Posted in Agendas, Animal Welfare, Barrington Hills Park District, Barrington Hills Polo Club, Commercial Horse Boarding, Countryside Elementary School, Deception, Ethics, Fox River Valley Hunt, FPDCC, FRVPC, Horizon Farm, Horse Boarding, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, Mad Cow, Politics, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, Riding Center Advisory Committee, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Save 5 Acres, The Other Half, Topics Of Interest, Unions on September 13, 2023| Leave a Comment »
The Barrington Hills Park District Board will hold their monthly meeting this evening in person and via Zoom at 7:00 PM. Topics on their agenda include:
A copy of their agenda can be viewed here. Instructions for accessing the meeting remotely can be found here.
Posted in Agendas, Algonquin Rd, Animal Welfare, Barrington Hills Park District, Barrington Hills Polo Club, Countryside Elementary School, Don't Change Barrington Hills, Ethics, Fox River Valley Hunt, FPDCC, FRVPC, Goat Rodeo, HARPS, Horizon Farm, Horse Boarding, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, Lighting Ordinance, Mad Cow, Massbach Hounds, Politics, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, Riding Center Advisory Committee, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Taxes, The Other Half, Transparency, Unions, Well Water Quality on September 4, 2023| Leave a Comment »
The Barrington Hills Park District Advisory Committee meets tomorrow evening at 7 PM. Some of the topics on their agenda include:
A copy of their agenda can be viewed here.
Posted in Algonquin Rd, Animal Welfare, Audubon Society, BACT, Barrington Hills Polo Club, BH Polo Club, Citizens for Conservation, Commercial Horse Boarding, Cook, County, Crabtree Nature Center, Deception, Equestrian Commission, Ethics, FPDCC, Friends of Forest Preserves, FRVPC, Goat Rodeo, Going green, HARPS, Horizon Farm, Horse Boarding, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, Mad Cow, Massbach Hounds, Organizations, Politics, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, Riding Club Commission, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Taxes, The Other Half, Traffic, Unions on August 19, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Front to back: Robert McGinley, Dan Lobbes, Renae Frigo and David Holman head back after checking the status of a former dam on Goose Lake in Horizon Farm preserve on Aug. 18, 2023, in Barrington Hills. Members of the Barrington Area Conservation Trust and The Conservation Foundation were out surveying Horizon Farm as part of an annual effort to track changes on the property. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
On a group tour of Horizon Farm Forest Preserve and its rolling pastures, a visitor joked that it would make a great par 3 golf course. Nature lovers shuddered at the thought, though such a use is prohibited on the site.
But the comment illustrates the tension the Forest Preserve District of Cook County faces balancing preservation and recreation. The district’s main mission is to preserve open space, and provide “nature-compatible” recreation.
In the case of Horizon Farm in northwest suburban Barrington Hills, the issue boils down to whether to save a half-mile horse racing track. The nearly 400-acre preserve used to be a horse breeding and training ground. The track was used to train thoroughbreds for racing at the now-closed Arlington International Racecourse.
When the forest preserve district bought Horizon Farm out of foreclosure for $14.5 million in 2013, officials expressed openness to keeping equestrian uses of the site. But 10 years later, the racetrack sits filled with wild plants, unused, its railing falling apart. A big chunk of the preserve remains closed, and some trails are overgrown. Horse lovers and other preserve users are wondering whether the district will save the track.
“It’s really a prize,” Barrington Hills Park District President Dennis Kelly said. “There’s been a lot of interest in the equestrian community, but we have not gotten a response.”
Not everyone is married to the idea of a horse track. Friends of the Forest Preserves, an independent nonprofit, takes the general position that recreation in the forest preserves — from boating to fishing to camping — should facilitate enjoyment of nature.
“As soon as recreation becomes about the activity, that is not in line with what should be done with the forest preserves,” Friends President Benjamin Cox said.
The group supports horse trails since anyone can use them, but has not taken a position specifically on the horse track. Exclusive sites such as a golf course or baseball diamond are only for those uses, so Friends would prefer not to build those in the preserves.
Read more here.
Posted in Agendas, Algonquin Rd, Animal Welfare, Barrington Hills Farm, Barrington Hills Park District, Barrington Hills Polo Club, Big Red, Cook, Countryside Elementary School, County, Deception, Equestrian Commission, Ethics, Fox River Valley Hunt, FPDCC, FRVPC, Goat Rodeo, HARPS, Horizon Farm, Horse Boarding, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, Massbach Hounds, Politics, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Transparency, Unions, Well Water Quality on July 12, 2023| Leave a Comment »
The Barrington Hills Park District Board will be meeting this evening in person and via webcast at 7:00 PM when the Board has two agendas to cover.
The first agenda is for the regular monthly District meeting, and a copy can be viewed and downloaded here.
The second is for the, “Decennial Committee Meeting,” and topics include:
A copy of that agenda can be viewed and downloaded here.
Instructions for accessing the meeting remotely can be found here.
Posted in Animal Welfare, Barrington Hills Park District, Barrington Hills Polo Club, Don't Change Barrington Hills, Entertainment, Equestrian Commission, Fox River Valley Hunt, FRVPC, Fundraisers, HARPS, Horizon Farm, Horse Boarding, Land Use, News Media, Nostalgia, Politics, Real Estate, Resident Spotlights, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Save 5 Acres, Your Barrington Hills on July 8, 2023| 2 Comments »
John Rosene and the Barrington Hills Polo Club offers a nationally recognized polo school for newcomers to the sport helping generations of families play together on the field
When John Rosene was a boy of 9 years old, his mother signed him up for a horse-riding lesson at the Starlight Stable in Skokie. It was something to keep him busy, not a family tradition. He joined other children from his neighborhood on the bus ride over but didn’t make it to the trail ride. “When they put me on the horse, I was so scared that I got off and stayed at the barn while the other kids rode off,” Rosene said.
A few years later, the Rogers Park native attended a summer riding school at the Northwestern Stables in Morton Grove, now called Freedom Woods. Rosene started at the beginner’s level with the five-day-a-week program where each student learned how to saddle, ride, and hose down the horse, then letting their horse graze while holding its lead line. At 14, he took a job at the same barn where he learned to ride, having 21 horses in his daily care. Feeding, watering, and cleaning the tack and stalls was compensated with two dollars a day—and all the riding he could get in.
At 16, with his driver’s license and a car, Rosene took a job at the same barn for $200 a month and did that for a couple of years before college. “Very few boys stuck with horse riding by that age, so besides being able to ride as much as I could, all the girls were the attraction,” he said with his classic sense of humor.
Rosene bought his first horse during his college years during a gap year in Texas. Having returned to Northwestern University, he met his future wife, Karen, who he intended to impress with his horse-riding skills in a PE class. The two finished school in 1962, and married two years later. They each bought a horse and found an old dairy barn, through some friends, for boarding.
Read the full Quintessential Barrington feature story here.
Posted in Agendas, Algonquin Rd, Animal Welfare, Barrington Hills Park District, Barrington Hills Polo Club, Commercial Horse Boarding, Countryside Elementary School, Ethics, Financial Statements, Fox River Valley Hunt, FPDCC, FRVPC, FUBAR, Horizon Farm, Horse Boarding, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, LeCompte/Anderson Commercial Horse boarding amendment, Massbach Hounds, Politics, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, Riding Center Advisory Committee, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Transparency, Unions, Well Water Quality on June 14, 2023| Leave a Comment »
The Barrington Hills Park District Board will hold a, “Decennial Committee on Local Government Efficiency,” meeting this evening in person and via Zoom at 7:00 PM. A copy of the meeting notice can be viewed and downloaded here.
Additionally, the District web page reads, “June 14, 2023 Board Meeting Agenda (posted on June 12),” indicating the Board may have intended to have a regular monthly meeting tonight as well. However, no agenda is posted, and per state law, “Public bodies that have a website must post the agenda of any regular meetings of the governing body (i.e. County Board, Board of Trustees, Board of Commissioners, School Board, etc.) at least 48 hours prior to said meeting.”
Instructions for accessing tonight’s meeting(s) remotely can be found here.
Posted in Algonquin Rd, Animal Welfare, Barrington Hills Park District, Barrington Hills Polo Club, BOHICA, Building Department, Commercial Horse Boarding, Cook, County, Deception, Equestrian Commission, Ethics, Fox River Valley Hunt, FRVPC, Goat Rodeo, Horse Boarding, Land Use, LeCompte/Anderson Commercial Horse boarding amendment, Nostalgia, Politics, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, Resident Spotlights, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Unions, Village Attorney, Village Board, Village Code, Village Government, Zoning Board on May 19, 2023| Leave a Comment »
The Daily Herald recently reported, “After 8-year fight, judge says Barrington Hills horse boarding law is constitutional.” We’ve learned before that article was published, another commercial horse boarding related suit was filed in Cook County on April 25th, and it can be found here.
Ordinance 16-22, referred to in the filing, can be found here. Audio recordings of the Trustee’s discussions prior to approving that ordinance can be heard here.
Related: “After 8-year fight, judge says Barrington Hills horse boarding law is constitutional”
Posted in Agendas, Algonquin Rd, Animal Welfare, Barrington Hills Farm, Barrington Hills Park District, Barrington Hills Polo Club, Bicyclists, ComEd Four, Commercial Horse Boarding, Countryside Elementary School, Deception, Ethics, Fox River Valley Hunt, FPDCC, FRVPC, Horizon Farm, Horse Boarding, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, Lighting Ordinance, Longmeadow Parkway, Mad Cow, Massbach Hounds, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Transparency, Unions, WTF on May 10, 2023| Leave a Comment »
The Barrington Hills Park District Board will hold a, “Park Board & Decennial Committee on Local Government Efficiency,” meeting this evening in person and via Zoom at 7:00 PM. Topics on their agenda include:
A copy of their agenda can be viewed here. Instructions for accessing the meeting remotely can be found here.
Posted in Animal Welfare, Barrington Hills Polo Club, Equestrian Commission, Ethics, FRVPC, Land Use, LeCompte/Anderson Commercial Horse boarding amendment, Politics, Public Safety, Real Estate, Resident Spotlights, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Save 5 Acres, Unions, Village Attorney, Village Board, Village Code, Village President, Your Barrington Hills, Zoning Board on April 28, 2023| 1 Comment »
A Cook County judge has ruled a Barrington Hills ordinance allowing commercial horse boarding at Oakwood Farms and other places to be constitutional, rejecting arguments that conspiracy and corruption were the basis of its adoption. (Daily Herald file photo, 2011)
A Cook County judge has called constitutional a Barrington Hills ordinance permitting commercial horse boarding as a home-occupation business in the historically equestrian-friendly village, rejecting claims of corruption.
The 8-year-old litigation that resulted in a 21-day trial was born of a neighbor dispute that dominated local politics in Barrington Hills for a time about a dozen years ago.
“I believe it vindicates a number of people,” said attorney James Kelly, who represented a party of intervenors in plaintiff Jim Drury’s lawsuit against the village. “I think it was a good decision.”
Drury — who lives next door to Benjamin and Cathleen LeCompte’s Oakwood Farms, where a 60-horse commercial boarding operation existed — argued the facility’s imposition on his residential peace and quiet clearly was forbidden by existing village code regulating home-occupation businesses in 2011.
Drury tried through lawsuits, newspaper advertisements and official testimony to suggest village officials at that time were refusing to acknowledge this and instead were pandering to the Riding Club of Barrington Hills and other equestrian interests.
While Drury conceded the LeComptes had the right to keep 60 of their own horses on the 130-acre property, he said the number of employees and clients that visited his residential neighborhood most days clearly marked Oakwood Farms as a commercial enterprise.
In claiming political motivations in the village, Drury pointed to $5,000 donations LeCompte made to each of the trustee candidates then-Village President Robert Abboud supported in the 2011 election — Joe Messer, Karen Selman and Patty Meroni.
That money was returned to LeCompte when the State Board of Elections determined he had not been properly identified by the candidates as the original source of the funding.
Read more here.
Posted in Agendas, Animal Welfare, Barrington Hills Park District, Barrington Hills Polo Club, Countryside Elementary School, Deception, Elections, Fox River Valley Hunt, FPDCC, FRVPC, Horizon Farm, Illinois State Board of Elections, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, Lighting Ordinance, Mad Cow, Massbach Hounds, Politics, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Riding Center Advisory Committee, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, The Other Half, Traffic, Transparency, Unions, Well Water Quality on April 13, 2023| 1 Comment »
The Barrington Hills Park District Board will hold a special meeting this evening in person and via Zoom at 7:00 PM. Topics on their agenda include:
A copy of their agenda can be viewed here. Instructions for accessing the meeting remotely can be found here.
 | M Crowe on District 220 Board of Educatio… |
 | Ashley S on The outdoor venue Container Co… |
 | Simona K. on Woman dies after sideswiping s… |
 | Rebecca Cook on Woman dies after sideswiping s… |
 | Jim O'Donnell on Woman dies after sideswiping s… |
 | joefargo3767 on Some see Illinois’ dwind… |
| Wikd Wild West on District 220 explores options… |