Hannigan campaigned alongside McLaughlin this year, who faced a challenge from first-time candidate Louis Iacovelli for the seat of village president.
McLaughlin captured 53.1 percent of vote in the race, based on unofficial results from Cook, Kane, Lake and McHenry counties. Iacovelli captured 46.9 percent of the vote.
In a twist, the slate of trustee candidates that campaigned with Iacovelli appeared to capture the two other trustee seats that were open this election year, although less than five votes separate apparent winners Paula Jacobsen and Robert Zubak with independent trustee candidate Matt Vondra, who appears to have finished fourth in the trustee race, based on unofficial results.
To read the full story in the Barrington Courier-Review, click here.
St. Patrick’s Day comes late to suburb when pond mysteriously turns green
Posted in News Media, Uncategorized on April 7, 2017| 2 Comments »
A bright green substance discovered in a pond in Barrington Hills, prompting a hazardous materials team response, turned out to be a dye commonly used to test for water leaks — the same substance that turns the Chicago River green for St. Patrick’s Day, officials said.
The local fire department was called in Tuesday evening to investigate an “unknown material” in a pond along a road of large, heavily wooded estates. Then a hazmat team was dispatched, and 18 fire departments assisted in the response before the material was deemed non-hazardous about 2 1/2 hours later.
The dye had apparently seeped from an adjacent property, where the substance was being used to test a private sewer system.
To read more about the incident on Oak Knoll Road in the Chicago Tribune, click here.
Developer withdraws request for Hoffman Estates tax incentive
Posted in Uncategorized on April 6, 2017| 1 Comment »
A developer has withdrawn his request for a tax incentive for a proposed 184-acre development in western Hoffman Estates that particularly drew the ire of Barrington Unit District 220 and Community Unit District 300.
Anthony Iatarola, manager of the development partnership 5a7 LLC, clarified that while the request for a tax increment financing (TIF) district for the 184 acres at the northwest corner of routes 59 and 72 was withdrawn Wednesday, proceedings for a mixed commercial and residential development there are continuing.
“Obviously, the school districts are vehemently opposed to it,” Iatarola said of the request for a $21 million tax reimbursement over the course of 23 years. “Having them on board and positive about it would have been great.”
Though the original request for a TIF district is no more, Iatarola said he couldn’t comment on whether a new or revised one could follow in the future.
The full Daily Herald article can be found here.
Barrington Hills board race still too close to call
Posted in 2017 Elections, Uncategorized, Unite Barrington Hills, Your Barrington Hills on April 6, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Colleen Konicek-Hannigan
The Barrington Hills village board race remained too close to call Wednesday, according to the unofficial vote count.
Even after a handful of additional ballots were counted in Cook County, just four votes separate challengers Paula Jacobsen, Robert M. Zubak and Matthew Vondra for second through fourth place.
Six candidates vied for three open seats on the board, and so far the only clear winner is incumbent Colleen Konicek Hannigan, who received 537 votes.
Rounding out the race were challenger Ralph Sesso, with 403 votes, and incumbent Elaine M. Ramesh, with 398.
All of the precincts in Lake, Cook, Kane and McHenry counties are accounted for but there still could be votes left from early voting, mail-in ballots and provisional ballots.
To read the story in the Daily Herald, click here.
Controversial TIF Request Withdrawn
Posted in 220, 300, Cook, County, Hoffman Estates, Land Disconnection, Land Use, Plum Farm development, Press Release, School Districts, Uncategorized on April 5, 2017| 2 Comments »
School District 220 issued the following press release this afternoon concerning the proposed TIF for the Plum Farm Development:
“The Board of Education has new developments to share regarding the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District in the Village of Hoffman Estates known as Plum Farms. The controversial development plan called for more than 1,000 residential units within Barrington 220 and District 300’s boundaries, and would have a $120 million adverse impact on our district.
On April 5, the developer informed the Village of Hoffman Estates that it has withdrawn its request for approval of establishment of a TIF district for the Plum Farms development that has been the subject of recent meetings and hearings.
A communication from the Village of Hoffman Estates to Barrington 220 School District and School District 300 states in part, “The Owners request that the Village of Hoffman Estates cease any consideration of, and any further actions regarding, the proposed ‘Route 72 and Route 59 Tax Increment Financing Redevelopment Plan and Project.'”
This means that all future meetings to consider the approval of a TIF district will be canceled, including the Joint Review Board meeting scheduled for April 18 and the TIF hearing, tentatively scheduled for May 1, 2017.
The owners of the property at Routes 59 and 72 will continue to pursue annexation of the land into the Village of Hoffman Estates, with a re-zoning based on a new classification for the Village of Hoffman Estates, and future development of the property.
The public hearing to consider the annexation and zoning changes is tentatively scheduled for April 17, 2017 prior to the regular meeting of the Village Trustees.
Districts 220 and 300 will continue to work with the Village of Hoffman Estates and the landowners of the property at Routes 59 and 72 to promote a development that creates a responsible impact on our schools and taxpayers. We remain concerned about the high residential density being considered for this property.
We will communicate any new information to you as it becomes available. Thank you for your continued support during this issue. “
Barrington Hills village president McLaughlin re-elected, board races too close to call
Posted in 2017 Elections, Uncategorized, Unite Barrington Hills, Village Board, Village Government, Village President, Your Barrington Hills on April 5, 2017| 2 Comments »
Barrington Hills Village President Martin McLaughlin defeated challenger Louis Iacovelli Tuesday and earned a second term in office by a margin of 68 votes, according to unofficial totals.
The results in the race to fill three spots on the village board were even tighter. Incumbent Colleen Konicek Hannigan, who got 537 votes, is the only sure winner. Just four votes separate challengers Robert M. Zubak, Paula Jacobsen and Matthew Vondra for second through fourth place. Zubak has 488 votes, Jacobsen 487 and Vondra 484.
Rounding out the board race were challenger Ralph Sesso with 401 votes and incumbent Elaine M. Ramesh with 397.
McLaughlin got 556 votes, 53.2 percent of the total, and Iacovelli got 488, around 46.8 percent.
All of the precincts in Lake, Cook, Kane and McHenry counties are accounted for but there still could be votes left to count from early voting, mail-in ballots.
To read the entire Daily Herald article, click here.
Where do Iacovelli, Jacobsen and Zubak stand on commercial horse boarding?
Posted in Uncategorized on April 3, 2017| 3 Comments »
“Your Barrington Hills” Trojan Horsemen, Louis Iacovelli, Paula Jacobsen and Robert Zubak, candidates in tomorrow’s election, have all been mum on the topic of commercial horse boarding and equestrian business activity in the village. There has been no real mention of the topic, save for a vague reference to equestrian heritage.
But all three of these individuals communicated their views, on the official Village record, to the Zoning Board of Appeals last summer. Iacovelli, Jacobsen and Zubak all opposed the Drury amendment and expressed their strong support for the flawed and biased Anderson II Ordinance, which was repealed by the Village Board of Trustees in December 2016. Iacovelli & Jacobsen both signed the J.R. Davis petition form. Zubak went a bit further, submitting a personal letter via email.
Zubak’s feelings were summed up, in his own words, ” …my wife and I would rather live next to a boarding/training facility that [sic] live with the freight trains that run through the back of our property at all hours of the day and night.”
Ah, Mr. Zubak, that is your choice. But the rest of us have our own choices to make as far as protecting the peace and quiet of our homes and properties.
Here are copies of their submissions.
McLaughlin for Barrington Hills President, Hannigan, Vondra and Sesso for Trustees
Posted in 2017 Elections, Commercial Horse Boarding, Deception, OP/Ed, Politics, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Save 5 Acres, Uncategorized, Unite Barrington Hills, Village Government on April 2, 2017| 5 Comments »
Tuesday, April 4th marks yet another turning point in the history of the village of Barrington Hills. Residents will go to the polls again faced with a choice of continuing to advance the positive trends of the last four years, or backsliding into the mired legacy of the last administration. Three trustee positions and the office of village president are being contested.
The achievements of President Martin McLaughlin and Trustee Colleen Konicek Hannigan over their first term have been nothing short of amazing, even more so, when you consider that for their first two years they had to work with a five person opposition bloc on the Board who were blindly loyal to the old regime, and who fought against change on nearly every front. We won’t waste space here again repeating all of Marty and Colleen’s fulfilled campaign promises here, but instead refer you to the words of the Daily Herald Editorial Board when it said, “Barrington Hills has recorded some notable accomplishments and is on a constructive course for maintaining the town’s prosperity and rural charm, led by a village board whose members are dedicated and independent”, in endorsing both McLaughlin and Hannigan. We concur with their very enthusiastic endorsement.
Six candidates are vying for the two other open trustee positions. The two individuals running under the “Your Barrington Hills” (YBH) banner, along with former trustee Elaine Ramesh, despite rather desperate attempts to minimize and criticize the notable achievements of the last four years, are nothing more than “Save 5 Acres” version 3.0.
The YBH campaign has been marked by negative mailings flooding our mailboxes, attempting to create crises where none exist. Not only do they fail to acknowledge the positive accomplishments of the McLaughlin administration, they ridiculously try to imply that the village has not been prudently managed and that services have suffered. Even the specter of the phantom developer has been raised again.
As detailed in Meet the Candidates Part One and Part Two, Jacobsen, Zubak and Ramesh are distancing themselves from their extremist equestrian bias, in what we see as a deliberate attempt to mislead voters from their true agenda. We believe that the ultimate goal of these Trojan Horsemen candidates is to reinstate ordinances permitting unbridled, large-scale commercial boarding and unimpeded related commercial equestrian activities in the Village to the benefit of their friends, at the expense of the rights of the rest of us to the peaceful enjoyment of our homes. Electing any of these individuals will be a setback to the reforms of the past four years and will be a danger to all of our residential rights. They have shown themselves to be completely uninformed on the true state of village affairs, and will be little more than puppets for the former regime.
That is why we are endorsing the two other independent candidates on the ballot – Matt Vondra and Ralph Sesso.
Matt Vondra, a resident since 2012, is a consultant in logistics and business development, who works for contractors in heavy and highway construction. Matt volunteers on the Executive Committee of the Barrington Area Conservation Trust and recently won the Audubon Society’s Grassroots Conservation Leadership Award for his work on the restoration plan of the Bluff Spring Fen in Elgin, Illinois.
Ralph Sesso has lived in Barrington Hills for 23 years and is an investment fund manager and a certified financial planner. He and his wife raised their four children in the village. He is running to help preserve the long standing tradition of open space and the rural nature of our community. He is also personally interested in residents finding ways to live peaceably with each other, despite differences on political issues.
Vondra and Sesso possess unique professional skills, and both are supportive of the reforms and results that Marty and Colleen have instituted over the last four years. The Observer feels strongly that these two independent candidates would work well with the current board in continuing the positive trends of fiscal responsibility and creative approaches that have become hallmarks of our village government today.
We urge you to make your voices heard again as you go to the polls on Tuesday April 4th to support McLaughlin for President, and Hannigan, Vondra and Sesso for Trustees.
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