The Village has released the audio recordings from the December 7th quarterly meeting of the Equestrian Commission.
There were no formal comments made during public comment, however attendees were allowed to comment or ask questions when recognized by the chair throughout the meeting. This more informal format is used for most Barrington Hills meetings, excluding the Village and Zoning Board meetings.
The first item covered in the meeting was the status of Horizon Farms. Trustee Maison, liaison to the commission, provided the update, which can be heard here.
Village attorney Patrick Bond then spoke about the status of horse boarding in Barrington Hills as it stands currently in our Village Codes. His presentation can be heard here.
It was surprising that none of the estimated 20 residents in attendance, or any of the commission members had questions or comments after Bond’s comments. Considering the misinformation circulating throughout the Village on this topic in the last few years, one might have expected some interaction, but there was only silence.
When the topic of equestrian trail maps was discussed, there was interaction.
The Riding Club of Barrington Hills has expressed a desire to convert some of the private trails on homeowners’ properties to legal easements deeded to the club. Two cases in which a swimming pool and a garden had been constructed which disrupted the trails were cited as factors for their desire to have better control of their trails.
It was suggested that if the trails were deeded to the Riding Club, this might be avoided, and a club representative in the audience stated that Riding Club would bear the cost of the filing fee. Interested residents can contact the Riding Club, and the recording of that discussion can be heard here.
The agenda subject of “Equestrian Information on Website & in newsletter” also proved to be quite interesting. The chair began the discussion by stating, “We have a number of equestrian clubs in Barrington Hills, and our events overlap. For example, the Riding Club had a sector ride on the same day as the Village held ‘Hills Are Alive’, and so we couldn’t participate.”
Citing this recent scheduling “conflict,” she went on to express the desire to have one central calendar that all equestrian clubs may use for planning purposes, and to provide the public an opportunity to see all Village equestrian events, hunts or shows.
The chair then requested that the Village invite the Riding Club, Polo Club, Fox River Hounds, the Pony Club and the Barrington Hills Park District to utilize the Village government’s calendar for scheduling and information purposes, as well as add links to those organizations’ websites.
This seems like a reasonable concept, however the Barrington Area Library already provides a community calendar for this purpose, as seen here.
Furthermore, if the Village were to extend such an invitation, other organizations within the Village should be allowed to participate as well. Garden clubs, youth scouting organizations, public and private schools, conservation groups and houses of worship, among others, would likely wish to have their notices posted to the calendar as well.
There’s also the matter of resources to be considered. If the Village were to take on this responsibility, the time required to maintain such a calendar might become too great, thus detracting from other duties performed by Village Hall staff.
If the Village does decide to proceed with this initiative, the one suggestion we have is to create separate calendars for government business and community events. Otherwise, the current calendar would likely become very muddled, thus making it more difficult for residents only interested in government meeting information to find what they’re looking for.
The link to the full Village website utilization discussion recording can be accessed here. The menu of edited recordings by agenda topic for the entire meeting can be accessed here.
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But Elaine is not just a competitor in hunter/jumper events with her own horses, and isn’t just a member of numerous equestrian organizations (Riding Club of Barrington Hills, American Horse Council, Equine Land Conservation Resource and the United States Equestrian Federation). To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with owning horses and enjoying them – it is a wonderful part of the fabric of our Village. But Elaine Ramesh has held, and currently holds, significant leadership roles in several high profile equestrian groups with very narrow agendas which she is not being forthcoming about. Here’s just a partial list:
Here’s a graphic from the Spring 2016 issue of the Horsemen’s Council of Illinois Courier newsletter that should give you an idea of their mission statement.
