Firefly, An American Paint Horse, who is affectionately known as “Phoofie” found herself in a precarious situation. “I noticed she was down which is not normal for horses to do,” said resident Sarah Quinn. She called her son-in-law to help raise Firefly and they quickly discovered they needed additional assistance.
Quinn called VBHPD. Sgt. David Kann and Ofc. Brian Baird arrived on the scene, assessed the situation and called in the necessary resources.
“We were overcome with emotion. It was so nice to have the community support you. It was wonderful,” said Quinn.
Authorities say two people have been charged with animal cruelty after two horses were found dead and five others severely malnourished at a farm in Marengo. Courtesy of Hooved Animal Rescue & Protection Society)
Authorities say two people have been charged with animal cruelty after two horses were found dead and five others severely malnourished at a farm in Marengo.
McHenry County Animal Control officers were verifying vaccine records at a dog breeding operation when they discovered the horses. The Hooved Animal Rescue & Protection Society in Barrington Hills was contacted and found two dead miniature horses that appeared to have starved, it said.
Five malnourished horses were also found Friday. They’ve been taken to the society’s facility for treatment and are expected to recover.
Among the malnourished were four miniature and one full-sized horse, said Ronda Ewing, the president of the Hooved Animal Rescue & Protection Society.
Tonight’s Board of Trustees meeting will be the first official meeting for the village’s new engineering firm, Trotter & Associates. We look forward to seeing their approach to municipal engineering and we hope that taxpayers will benefit from lowered costs and fresh ideas.
While researching future content for the Observer, we stumbled across some interesting correspondence regarding Barrington Hills Farm (BHFW LLC) and our village’s former engineering firm, Gewalt Hamilton. What we found is shocking, but it certainly makes the Village’s decision last year to change engineering companies very wise indeed.
According to documents found on McHenry County’s website, in December 2015, BHFW’s Chairman J. R. Davis was applying to McHenry County to convert part of an existing wetland on the property into a recreational pond. As a result, some mitigation of the wetlands was necessary. The specifics of the mitigation and request for credits from the Wetland Restoration Fund are not important.
What is important is the engineering firm that BHFW had hired to create their Wetland Mitigation Plan was Gewalt Hamilton. And not just Gewalt Hamilton, but Dan Strahan himself , who was Barrington Hills’ Village Engineer at the time, was personally involved in the project.
Strahan is cc’ed on the Gewalt Hamilton letter to McHenry County on behalf of BHFW and Strahan’s signature even appears with Davis’ signature on the Wetland Restoration Fund application as the Design Engineer.
To be clear, this was a project undertaken by a private property owner in unincorporated McHenry County immediately adjacent to the Village, and Strahan and Gewalt Hamilton were hired by that individual. All at the same time when Strahan and Gewalt Hamilton were also employed by the Village of Barrington Hills.
We find it shocking that Gewalt Hamilton and Dan Strahan did not decline employment by BHFW & Mr. Davis in 2015, seeing as the firm had been serving Barrington Hills for decades. Gewalt Hamilton & Strahan were well aware of the history of the Davis property, and in all likelihood would be called up by the Village to consult on the property in the future. It would be bad enough for any engineer employed by Gewalt Hamilton to have taken this job, let alone Dan Strahan.
Not surprisingly, Strahan indeed did end up personally involved in discussions on behalf of the Village regarding new driveways and dedicated easements and right-of ways for the proposed HARPS facility on BHFW property in 2016 & 2017. It certainly gives us pause to wonder about the quality of the service the village and taxpayers received on that assignment.
Did Strahan and Gewalt ever divulge to the Village of Barrington Hills that they had been previously employed by Davis?
How could Strahan and Gewalt maintain any impartiality when they had been paid by both the Village and Davis?
Are there other projects that Gewalt has worked on for Davis and BHFW?
Did Strahan and Gewalt ever divulge this conflict of interest while they were applying for retention as the Village’s engineering firm?
Right now, we have more questions than answers. We’ll leave it to our readers to draw their own conclusions. We think the documents speak for themselves.
As the Observer looks back at another year gone by, we thought we’d take the opportunity to point out some people and issues that made an impact in Barrington Hills news, whether it was good, bad or just plain phony.
President Martin McLaughlin and Trustee Colleen Konicek Hannigan were re-elected for their second terms in April 2017. We applaud their excellent service to our village and appreciate the personal sacrifices that they have made to keep Barrington Hills the special place that it is .
McLaughlin continued his astounding record of financial stewardship. Having analyzed every aspect of village spending for the last five years, Marty has surgically excised waste and improved efficiencies in the village budget. Since 2013, the tax levy has been reduced by 20%, 20% more road miles have been paved per year, and cash reserves have increased by 40%.
Since McLaughlin took office, every administrative employee at Village Hall has changed. In prior years, Barrington Hills hired a new Village Attorney and Treasurer, and, due to the retirement of Chief Michael Murphy, Rich Semelsberger became Police Chief. In 2017 alone, a new Building Permit Coordinator, new Engineering Firm, Clerk and a new acting Director of Administration were hired.
Two candidates from the “Your Barrington Hills” slate narrowly won election to the Board of Trustees. Paula Jacobsen and Robert Zubak ran on a platform of unfounded and disproven complaints about village governance, and promised to do more to: 1) protect open spaces and property rights, 2)produce better results for our tax dollars, 3) restore public safety and security which they alleged had been sacrificed, and 4) improve transparency and information distribution. More than eight months have passed since the duo were sworn into office, and nary a mention has been made of any of these so-called initiatives. And, not surprisingly, neither trustee has presented their new ideas for those better results for our tax dollars. This confirms our belief that their sole reason for running for office was to attempt to change the current commercial horse boarding protections.
Jacobsen and Zubak also made campaign promises to vigorously challenge the Plum Farm land development in Hoffman Estates, falsely accusing McLaughlin and Konicek of doing nothing to oppose the project. Yet Jacobsen and Zubak have not even aired the Plum Farm issue during a board meeting.
For the first time in many years, the Riding Club of Barrington Hills did not officially involve itself in the village election. Despite pressure from some of the Club’s most strident and vocal members, club president Jane Clement declined to make an political endorsement to the RCBH membership. We commend her for that. Politics and non-profit social clubs shouldn’t mix.
The 2017 hiring of Nikki Panos as part-time Building Department permit coordinator was a breath of fresh air. Panos brought competence and professionalism to the office whose previous occupant was frequently brusque and unkempt. We congratulate Panos’ promotion to Village Clerk and are confident that residents will be well served by her.
Nikki Panos, Village Clerk
The wave of change at Village Hall continued with the engagement of a new engineering firm – Trotter & Associates – replacing Gewalt Hamilton. Gewalt Hamilton had served the Village for decades, but without review or evaluation. We look forward to the fresh perspective that Trotter will provide and hope that residents will receive better service at a lower cost.
In the spring of 2017, the owners of Barrington Hills Farm (whose 600+acres is now located almost entirely OUTSIDE the borders of Barrington Hills) flouted village laws when they demolished a home, engaged in major earth-moving, cut down numerous trees without adhering to the Tree Preservation Ordinance, and failed to obtain proper permits prior to engaging in the project. When the activity on this property (formerly owned by the recently deceased Barbara MacArthur) was finally discovered by the Village, two stop work order signs were posted by the village inspector, and both signs mysteriously disappeared. Unfortunately, the damage had already been done, and all the village could do was collect the permit fees and penalties months after the fact.
Apparently feeling slighted by having to follow the Village Code as all other residents and property owners have to do, the Barrington Hills Farm L.L.C. ownership demanded disconnection of the property in question into unincorporated McHenry County, a request that was granted by the Board of Trustees.
Speaking of Barrington Hills Farm, whatever happened to the HARPS facility they had planned near the intersection of Church and Chapel Roads, immediately adjacent to Barrington Hills homes on Alderberry Lane? It’s been over two years since representatives of the L.L.C. presented plans to both the village and McHenry County, and after all the hullabaloo they created over necessary curb cuts for the proposed driveway entrances and the nonsense over granting easements and rights-of-way, the corner remains undeveloped. There is no new information about the facility on the HARPS website either. Strange, isn’t it?
Trustee Brian Cecola continued his excellent management of the Village’s Roads and Bridges. He is completely engaged in his position, interfacing well with residents, village engineering firm and his fellow board members. Miles of road paving per year are up, and Cecola is looking to increase that benchmark in the coming years. Congratulations for a job well done!
Trustee Brian Cecola
2017 brought the long-overdue retirement of Village Administrator Bob Kosin. His 35 years of service to Barrington Hills is much appreciated, but Kosin had long since ceased serving the residents efficiently, and was increasingly difficult to work with. His convoluted explanations and arcane knowledge of village history may have been interesting in the past, but residents and commission members no longer found his digressions amusing or beneficial.
We are hopeful about the appointment of Anna Paul (previously Village Clerk) as acting Administrator. While the search for a permanent administrator may continue, the Observer has been pleased to watch Paul’s progression through the ranks of village administration. She offers a familiarity with VBH operations that no outside candidate with years of lead experience can match. Her organization and communication skills are outstanding, and despite her relative youth, she is steady, impartial and poised in any situation. We wish Anna Paul well in her new assignment.
The Observer usually doesn’t comment on state or federal races, but we feel compelled to comment on the unlikely candidacy of resident Kelly Mazeski in the Democratic Congressional primary in IL-06. Mazeski, whose recent civic resume consists of only of membership on the village’s Plan Commission, previously ran unsuccessfully for Village Board in 2013, and unsuccessfully for State Senate in 2016. Her campaign’s PR machine has been busy at work, trying to repackage her from the “financial expert” she called herself in 2016, now calling herself “mom/scientist/cancer survivor”. What’s next – butcher/baker/candlestick maker?
Speaking of Kelly Mazeski, it seems as though she’s been grasping for endorsements, trotting out support from “environmentalists” Karen Rosene and Karen Selman, as well as a big thumbs up from former trustee Mikey Harrington. Now that’s a lot to be proud of, isn’t it?
Although he opted not to run for re-election as trustee, the specter of Fritz Gohl continues to loom over the village. Gohl, now receiving financial compensation as a Barrington Township trustee, still can claim his title of village buffoon. His frequent public comments during Board of Trustees meetings are no more logical or coherent now than they were during his tenure on the board.
Chuck Stewart, Village Arborist, is the last of the Kosin-era hold-overs. In appearances in front of village commissions and the BOT, Stewart communicates poorly and comes across as disorganized. The Observer is also concerned about the questionable judgment he demonstrated in enforcing the Tree Preservation Ordinance both in the Hasan case and in the aforementioned Barrington Hills Farm matter. Those faults, combined with an undisclosed potential conflict of interest (Stewart rents office space in a building owned by one of the members of the board of Barrington Hills Farm), makes him a poor choice to continue in the role of Village Arborist. The Village needs a tree expert who can communicate clearly with residents and builders, as well as with Village administration.
Audio recordings from the July 24th, 2017 meeting of the Board of Trustees have been posted. To access the menu of recordings edited by agenda item, click here.
Most of the brief meeting consisted of routine business, but, again, property owned by Barrington Hills Farm LLC (BHFarm) provided the most interesting fodder for discussion. As we mentioned previously, the owner(s) of the unoccupied property at 2400 Spring Creek Road had been cited for demolition of a residence without a building permit and for removal of two posted Stop Work Order signs. Additionally, many trees and much vegetation had been removed without a permit required under the village’s Heritage Tree Ordinance.
Trustee Colleen Konicek asked Administrator Bob Kosin for an update on the situation. The issue of the removal of the Stop Work Order signs is currently in the hands of the village prosecutor, and the courts will be left to determine if the violation did take place, and what fines, if any, should be imposed. Kosin went on to state that the necessary demolition permit had now been obtained, albeit AFTER the fact, and that according to the demolition contractor, none of the work to remove the debris from the demolition of the 2900 sq. ft. home had required an overweight permit. Trustee Brian Cecola strongly questioned the notion that a residence of that size could be taken down without the need for an overweight permit. Konicek pressed the issue further, asking Kosin what evidence had been provided that an overweight permit had not been required? Kosin was forced to admit there was no evidence, just the word of the contractor. We wonder how many other residents would be afforded this same benefit of the doubt.
On the issue of the trees that had been removed, Kosin stated that the Village’s tree contractor had been sent out, and he determined that no heritage trees had been lost or jeopardized on the site, again AFTER the fact, and that the property owner had been appropriately billed (and paid ) for the arborist’s inspection fee. Kosin expressed supreme confidence in the arborist’s psychic abilities to determine the species of trees which had been removed, without ever having seen them. We don’t quite understand how this was possible — perhaps he conducted a DNA analysis of the sawdust residue?
President Martin McLaughlin expressed concern about the objectivity of the arborist, Chuck Stewart, who had performed the study of the property, because Stewart rents office space in a building owned by one of the members of the board of Barrington Hills Farm. Trustee Michelle Maison was also troubled by this perceived conflict of interest and inquired if another independent tree analysis should be conducted.
McLaughlin then brought up the issue of the deannexation request (dated July 17, 2017) for 2400 Spring Creek Road. Back in the fall, the trust controlling BHFarm had expressed interest in annexing ALL of the former Duda property back into the Village during a friendly 2 1/2 hour staff meeting during which the village outlined two timelines to complete the annexation petition process. He found it odd that first they wanted to annex into the village, and now they want to annex out of the village. He also reminded the new Board members about the trust’s previous request for an easement for its proposed HARPS facility (which still has not broken ground). The trust had wanted an easement, requested it, constructed the legal documents for it, and when the Board agreed to it, the trust wanted the easement out.
McLaughlin described how the Village has gone out of its way to say “yes” numerous times to requests by BHFarm, and explained how the Village has tried to work with the individuals representing BHFarm, only to have the trust change their minds about things that they themselves had asked for. He likened dealing with the BHFarm trust as doing the Hokey Pokey — they want the easement in, they want the easement out, they want to annex in, they want to annex out. All of it, he said, amounted to much silliness, and in our opinion, wasting of board and staff time, not to mention taxpayer dollars.
Doing the annexation hokey pokey
Trustee Paula Jacobsen wondered why the village couldn’t have employed a warmer and fuzzier process to inform the property owner of their violation of the cease and desist order, perhaps by placing a personal phone call. Jacobsen was either playing dumb in thinking that property owners’ phone numbers are listed on property deeds, or perhaps she was pandering to BHFarm’s board which is headed by a prominent donor to her recent trustee campaign. Her point seemed to be that the property owner was not being treated in a neighborly manner, despite the fact that the only publicly available contact information is an street address in Chicago. Never did she place any onus on the property owner who apparently assumed that it was okay to knock down a house without consulting the municipal authorities in advance. Maybe she has never heard of the expression “ignorance of the law is no excuse”?
And, if the village had gone to extreme lengths to track down a telephone number in this particular instance, wouldn’t that create a dangerous precedent for the village’s future contacts with other property owners? AND, does Jacobsen really believe that the contractor(s) who removed the trees and demolished the residence didn’t inform their employer of the Stop Work Order?
Later in the meeting, during discussion of the disconnection petition itself, Village Attorney Mary Dickson described the legal requirements for disconnection and confirmed that the subject property meets all of them. However, the village cannot act on such a petition sooner than 30 days after receiving it, and, as a result, the attorney will prepare an ordinance for possible action at the next Board meeting in August.
Dickson cautioned that any penalties regarding the cease and desist order violation pending in court should be resolved and that any other monies due to the Village should be paid PRIOR to the Board of Trustees taking final action on BHFarm’s petition.
Jacobsen continued to puzzle over the reason for the disconnection request into unincorporated McHenry County, and asked if the petitioner would be making a presentation to the Board explaining the reasons for the disconnection. Dickson explained that no such presentation is legally necessary. (We suggest that Jacobsen pick up the telephone a place a neighborly phone call if she wants to quench her curiosity.) Attorney Dickson opined that maybe developmental rights are the reason, and perhaps the best prospects for the owner’s desired development of the property may lie with the county rather than the village. We’d say that Ms. Dickson hit the nail on the head with that assessment.
Audio recordings from the February 17th Meeting of the Roads & Bridges Committee have been posted to the Village website. To access the main menu of recordings edited by agenda topic, click here
There were two speakers during the public comment portion of the meeting who referenced the current fight against the Longmeadow Parkway, and their remarks can be heard here
Agenda items that were discussed during the short meeting included clarification of jurisdiction of the Green Rail Bridge which carries Oak Knoll Road over Flint Creek. It has been determined that the Village and Cuba Township each control 50% of the bridge and a memo will be prepared to reflect the agreed-upon sharing of on-going maintenance costs.
The long-discussed permit for the second driveway onto Church Road for the proposed Barrington Hills Farm/HARPS facility, located at the northeast corner of Church and Chapel has finally been issued. Thankfully, no representatives of the farm were in attendance to sling out their usual protests, accusations and innuendos.
The meeting proceeded smoothly to a review of upcoming 2017 construction projects within Barrington Hills which are planned by Cook and Kane Counties. Cook County Department of Transportation confirmed that resurfacing of Brinker Road, from Route 62 to County Line Road, and of Otis Road, from Old Sutton to Brinker Road is on the schedule, although construction may not begin until 2018.
Kane County has noted that the Longmeadow Parkway is their priority project for the year and the portion of the project in Barrington Hills from IL 62 to east of IL 25, was described as having a target letting of “late summer/fall 2017”, with construction in 2017 and 2018.
Seasonal posting of weight limit reductions on all village roads will begin on February 27th and is expected to last until the beginning of May. No overweight truck traffic (over ten tons) will be allowed on village maintained roads during this period in order to protect the roads from damage during the freeze/thaw cycle.
Lastly, Chapel Road is scheduled to be resurfaced on this year’s road program. A review of the history of water flooding over the road from the two wetlands located on either side of Chapel took place. Given the uncertainty of the construction schedule for the proposed HARPS facility, Chairman Brian Cecola suggested that perhaps work on Chapel Road should be delayed until the HARPS construction has concluded, in order to prevent damage from semis and other overweight construction related vehicles. Cecola directed that the engineers should suggest an alternate road for inclusion in this year’s program, should Chapel be deferred for another year. Fritz Gohl suggested speaking to the landowners to both the north and south of the road to see if they would be willing to perform some work on their properties to help lower the level of the water in the wetlands and to prevent, or at least reduce, some of the road flooding.
The recording of the full discussion section can be heard here
Audio recordings from the January 23rd meeting of the Board of Trustees are available on the Village website. To access the full menu of recordings, click here .
During the Finance report, Village Treasurer Peggy Hirsch reported that for 2016 the village collected more than budgeted, and also spent less than budgeted. The preliminary unaudited savings is roughly $175,000. In 2016, budgeted expenditures were about $7.877 million, with $7.7 million having actually been spent. 2017’s budget is $7.579 million, with the tax levy set at $5.314 million, reduced from the 2016 levy of $6.191 million. President McLaughlin remarked on these positive accomplishments by the Board, and noted if school districts, townships and library districts would follow suit in better fiscal management as the village has, all areas of our property tax bills would go down. That section of the recording can be heard here .
The Treasurer also reported on the Police Pension Board (PPB) and remarked that the Pension Board has finally put out a Request For Proposal (RFP) for investment services, after years of their investments managed by the current firm lagging significantly behind the established benchmarks. Six RFPs have been received and the PPB will be reviewing the firms.
Trustee Colleen Konicek Hannigan reported that the $25,000 fine for violation of the Home Occupation Ordinance at a residence of Saville Row has been paid to the Village, which is the largest fine that has been collected by Barrington Hills for such a violation.
Kenneth Garrett from B & F Code Services, who works for our Building Department, presented a summary of the status of the Village’s current building codes and standards for construction. Mr. Garrett explained how many of Barrington Hills’ codes are very outdated, with some dating back to 1979, and are woefully inaccurate and outdated, and not in compliance with contemporary state and local standards. His firm has proposed a full review of current code and adoption of a new updated building code which B&F will present at a future date. The board voted unanimously to approve B&F’s proposal.
An update on the status of the village’s opposition to Longmeadow Parkway (LMP) was presented during the Roads & Bridges report. On January 18th, President McLaughlin, Village Administrator Bob Kosin, Engineer Dan Strahan and Village Attorney Mary Dickson all met with members of the Kane County Department of Transportation (KDOT), including engineers and planners, and a representative of the Kane County State’s Attorneys’ office. During that meeting, the Village reiterated that Autumn Trail, as a private road, is not and has never been a village road, and that Barrington Hills takes exception to Kane County’s Declaration of Municipal Extension of Village Owned Road. Kane’s declaration would attempt to take over ownership of Autumn Trail from what they assert is village ownership so that KDOT may proceed with tree cutting and construction on Autumn Trail for the LMP project. McLaughlin explained that KDOT has again been informed that Barrington Hills does not accept Kane’s characterization of the way Autumn Trail’s original plat of survey was designated by the developer. It was repeated to KDOT that the Village has never maintained Autumn Trail in any way and plat designation was never accepted by the village.
According to Engineer Strahan, KDOT is still planning on letting for bids in March, but cannot proceed without the IDOT required certified right of way on Autumn Trail. Bob Kosin was directed to write a letter to the IDOT official in charge of certification to make it clear that KDOT’s declaration is not recognized by Barrington Hills.
McLaughlin, Kosin and Trustee Konicek also attended the McHenry County Council of Governments (McCOG) meeting on January 18th, and once again voted against McCOG’s proposed transportation agenda, casting a negative vote with regard to LMP and rejecting the “widening” of Route 62/Algonquin Road.
After seven minutes of discussion, Trustee Fritz Gohl piped up, saying “I’m sure this is a stupid question, but I don’t care” (which pretty much summarizes Gohl’s long tenure on the Board of Trustees). Gohl asked, “is it too late to change the designation of Autumn Trail (to a village road)?” After explanation again by the village engineer, it was painfully obvious that Gohl had no understanding (as had just been described at length) that a change in the municipal designation would essentially green-light KDOT to take over right-of-way on Autumn Trail, and could also likely set a precedent for village responsibility of all private roads, thereby making taxpayers liable for future maintenance and repaving. Gohl’s brilliant thoughts can be heard here .
Next the Board turned its attention to a Resolution to Accept a Plat of Easement for Road Purposes for the Barrington Hills Farm (BHF) parcel located at the corner of Church and Chapel Roads. Trustee Michelle Maison summed up the confusion of the board about the return of this issue when she stated, “What is this?” The Village had previously voted to accept a plat of dedication, prepared by BHF, for the southeastern portion of Church Road where two driveway entrances for their proposed HARPS facility will be located. After acceptance of the dedication by the village (Resolution 16-24) in September 2016 and approval of a second driveway cut in, the property owner changed his mind and decided that he didn’t want to dedicate of the right of way to the village after all and wanted to do an easement instead.
President McLaughlin shared his frustration about the 180 degree switch in BHF’s position, asking “How many times can we say yes?” Trustee Konicek agreed and also expressed her displeasure with the attitude of the property owner who has sent multiple accusatory letters insinuating that the Village was somehow trying stall the HARPS facility. Trustee Maison asked for further clarification of the reason for the easement, the purpose of which seem to be trying to limit what the village could possibly do to the roadway in the future. Maison asked if this meant that any village property owner who currently provides the village with a prescriptive easement could demand a plat of easement with attached conditions.
Konicek also expressed deep concern about giving preferential property rights to the owner of an unincorporated non-residential property whose driveway happens to be on a village-maintained road over the rights of actual village residents. The proposed easement attempts to dictate what the roadway speed limit could be on that section of road, what the roadway weight limits could be, and to require special advance notifications if equipment would be needed on the side of the road for emergency repairs. She was also concerned about giving special treatment to a non-taxpaying entity. Maison was troubled about setting a precedent for other property owners coming forward and making similar demands, and suggested that the board not even vote on the easement.
McLaughlin characterized the entire situation as a unnecessary political show which has now become expensive to the village. McLaughlin suggested constructing a document which would grant the property owner a second driveway cut, but would not include binding terms upon the village. The Village Engineer explained that he had originally recommended the easement due to the overall construction project being well beyond the scope of just a single family residence. Strahan also explained that BHF does not currently even have a building permit from McHenry County, and the Village’s approval of the second driveway is only one of six issues that BHF still has to resolve before the County could issue them a permit to proceed.
At that point in the meeting, the Board voted 4-3 to table a vote on the easement, with Croll, Gohl and Harrington voting no. Trustee Harrington asked if there would be a risk to the village if the easement were not accepted, and if the property owner could revoke the prescriptive easement that currently exists. Attorney Dickson explained that there would be no risk and, logically, no property owner would want to revoke a prescriptive easement because the owner would then have to assume all responsibility for maintenance of that section of road.
Harrington then stated that the current property owners have a plan for the land which is dramatically better than proposed Duda development, and he gets the sense that the owners do not have a very trusting relationship with the village, and that the village should have a more welcoming attitude towards them and should be more encouraging to have them come back into the village.
Konicek again expressed her offense to the repeated accusatory correspondence that the BHF property owner has sent to the village which has incorrectly insinuated that the village is intentionally stalling the HARPS facility. She also asked Harrington if he does have knowledge of plans for the 600 acre property beyond the 21 acre HARPS facility then he should share it with the rest of the Board. Harrington was conspicuously mute. President McLaughlin went on to describe several meetings that he and the village staff have had with the property owner regarding possible re-annexation, but no petition to annex has been received since their last conversation in October.
Trustee Brian Croll stated that some elements of the proposed dedication are acceptable to him, and some are not particularly those elements that are left to the discretion and approval of the property owner. He felt that those items should be removed from any new agreement.
Attorney Dickson stated that at a future meeting, the board needs to repeal the September 2016 resolution for the dedication of the plat that the property owner had subsequently revoked.
The lengthy discussion ended with a request for Dickson to construct a new dedication of easement with input from the trustees for terms that would be more amenable to the village, and then return discussion of the easement to the Roads & Bridges Committee.
The Barrington Hills Farm easement discussion begins here. (Note: The BHF easement document was not linked in the meeting’s posted e-Packet and apparently was not made available to the Board until shortly before the meeting.)
Lastly, in the Administrative portion of the meeting, McLaughlin refuted an Algonquin Township candidate’s website which erroneously advertised an endorsement by him. McLaughlin stated that neither he nor the village is not an endorser of any specific candidate in any township race, whether in Algonquin, Cuba or Dundee Townships. He went on to say that the village absolutely supports the services we have received from those entities, but it is unfair to be listed as an endorser of a specific candidate. He urges residents to do their own homework and research, and then chose the person who would best represent them, from both an economic and a service perspective. Those comments can be heard here .
Audio recordings from the January 9th Special Meeting of the Roads & Bridges Committee have been posted to the Village website. To access the main menu of recordings edited by agenda topic, click here.
Representatives from Enbridge and their contractors attended the meeting and answered questions involving an upcoming petroleum pipeline maintenance project in Fox River Grove, which will begin the week of January 16th. The project will take place along Algonquin River Road (between Church and Braeburn Roads) on the northern border of the village. Expected to last several months, construction will impact local traffic and motorists will likely encounter prolonged lane closures on River Road during the height of the work.
Directly impacted residents should receive notification about the project from Enbridge, and the Village also expects to send out community alerts as needed. Click here to listen to the Enbridge discussion.
The committee was also updated on the Longmeadow Parkway (LMP). Kane County has started tree removal in conjunction with the project, with the Barrington Hills portion included in the early phases. However, the Village had notified Kane County that Autumn Trail is a private road, and not a village road and had suggested that Kane’s Resolution to assume maintenance responsibility of the portion of Autumn Trail affected by LMP be revised to clarify this. Review of the approved resolution showed that no changes had been made by Kane County to reflect the inaccuracy.
The last agenda item was an unnecessarily protracted discussion of the terms for the dedication of an easement to the Village for landscape, drainage and/or utilities on the western edge of the proposed HARPS facility located at the corner of Church and Chapel Roads in unincorporated McHenry County. Nearly 45 minutes of the meeting was devoted to the topic, with several tedious questions by Trustee Gohl. He questioned why the Village would have to grant the landowner any permitted easement at all. He was informed by the village engineer that this same access permit process would be required of any property owner wishing to create a roadway entry point for anything more than a typical single family residential use (e.g. a new subdivision or an accessory driveway), due to the increased impact to the road, the multiple access points, wider required access points, etc.
And once again, the father of the former village president, who is also a representative of Barrington Hills Farm, once again attempted to insinuate that the village was intentionally dragging its feet in approving the easement, thus delaying the start of construction of the entire project. However, he did admit that it was the trust’s own decision not to proceed with the other aspects of the project.
The Board of Trustees is expected to approve the agreement at their next meeting on Monday January 23rd. The full discussion of the easement matter can be found here.
The Board of Trustees will be holding a special meeting tomorrow evening beginning at 6:30 at Countryside Elementary School. The topics to be considered and voted upon are two amendments to the recently enacted commercial horse boarding codes as follows:
James J. Drury Text Amendment
Zoning Board of Appeals Text Amendment
The Zoning Board of Appeals has held a total of eight meetings on these matters since June, including lengthy public hearings. This board voted to not recommend the Drury Amendment, however they did vote to recommend the second text amendment which would essentially repeal the LeCompte/Anderson II commercial horse boarding codes passed last year.
We recommend all interested residents attend tomorrow night’s meeting. A copy of the agenda can be viewed here.
Audio recordings from a special Zoning Board of Appeals public hearing on November 9th are available for review on the Village website. The link to the menu of audio recordings edited by agenda topic can be accessed by clicking here.
The purpose of the meeting was to hear testimony from residents regarding a proposed change to zoning codes returning commercial horse boarding to the Home Occupation Ordinance temporarily to provide the Zoning Board members time to craft more appropriate codes than those in the 2015 Anderson II codes.
Residents spent about two hours providing testimony with varying opinions, both for and against, regarding reverting to the Home Occupation Ordinance.
The developer of Barrington Hills Farm in unincorporated McHenry County read a prepared statement, after which he was once again asked to document the “clique of area residents associated with high density commercial housing development,” he referred to in a letter to all Village residents last July (seen here).
Once again, this witness refused to provide that documentation as can be heard here, but listening closely to his initial response to the question, one can hear, ”There’s no documents.”
The balance of the testimony provided little new evidence the board hadn’t already heard since they began this process back in June. The link to the beginning of the remarks can be accessed here.
The board spent about 45-minutes discussing the testimony they’d heard and expressing their own opinions regarding the Anderson II code and what should be done with it. This was in addition to the nearly three hour meeting they’d held on October 17th covering this same topic.
One member referred to it as a “loaded gun sitting on a chair” on more than one occasion. Others phrased their concerns over the Anderson II language differently, but ultimately the board voted 6-1 to recommend the Board of Trustees repeal Anderson II and reinstate Home Occupation Ordinance codes to manage horse boarding operations.
The recording of the discussion and vote can be accessed here.
Firefly, An American Paint Horse, who is affectionately known as “Phoofie” found herself in a precarious situation. “I noticed she was down which is not normal for horses to do,” said resident Sarah Quinn. She called her son-in-law to help raise Firefly and they quickly discovered they needed additional assistance.
While researching future content for the Observer, we stumbled across some interesting correspondence regarding Barrington Hills Farm (BHFW LLC) and our village’s former engineering firm, Gewalt Hamilton. What we found is shocking, but it certainly makes the Village’s decision last year to change engineering companies very wise indeed.
President Martin McLaughlin and Trustee Colleen Konicek Hannigan were re-elected for their second terms in April 2017. We applaud their excellent service to our village and appreciate the personal sacrifices that they have made to keep Barrington Hills the special place that it is . 
Two candidates from the “Your Barrington Hills” slate narrowly won election to the Board of Trustees. Paula Jacobsen and Robert Zubak ran on a platform of unfounded and disproven complaints about village governance, and promised to do more to: 1) protect open spaces and property rights, 2)produce better results for our tax dollars, 3) restore public safety and security which they alleged had been sacrificed, and 4) improve transparency and information distribution. More than eight months have passed since the duo were sworn into office, and nary a mention has been made of any of these so-called initiatives. And, not surprisingly, neither trustee has presented their new ideas for those better results for our tax dollars. This confirms our belief that their sole reason for running for office was to attempt to change the current commercial horse boarding protections.
Jacobsen and Zubak also made campaign promises to vigorously challenge the Plum Farm land development in Hoffman Estates, falsely accusing McLaughlin and Konicek of doing nothing to oppose the project. Yet Jacobsen and Zubak have not even aired the Plum Farm issue during a board meeting.
Speaking of Barrington Hills Farm, whatever happened to the HARPS facility they had planned near the intersection of Church and Chapel Roads, immediately adjacent to Barrington Hills homes on Alderberry Lane? It’s been over two years since representatives of the L.L.C. presented plans to both the village and McHenry County, and after all the hullabaloo they created over necessary curb cuts for the proposed driveway entrances and the nonsense over granting easements and rights-of-way, the corner remains undeveloped. There is no new information about the facility on the HARPS website either. Strange, isn’t it?
Audio recordings from the July 24th, 2017 meeting of the Board of Trustees have been posted. To access the menu of recordings edited by agenda item, click 
Lastly, Chapel Road is scheduled to be resurfaced on this year’s road program. A review of the history of water flooding over the road from the two wetlands located on either side of Chapel took place. Given the uncertainty of the construction schedule for the proposed HARPS facility, Chairman Brian Cecola suggested that perhaps work on Chapel Road should be delayed until the HARPS construction has concluded, in order to prevent damage from semis and other overweight construction related vehicles. Cecola directed that the engineers should suggest an alternate road for inclusion in this year’s program, should Chapel be deferred for another year. Fritz Gohl suggested speaking to the landowners to both the north and south of the road to see if they would be willing to perform some work on their properties to help lower the level of the water in the wetlands and to prevent, or at least reduce, some of the road flooding.
