Recording of the Martin McLaughlin/Maria Peterson Candidate Forum held on Tuesday, Sept 22, for Illinois General Assembly 52nd District have been posted. The link can be found here.
Archive for the ‘BACOG’ Category
Village Board of Trustees meet tonight
Posted in Aunt Blabby, BACOG, BCFPD, Big Red, Board of Health, Cost of Living, Deception, Dumb and Dumber, Elections, ePacket Agendas, Equestrian Commission, Ethics, Finance Committee, Financial Reports, Flock Cameras, Heritage and Environs Committee, Insurance Committee, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, Lennie, OMA, Plan Commission, Police Pension Board, Politics, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, Riding Club Commission, Roads & Bridges Committee, Taxes, Transparency, Unions, VBHPD, Village Attorney, Village Board, Village Clerk, Village Code, Village Director of Administration, Village Engineer, Village Government, Village President, Village Treasurer, Well Water Quality, Yabba Dabba Doo, Zoning Board on September 28, 2026| Leave a Comment »
The Village Board of Trustees will be conducting their regular monthly meeting this evening beginning at 6:30 PM. Topics on their agenda include:
- [Vote] Resolution Updating the Village of Barrington Hills Fund Balance Policy Resolution 26 –
- [Vote] Ordinance Approving a Final Plat of Consolidation for the Parcels at 0 Steeplechase & 8 County Line Roads, to be Known as Resubdivision of Lot 1 in Lake Flint Estates Ordinance 26 –
A copy of their agenda, including info on listening to the meeting, can be viewed and downloaded here.
BACOG issues position statement on the November Lake County School Facilities Tax referendum
Posted in 220, BACOG, Barrington Education Association, Board of Education, Cost of Living, County, Elections, Illinois Federation of Teachers, Lake, Politics, Property Taxes, School Districts, Taxes, Topics Of Interest, Unions, What the Ficke (Bradford)? on September 16, 2026| 1 Comment »
What follows was read by Tower Lakes Village President Andy Hay on behalf of BACOG members at last night’s District 220 Board of Education meeting during public comment:
“Dear President and members of the Barrington 220 Board of Education,
Thank you for the opportunity to address the Barrington 220 Board of Education regarding the potential new Lake County School Facilities Tax that will be on the ballots this November.
The Barrington Area Council Of Governments, BACOG, represents local governments across four counties in Northeast Illinois, including nearly all of District 220.
We write today as a united region to advocate for the interest of all of our residents.
We recognize the pressures you face as a unit of local government to provide strong services and quality facilities while managing rising costs.
However, BACOG respectfully urges you to avoid promoting approval of this sales tax increase, even implicitly.
Now is not the time to ask our residents to approve a higher sales tax. Affordability concerns are very real.
The proposed sales tax would raise costs for all families buying goods in Lake County, including essential goods, regardless of their income level or ability to absorb the increased expenses.
This burden would come when families are already facing high inflation and the resulting rapid rise in the cost of living.
BACOG recommends that the District public statements focus on its track record of good stewardship and how it uses existing available resources to meet its student’s needs.
We urge you to clearly state that the District is not actually seeking approval of this referendum.
If you publicize the projects and services that would be funded by the new tax, give equal attention to the increased cost of goods.
You should only suggest the property tax reduction if you are willing to commit to providing one.
Better yet, express your appreciation for the support of the community already shown the District when it approved the two recent referendums.
If the countywide tax increase is approved, District 220 will face crucial decisions regarding the use of funds distributed to our region.
BACOG urges you to treat this as an alternative funding source for education that reduces reliance on property taxes rather than viewing it as an additional funding.
To do so is imperative, that the property tax assessed by the District be reduced in an amount that corresponds to the Sales Tax revenue received.
To clarify, the new revenue would come, at least in part, from our resident’s pocket, should not be treated as bonus money and simply added to your operating budget.
BACOG strongly recommends that you choose the option articulated in the referendum’s terms of debt reduction and tax abatement for our residents.
If this tax is approved, our residents will not be able to avoid paying more for their family’s essential goods, but you do have the ability to reduce the burden born by those same taxpayers.
Notably, the District did not identify a missing or inadequate service in 2026 that would cause it to affirmatively ask the community for increased funding.
When there was such a need in 2020 and 2024, the voters in District 220 answered the calls to financially support extensive infrastructure improvements and agreed to increase property tax bills.
This is your opportunity to recognize that support and acknowledge the additional funding is not needed to sustain the current high quality of District 220 operations.
As a result, the District should direct any funds received through this new tax to reduce the outstanding debt and provide a corresponding property tax abatement.
Thank you for your consideration and support of Barrington area students and their families.
We would welcome the opportunity to discuss this issue further and work together with the Board of Education and District staff on behalf of our residents.
We all have a responsibility to manage public funds that our entrusted to us with care.
Through our collective efforts and investments, we can insure the continued viability and livability of our region.
And it’s signed by all the members of the towns of BACOG.
Thank you for your consideration.”
The link to the reading of the letter can be found here.
The Lake County School Facilities Tax referendum wording reads:
“Proposition To Impose County School Sales Tax
Shall a retailers’ occupation tax and a service occupation tax (commonly referred to as a sales tax) be imposed in The County of Lake, Illinois, at a rate of 1% to be used exclusively for school facility purposes, school resource officers, and mental health professionals?”
Forest Preserves spent extra $40 million yearly on expanded conservation, maintenance
Posted in Animal Welfare, BACOG, Bicyclists, Chicago Tribune, Citizens for Conservation, Cook, County, Crabtree Nature Center, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), E-bikes, Education, Elections, Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation, Flint Creek/Spring Creek Watersheds Partnership, Fox River Valley Hunt, FPDCC, Friends of Forest Preserves, FRVPC, Horizon Farm, Horse Boarding, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, Massbach Hounds, Politics, Preckwinkle's Rules of Order, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Spring Creek Stewards, Taxes, Unions on September 16, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Mark Kolasa, a teaching assistant for a restoration ecology class, uses his binoculars during a tour through Deer Grove East Forest Preserve in Palatine on Sept. 23, 2025, as part of a celebration of the completion of the habitat restoration project. The restoration project, funded by the O’Hare Modernization Mitigation Account, restored acres of native habitat and wetlands at this site. | Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune
By A.D. Quig | Chicago Tribune
Cook County Forest Preserves has used a $40 million yearly windfall from voters to buy up and conserve more land, pay for maintenance and add programming while bolstering its pension funds, the district reported Tuesday.
Voters overwhelmingly gave the preserves the OK to raise property taxes by 0.025% in a 2022 referendum. While at the time it cost the average homeowner about $20 a year, it was a “watershed moment” for the district, according to a new progress report on the district’s spending since then.
Because the new money was commingled with other preserve funds, it’s not possible to trace the improvements dollar for dollar, but the report puts some hard numbers on the “impressive and undeniable” benefits.
Among them: $11 million spent on ecological restoration projects, buying $4 million in new “greener” vehicles and equipment, and spending $2.4 million to expand the district’s “Conservation Corps.”
Revenues have grown only modestly after the referendum infusion. President Toni Preckwinkle is expected to roll out the 2027 budget for the preserves to the forest preserve board — which is the same as the County Board — on Oct. 7.
“The leap in capacity from increasing the budget in 2023 by nearly a third, and continuing that investment, has paid dividends for us all,” Preckwinkle said in a release.
District General Superintendent Adam Bianchi, hired in July 2025, inherited the district’s goals to ecologically restore 30,000 acres and expand the preserves from 70,000 to 90,000 acres by 2039. In the first three years after the referendum, the district added an “unprecedented” nearly 3,000 acres to its restoration work, Bianchi said at the district’s monthly board meeting Tuesday. Between 2023 and 2025, the district added 558 acres overall.
The district also spent $4 million to improve 64 miles of trails, $2.5 million to repair 43 picnic sites and $1.2 million to fix up more than a dozen bathroom buildings across the county. It planted 815 trees at preserves picnic groves, golf courses and campgrounds and created an accessible canoe and kayak launch at Beaubien Woods.
Report continues here.
From the Chicago suburbs to short line railroad companies, proposed merger heightens concerns
Posted in BACOG, Chicago Tribune, EJ&E/Canadian National, Politics, Road construction, TRAC, Traffic, U.S. Route 14 Underpass on September 8, 2026| Leave a Comment »
A Canadian National freight train stops traffic along U.S. Route 14 on Aug. 6, 2026, in Barrington. An underpass is being constructed at this location to allow traffic to flow better. The underpass is expected to be completed in late 2027. | Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune
By John Lippert | For the Chicago Tribune
When Karen Darch started agitating in 2007 for an underpass so U.S. Route 14 can pass beneath the Canadian National railroad tracks in Barrington, she had six children and no grandkids.
Nineteen years later, as workers are shattering the affluent quiet of her suburban street by pounding retaining walls for the underpass into place, she has seven grandchildren.
Darch says she can’t say how many grandchildren she’ll have when the half-mile, $94 million underpass is finally complete, hopefully by the end of next year.
But now, Darch is confronting a problem that could aggravate her grandchildren for decades to come.
That problem is a new round of mergers that’s putting the ownership structure of North American railroads through a blender and triggering a prolonged period of tension and uncertainty.
Union Pacific, in tandem with its $85 billion takeover bid for Norfolk Southern, has agreed to start running more trains over Canadian National’s suburban Chicago network. At the outset, this will include rerouting some trains now running through inner-city Chicago.
Former Barrington Village President Karen Darch stands near construction for the new U.S. Route 14 underpass on Aug. 6, 2026, in Barrington. Darch spent years seeking solutions like this underpass to rail-induced traffic problems. The underpass will be routed under freight train rails where currently traffic gets blocked several times a day. | Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune
Darch, an attorney who served as Barrington’s village president for 20 years until last year, says she believes that sooner or later, the railroads will build a second freight track through Barrington, a suburb 35 miles northwest of Chicago. That’s because Canadian National has already spent years double-tracking the line to within 10 miles south of Barrington, she said.
In theory, rail experts say, this second track could mean dozens of additional Canadian National and Union Pacific freight trains rolling each day through downtown Barrington at 40 miles an hour, up from 20 currently.
That’s in addition to the 50,000 cars and trucks that converge on Barrington each day, and 800 daily school bus trips. Barrington also attracts 70 Metra commuter trains per day. Each of these blocks the main north-south and east-west streets through downtown for a few minutes as passengers come and go.
“If they build another track, there’s going to be a much greater impact than we’re feeling now, so more has to happen in response. We may need another underpass, or maybe two other underpasses,” said Darch in an interview last month. “And a greater portion of the funding should come from businesses that are benefiting from traveling the rail.”
Report continues here.
Barrington Area Council of Governments meets tonight
Posted in Animal Welfare, BACOG, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Politics, Property Taxes, School Districts, Springfield, Taxes, Topics Of Interest, Village Government on August 25, 2026| Leave a Comment »
The Barrington Area Council of Governments (BACOG) Executive Board is scheduled to meet this evening at 7:00 PM at the Tower Lakes Village Hall, 400 North Rt. 59.
Meeting agendas are not posted by BACOG, nor are minutes, but their website does state, “Copies of approved minutes for BACOG committee and executive board meetings are available upon request. Please submit requests by email to bacog@bacog.org.
Village Board of Trustees meet tonight
Posted in Aunt Blabby, BACOG, Big Red, Board of Health, Building Department, Clown Car, Conflict of interest, Deception, Dumb and Dumber, ePacket agendas, Equestrian Commission, Ethics, Finance Committee, Folds of Honor, Insurance Committee, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Lennie, OMA, One Barrington Hills, Pension Funding, Plan Commission, Plum Farm development, Police Pension Board, Politics, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, Riding Club Commission, Road construction, Roads & Bridges Committee, Topics Of Interest, Transparency, Unions, VBHPD, Village Attorney, Village Board, Village Clerk, Village Code, Village Director of Administration, Village Engineer, Village Government, Village President, Village Treasurer, Yabba Dabba Doo, Zoning Board on July 27, 2026| Leave a Comment »
The Village Board of Trustees will be conducting their regular monthly meeting this evening beginning at 6:30 PM. Topics on their agenda include:
- [Vote] Accept the Annual Financial Report for Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2025 – Eccezion
- [Vote] Resolution Approving the 2026 Stormwater Management Program Plan (SMPP) and Authorizing its use for the Collection of Data Necessary to Prepare the Village’s Annual Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System(MS4) Report Resolution 26 –
- Land We Love Run America250 5K/10K or 2-Mile Walk Summary
A copy of their agenda, including info on listening to the meeting, can be viewed and downloaded here.
Proposed 185-Acre Data Center in Hoffman Estates by Karis Critical Cancelled as Firm Bows Out
Posted in AI, BACOG, Cook, County, Data Center, EJ&E/Canadian National, FPDCC, Hoffman Estates, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, News Media, Politics, Privacy, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, Resident Spotlights, School Districts, South Barrington, Taxes, Topics Of Interest, Unions on July 3, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Courtesy Construction Review
By Joel Mairura | Construction Review
The proposed 185-acre data center in Hoffman Estates by Karis Critical has been cancelled as the firm bows out. The firm has withdrawn its request to rezone land for the controversial data center project in Illinois. Its scope entailed being constructed at the edge of the village of Hoffman Estates’ municipal boundaries. Moreover, it would have bordered the nearby areas of South Barrington and Barrington Hills.
However, it raised serious questions about how the neighboring towns, which have no official say in decision making, are impacted by such projects (?). “After several weeks of conversations with the Village and residents, we’ve decided the right step is to withdraw the current rezoning request,” Karis Critical spokesman Patrick Skarr said.
“We heard the feedback clearly, including the call for a more specific plan before any rezoning. We’ll take the time to get that right. Should we bring a proposal forward in the future, the Village and the community will have the details they need to evaluate it fully and on its merits.” Residents have always been against the project as shown by a recent public hearing where they showed up in numbers. Despite bowing out, other data centers across the US are still advancing such as “Project Marvel” in Bessemer which QTS has been identified as its developer.
The proposed 185-acre data center in Hoffman Estates by Karis Critical has been cancelled as the firm bows out. | Courtesy Construction Review
Factors Leading to Opposition of Proposed Data Center in Hoffman Estates
One of the major factors that led to opposition of the proposed data center in Hoffman Estate was transparency concerns. When the Plan Commission held its meeting, discussion was limited to the issue of rezoning the site from traditional neighborhood and commercial mixed-use districts to a manufacturing district. Moreover, residents were told there were no specific site plans for a data center project.
Other residents had concerns about the impacts of a large-scale data center on traffic, noise and light pollution and air quality. Hoffman Estates has two other data centers under construction. However, they are in areas already zoned for manufacturing that residents said are more appropriate than the residential area near forest preserves.
“Nobody here is saying, ‘Don’t do a data center,’ everyone’s saying, ‘Don’t do it here,’” Barrington Hills resident Karen Trzaska said. A public records request seeking communication from village stuff about the project also revealed much. It noted that the project had been in discussion as early as 18 months ago, raising more concerns on the project’s transparency.
Article continues here.
“Petitioner withdraws rezoning application for Plum Farms property”
Posted in BACOG, Data Center, EJ&E/Canadian National, FPDCC, Goat Rodeo, Hoffman Estates, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, Plum Farm development, Politics, Privacy, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, School Districts, South Barrington, Taxes, Unions on July 2, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Per a Village of Hoffman Estates release:
“On June 30, 2026, H.E. Holdings, LLC, owner of the property at 4800 W. Higgins Road, (commonly known as “Plum Farms” and hereafter referred to as the ‘Subject Property’) notified the Village of Hoffman Estates in writing that it has withdrawn its application to rezone the three lots that comprise the Subject Property to the Village’s M-2 zoning district. As a result of this withdrawal, the existing zoning of the Subject Property will remain in place (Lot 1: TN, Lots 2 & 3: C-MU).
The withdrawn petition for rezoning will not be considered by the Village Board at the July 6, 2026, Village Board Meeting. Any application for zoning changes to the Subject Property by the current or future owners will require a new application. Future applications concerning the Subject Property will be required to start at the beginning of the zoning amendment process outlined in the Village Code.
The public hearing scheduled for July 6, 2026, to consider the termination of the annexation agreement governing the property at 4800 W. Higgins Road, Hoffman Estates, has been canceled.”
Rezoning request for potential data center in Hoffman Estates withdrawn
Posted in AI, BACOG, Cook, County, Daily Herald, Data Center, EJ&E/Canadian National, FPDCC, Hoffman Estates, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Plum Farm development, Politics, Privacy, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, School Districts, Taxes, Topics Of Interest, Traffic, Unions on July 1, 2026| Leave a Comment »
By Eric Peterson | Daily Herald
The firm that owns the 186-acre Plum Farms property at Higgins Road and Route 59 in Hoffman Estates has withdrawn its request to rezone the site to manufacturing use that potentially would have enabled a data center there.
“We got word last night that it had been withdrawn,” Hoffman Estates Village Manager Eric Palm said Wednesday.
That immediately removed the decision from the agenda of Monday’s village board meeting, at which a large crowd of opponents from Hoffman Estates, Barrington Hills and South Barrington was expected.
Report continues here.
Related: “Barrington CUSD 220 opposes rezoning of Plum Farms,” “Proposed data center in Hoffman Estates sparks resident outrage,” “HOFFMAN ESTATES NOTICE OF (PLUM FARMS) PUBLIC HEARING JULY 6,” “‘Wrong project, wrong place’: Critics push back on rezoning plan for potential Hoffman Estates data center,” “Change.org Petition: ‘Deny Rezoning of Plum Farms In Hoffman Estates’,” “South Barrington Mayor Paula McCombie shares an update on Hoffman Estates/Plum Farms Plan Commission meeting,” “Hoffman Estates plan commission rejects rezoning request for possible data center,” “Hoffman Estates Plan Commission rejects zoning change for new data center project,” “Hoffman Estates Plum Farm June 3rd Plan Commission Meeting Essentials,” “After being rejected in Naperville, company could build data center in Hoffman Estates,” “South Barrington Mayor Paula McCombie posts information regarding June 3 Hoffman Estates (Plum Farms) Plan Commission meeting,” “(Plum Farms) NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING JUNE 3,” “Hoffman Estates could see third data center campus with sale of Plum Farms property,” “Hoffman Estates approves sewer, water for development of 185 acres west of The Arboretum,” “Hoffman Estates approves tax incentive at routes 59, 72,” “District 220 lawsuit against Hoffman Estates, Plum Farms developers dismissed,” “South Barrington residents sue over Hoffman Estates development,” “Editorial: Listen to agencies that would feel consequences of Hoffman Estates development”
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