Unite Barrington Hills candidates, Village President Martin McLaughlin and Colleen Konicek-Hannigan, introduced their campaign website last week. The link to their site can be accessed here.
Archive for the ‘2017 Elections’ Category
“Your Barrington Hills” slate unveils website
Posted in 2017 Elections, Commercial Horse Boarding, Land Use, OP/Ed, Politics, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Save 5 Acres, SOS Party, Taxes, Topics Of Interest, Uncategorized on March 6, 2017| 14 Comments »
The “Your Barrington Hills” (YBH) Riding Club slate of candidates — Louis Iacovelli, Paula Jacobsen and Robert Zubak — recently rolled out their campaign website. Surprisingly, the site is a departure from the designs we’ve seen from the likes of the “Save 5 Acres” and “Save Open Space” slates — both visually and content-wise.
Their site design is rather bare bones, lacking pretty photography, and open space and equestrian themes that we’ve come to expect. Although, they do utilize a nifty leaf logo. 
And the website features very brief biographical sketches of the three candidates, while strangely and completely omitting the equestrian ties of Jacobsen and Zubak. Both are very active members of the Riding Club of Barrington Hills, and both of their spouses currently serve as Directors of the organization, along with Iacovelli who is also a club Director (and at least lists himself as an RCBH member).
Also interesting is the list of “issues” that the “team” vows to focus upon.
- Property rights
- Fiscal responsibility
- Public safety
- Transparency
If memory serves, these are nearly the identical issues that incumbent Village President Martin McLaughlin and Trustee Colleen Konicek ran on four years ago. And they are the areas in which Marty and Colleen have successfully achieved nearly every one of those 2013 campaign goals. The YBH team fails to elaborate on specific problems with the way the village is currently being run, although they do refer to protecting the village’s “character and value” and there is mention of “harmful development” nearby. So we might assume that the “phantom developer” might rear its head again in this election cycle.
We’ll be keeping an eye out for any new website content that may arise in the weeks before the April 4th election and we will keep our readers informed.
Another trustee candidate files with State Board of Elections
Posted in 2017 Elections, Uncategorized, Village Board on February 8, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Another candidate for trustee in the upcoming April 4th village election has filed his organizational paperwork with the Illinois State Board of Elections. The campaign committee for Ralph Sesso, called “Building on the Legacy of Barrington Hills”, submitted the required D-1 Statement of Organization on Tuesday. The form can be seen here .
Riding Club Candidates file with elections board
Posted in 2017 Elections, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, SOS Party, Uncategorized, Unite Barrington Hills, Village Board, Village President, Your Barrington Hills on January 28, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Election season in Barrington Hills is gearing up as three of the four Riding Club affiliated candidates have filed organizational paperwork with the Illinois State Board of Elections. Newcomer Louis Iacovelli (challenging incumbent Village President Martin McLaughlin) and trustee candidates Robert Zubak and Paula Jacobsen have formed a new political committee, called “Your Barrington Hills”, according to recently filed documents, as can be seen here.
Iacovelli will serve as committee chairman and Zubak will act as treasurer. So far, no campaign contributions have been reported.
It seems as though the other Riding Club candidate, former trustee Elaine Ramesh has not yet formed her own separate political committee. Her previous campaign committee was closed in 2009.
Martin McLaughlin and incumbent Trustee Colleen Konicek Hannigan appear to be running again under their successful “Unite Barrington Hills” moniker, and according to their recently filed D-2 quarterly report, their committee currently has about $2500 in the bank.
Incidentally, the 2015 political committee for the defeated Save Open Space (team of Patty Meroni, Karen Selman and Mary Naumann still has around $12,000 on its books. Readers can only guess which candidates that money will go to support. View the SOS report here.
We’ll keep readers updated on all the candidate developments between now and the April 4th, 2017 election.
Barrington Hills park board race uncontested
Posted in 2017 Elections, Barrington Hills Park District, FPDCC, FRVPC, Uncategorized on January 3, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Incumbent Maurine Crump and newcomer Jessica Underwood were the only candidates to file to run in the April 5 election for two open seats on the Barrington Hills Park District board.
Unless there is a write-in candidate, both will win election and serve 4-year terms.
To read the full story in the Daily Herald, click here.
2016 Year in Review
Posted in 2017 Elections, Agendas, Barrington Hills Farm, Commercial Horse Boarding, Conflict of interest, Cuba Rd Bridge, ePacket agendas, Horse Boarding, LeCompte/Anderson Commercial Horse boarding amendment, OP/Ed, Special Use Permits, Topics Of Interest, Uncategorized, Village Board, Village Code, Village Government, Zoning Board on January 1, 2017| Leave a Comment »
The Observer takes a look back at another year gone by, as we present the most frequently read news stories and editorials for 2016. Click on any title to read and revisit stories from this past year.
August 30th Zoning Board public hearing recordings published
Our most read and most commented upon story of 2016, this article summarized the August 30th Zoning Board meeting which concluded the public hearings on the latest text amendment proposal for commercial horse boarding codes.
WARNING: Beware of phantom developers!
This story discussed a fear-mongering letter that was mailed to residents throughout the village, containing unsubstantiated claims of Barrington Hills once again being imperiled by greedy developers.
In October, the Observer reviewed the myriad of flaws in the Anderson II commercial boarding ordinance and explained the importance of reinstating boarding under the Home Occupation Ordinance.
Despite the misinformation repeated at many recent meetings, archived Village Board minutes from 1960 show that village leaders then did not approve of commercial equestrian activities on residential properties, having shut down a riding school for being in violation of village code. This feature also drew the second most comments of any story for 2016.
June Village Board Meeting Recordings Released
Our review of the Board of Trustees June meeting covered several topics, but focused primarily on the ongoing delays with the reconstruction of the Cuba Road Bridge (now known as Veteran’s Crossing Bridge). The article highlighted the lack of proper oversight of the project by Gewalt Hamilton, as well as some confusing explanations of the situation by Village Administrator Bob Kosin.
As the Zoning Board of Appeals was about to begin a review of the commercial horse boarding code, the Observer dispelled a long list of oft-repeated fallacies, fictions and lies concerning equestrian activities and horse boarding in this column from July.
Candidates file for April 2017 Village Elections
The title speaks for itself in this most recent top story, highlighting the high level of resident interest in our village government.
Park District to begin charging user fees for Riding Center
The July announcement by the Park District of its intention to set up a fee structure for resident and n0n-resident users of the Riding Center drew a large audience.
Documents added to ZBA horse boarding code hearing package
In the days leading up to the August 30th ZBA meeting, readers were eager to review the 291 pages of documentation that had been submitted to the Zoning Board in the form of court documents, resident and Village official emails, affidavits, Village engineering and Illinois Environmental Protection Agency reports and form letters.
November Village Board meeting recordings available
Posted in 2017 Elections, Audio Recordings, Barrington Hills Farm, Bicyclists, Building Department, Commercial Horse Boarding, County, Deception, Ethics, Land Use, LeCompte/Anderson Commercial Horse boarding amendment, McHenry, Politics, VBHPD, Village Board, Village Code, Zoning Board on December 5, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Audio recordings from the November 17th meeting of the Board of Trustees are available on the Village website. To access the menu of recordings, click here.
The meeting began with a public hearing regarding some minor adjustments to the 2016 Annual Appropriation Ordinance related to telephone equipment leases. No one from the public spoke, and the board later approved the changes.
Three residents made remarks during public comment encouraging the board to continue their efforts in opposing the Longmeadow Parkway Project.
The preliminary budget for 2017 was discussed during the finance reports, and expenses are once again forecasted to be down for the third year in a row. The recording of that discussion can be heard here.
The Building and Zoning report revealed that a run-down home on Steeplechase Road that has been the subject of board discussions dating back for many years has finally been demolished.
With regard to other ZBA matters, it was explained that the reason the board was not taking up the November 9th recommendation of the Zoning Board of Appeals regarding boarding codes was that the transcript and “finding of facts” report provided by counsel had not been prepared yet. Since that time, a special meeting of the Village Board has been scheduled for December 7th for this purpose.
The discussion then turned to an agenda topic titled, “Unincorporated & Boundary Properties Discussion,” and the subject became clear once Trustee Konicek began to provide background on why it was included.
It seems “rumors and fear-mongering” are being spread through the community regarding a developer’s plans to build a facility for HARPS in unincorporated McHenry County adjacent to Barrington Hills. Apparently, people are being told the Village Board had taken an opposing stance towards the facility being built or that permits have been denied.
None of this is true, of course, but apparently these rumors and more stemmed from, among other communications, a recent letter sent to the Village by the developer. Konicek asked Trustee Cecola, Dan Strahan and Bob Kosin, all of whom have met with the developer, to join in the discussion to set the record straight, as can be heard here.
We’ll see about obtaining a copy of the letter, but it’s senseless how this pettiness continues to obstruct the forward momentum for our community our Village officials have strived to generate.
The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Trustees is scheduled for December 19th.
Why Anderson II must go
Posted in 2017 Elections, Animal Welfare, Barrington Hills Farm, BH Polo Club, Commercial Horse Boarding, County, FRVPC, Horizon Farm, Horse Boarding, Land Use, LeCompte/Anderson Commercial Horse boarding amendment, McHenry, OP/Ed, Politics, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Special Use Permits, Village Board, Village Code, Well Water Quality, Zoning Board on October 14, 2016| 9 Comments »
Dear Neighbors and Friends,
We hope this editorial finds you and your family in good health and enjoying the fall in Barrington Hills, because if the Anderson II horse boarding and training codes remain in effect much longer, those pleasures may become a thing of the past.
Anderson II (or as we’ve termed it, LeCompte/Anderson) established a privileged class of properties within our Village with zoning code variances available to anyone boarding horses, whether it’s one or dozens. We’ve chronicled that before in these pages (see “Our views on the latest horse boarding text amendment proposal”), but the most flagrant flaw is that now the largest structure on any Barrington Hills property can be a barn, not the primary residence, as has been the tradition for decades.
To illustrate how far just this one loophole can be taken, we found a 5.01-acre property actively on the market in the unincorporated Barrington area as an example:
Anderson II proponents will be the first to claim this would never happen, or if it did, it would be extremely rare, but sensible zoning codes are enacted to protect residents from exceptions such as this, and that is what our Zoning Board is currently considering.
Despite the many flaws in Anderson II, there are some in our community who have been lead to believe its repeal will mean the end of horse boarding entirely in Barrington Hills, or at least they claim that’s the intent of the Zoning and Village Boards. It is NOT.
If this were true, why did the current administration approve a twenty-year extension of the special use permit for polo matches, including the Kalaway Cup, at Oakwood Farm? This administration also approved construction of recently debated indoor and outdoor polo fields at the corner of Algonquin and Old Sutton Roads.
Ever since the Zoning Board began considering a petition to amend horse boarding codes earlier this summer, there has been a flurry of direct mail, blog postings and social media campaigns intended to stir up the equestrian community, and others, within and outside our community.
In addition, one seemingly well-funded resident sent a book with pretty pictures and stickers to residents for no apparent reason other than to confuse matters further. We will tackle that in a future piece, but this unsolicited gesture has most residents we know scratching their heads wondering why it was sent and for what purpose other than political.
If these campaigns have served any purpose, it’s to confuse residents. People who have backyard boarding businesses have been led to believe they will be shut down in favor of large-scale boarding operations that threaten their businesses, while large-scale boarding operators believe the opposite is true. From what we’ve witnessed, neither is true.
We understand how some horse owners can get emotionally charged whenever changes are being considered that may or may not affect them. There’s no denying, some are so passionate about their horses, it’s almost an obsession, and there’s actually a term for it – Hippomania.
At one time, or throughout one’s life, we all can become passionate about something. We will defend anyone’s right to be passionate about horses, so long as they don’t impose it on neighbors and friends, which is exactly what Anderson II enables.
We also don’t condone these people being manipulated and misled by fellow equestrians, politicians and developers, and it appears that is exactly what is occurring again in our community, much the same as when people were told polo matches would end during the last election campaign (see “Polo politicking – SOS Party style”).
Yes, the Zoning Board of Appeals is considering recommending repealing the Anderson II codes and reinstating the Home Occupation Ordinance (HOO), as the most recent mailing to the proletariat from a “Neighbor and Friend” on a hilltop stated (a copy can be viewed here).
What was purposely omitted from that communique is the board is doing this as a temporary measure to get the exposure Anderson II has created off the books, so that sound and equitable codes can be drafted to protect the interests of all residents.
Considering the integrity demonstrated by those now serving on the current Zoning Board, this seems to be the fair and proper direction to pursue, and we believe the quiet majority of residents agree.
-The Observer
Editor’s note: Anyone wishing to listen to the audio recordings of recent Zoning Board meetings can do so by accessing our archive of releases by clicking here.
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