Drivers of campers, boats on trailers, motor homes and other recreational vehicles now face stricter rules if they want to park in South Barrington.
Restrictions approved this week by the village board include limits on where people can park such vehicles, how long RVs can be parked and how many times per year they can be parked at a given address.
Complaints from residents prompted officials to develop the rules, Mayor Paula McCombie said. The changes have been in the works at least two years.
Among the rules:
Recreational vehicles can only be parked in residential neighborhoods.
Parking RVs on residential driveways is forbidden without first requesting permission from local police in writing or by phone.
Permission can be revoked if police discover an RV is in disrepair or a danger to people or other vehicles, among other reasons.
Recreational vehicles cannot be parked in driveways for more than one day at a time, and only so that the vehicles can be loaded, unloaded, cleaned or maintained; the limit previously had been 48 hours.
Only one RV can be parked at any residence at once, unless one RV is towing another.
People can only have RVs parked in their driveways for 14 days each year.
For that last rule, any part of a day counts as a whole day, Village Administrator Robert Palmer said. Previously, RV parking was limited to two weeks per year on dates that are at least six months apart.
Violators can be fined up to $500 for each day rules are broken.
The South Barrington Park District again is seeking voters’ permission to sell 34 acres off Bartlett Road and Route 59. Voters approved the sale in 2020, but the district was unable to close on a deal within a one-year window.
It’s not déjà vu — South Barrington Park District officials again are asking voters to approve selling 34 acres off Bartlett Road and Route 59.
It’s the fourth time the district has brought the proposal to voters. It was rejected in 2018 and 2019, and then approved in 2020 — but officials couldn’t finalize a deal with either of two interested developers before a one-year window expired, Park District Executive Director Jay Morgan said.
Still hoping to unload the property, park district leaders have put the question on the April 4 ballot.
“We are once again required to go to referendum to ask for approval to sell the property,” Morgan said.
If approved by voters, the district will hold an auction to sell the property, he added.
The park district bought the land, once home to a tree nursery, about 20 years ago as part of a lawsuit settlement. But because of its topography and other factors, officials determined the land isn’t ideal for recreational activities and would be too costly to develop.
Given how crime has dominated the news, including the race for Chicago mayor, you might feel like celebrating the rise of automated license plate readers, an increasingly popular security tool that can help deter wrongdoing and track down criminals.
These compact devices use high-resolution cameras to record vehicles, including those traveling near crime scenes. The state has rolled out the cameras along its busiest highways, with our support, in part to identify suspects in hard-to-solve expressway shootings. There are far more of these cameras in Chicago than many people realize and they can snag fleeing wrongdoers several miles away from where they committed their crimes.
An increasing number of suburbs (including Barrington, Barrington Hills and South Barrington), are installing vehicle-scanning equipment as well. One of the leading providers, surveillance company
Given how crime has dominated the news, including the race for Chicago mayor, you might feel like celebrating the rise of automated license plate readers, an increasingly popular security tool that can help deter wrongdoing and track down criminals.
These compact devices use high-resolution cameras to record vehicles, including those traveling near crime scenes. The state has rolled out the cameras along its busiest highways, with our support, in part to identify suspects in hard-to-solve expressway shootings. There are far more of these cameras in Chicago than many people realize and they can snag fleeing wrongdoers several miles away from where they committed their crimes.
An increasing number of suburbs (including Barrington, Barrington Hills and South Barrington), are installing vehicle-scanning equipment as well. One of the leading providers, surveillance company Flock Safety, says its customers include neighborhoods, businesses and law enforcement in 2,000-plus cities — and counting.
License plate readers evidently work as advertised. Last year, when Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill expanding their use on state highways beyond the Chicago area, Director Brendan Kelly of the Illinois State Police gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up: “Automated license plate readers play a growing, critical role in ISP investigations and arrests in the Chicagoland area,” Kelly said. “ISP now routinely uses this technology to track down expressway shootings and carjacking suspects, so the expansion of this technology across Illinois expands our ability to protect our interstates and bring violent criminals to justice.”
We are 100% in favor of bringing violent criminals to justice, and, as everyone knows, many crimes involve the use of vehicles. It’s easy to imagine how collecting images and data from license plates could provide unbiased, objective evidence in a way that hasn’t been possible up to now. These gadgets can help rescue kidnapped children, recover stolen cars and bust the gangs stealing catalytic converters, a costly auto part in high demand from scrap dealers.
But it’s also easy to see how the devices could be abused.
“We’re creating a quality product here in the Barrington 220 school district. Interest rates are still historically low. We’d rather be delivering our product sooner than waiting for the market to come to us.” – Ken Gold, Inspired by Somerset Development
The “metroburb” experiment in Hoffman Estates is moving forward.
It’s a grand vision of suburban living that’s supposed to inject it with a dash of urban variety and conviviality. The “metroburb” term is employed by a company, Inspired by Somerset Development, to describe its efforts to turn a sprawling former AT&T research center into something useful again.
Prominent Chicago architect Dirk Lohan designed the place, which opened in 1990 as the Ameritech Center and became part of AT&T. About 5,000 people used to work there. AT&T eventually decided it didn’t need a former corporate vision of paradise that lolled across 150 acres. It left it behind in 2016.
By 2019, the firm now called Inspired acquired the site at 2000 Center Drive, just off the Jane Addams Tollway, and rechristened it Bell Works Chicagoland in honor of its telephone past. It is reworking the main building, a massive 1.6 million square feet, to accommodate offices, dining and entertainment and has signed about 200,000 square feet of leases, said Jack Aber, Inspired’s chief operating officer. Tenants include waste management firm Heritage-Crystal Clean, Platinum Home Mortgage, apparel company Club Colors and a Fairgrounds coffee and tea café that plans to expand.
The goal is to create something busy but comfortable. “It’s a metropolis in suburbia,” said Aber, who used to specialize in downtown Chicago office leasing. “People come here, they get a little bit of Fulton Market, they get a little of Wacker Drive. It’s just closer to home and with green space,” he said.
Barrington Hills President Brian Cecola (far left in wrinkled blue jeans) blamed residents for, “about 90% of car thefts in the Village,” due to their own negligence Wednesday.
Barrington-area leaders are emphasizing public safety, including through the adoption of technology to combat crime.
A recent spike in crime was among the topics discussed Wednesday when officials from nine communities gathered for the Barrington Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual economic summit, the “State of the Greater Barrington Area.”
In the wake of last month’s thefts of several vehicles at Motor Werks of Barrington, and ensuing crashes that injured five, Barrington Village Manager Scott Anderson said police are having ongoing conversations with dealerships on crime prevention.
The village also plans to install license plate reading cameras at 12 locations in town, and the police department is part of an auto theft task force.
South Barrington was among the first communities in the Chicago region to install license plate reading cameras, Village President Paula McCombie said.
“We have 52 license reader cameras that we have had there for several years now. And that has really helped us to chase these guys out of town,” she said.
Barrington Hills Village President Brian Cecola noted that about 90% of the car thefts in the village are because residents are leaving their key fobs in the cars. He encouraged residents to call 911 if they see anything suspicious.
“I know a lot of residents are hesitant, but they (officers) don’t mind the calls,” Cecola said.
Editorial note: The, “Bell Works Townhomes,” will be located at 1705 Lakewood Boulevard according to last night’s Hoffman Estates Village Board meeting agenda. Assuming the District 220 Boundary Map is current, these proposed developments are within the 220 boundary (Barbara Rose Elementary).
Hoffman Estates officials have granted approval to the construction of 164 high-end townhouse units on the east side of Bell Works Chicagoland. New Jersey-based Somerset Development is also planning 300 apartments on the same 20-acre site. (Courtesy of Hoffman Estates)
Nearly five years after the redevelopment of Hoffman Estates’ former AT&T corporate campus into the Bell Works Chicagoland “metroburb” was proposed, village board members on Monday approved 164 high-end townhouses to begin the project’s long-promised residential component.
The board also granted preliminary approval to a concept plan for about 300 apartments to follow on the same nearly 20-acre site on the east side of the 152-acre property.
The approved townhouses are planned to be priced in the mid-$400,000s, each with three bedrooms and an option for a fourth. Each unit would have three floors, with a two-car garage on the ground floor and the living areas above.
Though the project was long anticipated, there was discussion about the lack of some usual details that troubled the planning and zoning commission before it gave its recommendation.
Commission Chairman Eva Combs said she was the only member who manifested her frustration as a “no” vote, but others among her colleagues voiced similar sentiments.
As a result, the lack of such details as a homeowners association charter led to the commission’s recommending an unusual number of conditions.
Crash with entrapment at Barrington Road and Algonquin Road in South Barrington after suspects fled with multiple stolen autos from Motor Werks of Barrington.
Police from Barrington and Barrington Hills responded about 8:00 a.m. Sunday, January 22, 2023 to a report of a theft of multiple vehicles in progress at Motor Werks of Barrington, 1475 South Barrington Road in Barrington near the intersection of Dundee Road and Barrington Road.
Upon arrival, a suspect fleeing the scene in a stolen vehicle rammed a Barrington Police Department patrol vehicle, disabling both vehicles. Several other vehicles were also stolen from Motor Werks of Barrington, and the offenders stealing the vehicles fled at a high rate of speed.
According to the Barrington Police Department, police from Barrington and several other police agencies responded to the incident. According to Barrington Police Department, several suspects were taken into custody.
Crash scenes with personal injuries were reported at three locations: Dundee Road and Barrington Road, Algonquin Road and Barrington Road, and Dundee Road and Ela Road. Several of the vehicles were severely damaged, and a lot of debris from crashed vehicles was in the roadways after the crashes occurred. At one of the crash scenes, a vehicle hit a utility pole with power lines, but none of the power lines appeared damage, and the pole did not appear to damaged either. However, fire command requested ComEd responded to the scene to inspect the utility pole and power lines.
Barrington Hills homeowners in Cook County saw the highest median property tax increases in 2022 thanks to (wait for it)…
About a quarter of homeowners in North and Northwest suburban Cook County saw their property taxes decrease in 2022, while only 7.8% of commercial properties experienced declines.
An analysis by Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas’ office shows commercial properties bore the heavier burden of the nearly $94 million increase in property taxes in the North and Northwest suburbs this year.
Four Northwest suburbs saw their median residential tax grow by more than $200 this year:
Barrington Hills, where the median increased by $259 to $15,251.
South Barrington, where the median rose by $233 to $15,631.
Prospect Heights, where the median grew by $228 to $4,853.
Barrington, where the median rose $207 to $8,246.
Barrington Unit School District 220, which overlaps three of those municipalities, voted to increase its total tax levy by $5.4 million for the current academic year.
The festive caroling is the first of several events slated for Barrington. On Saturday, Dec. 3, Santa will arrive downtown for the annual Holiday Festival and Tree Lighting, and Barrington’s White House, 145 W. Main St., will host holiday activities from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The lighting of the holiday tree will be at 5 p.m., followed by visits with Santa from 5:15 to 6:30 p.m. The festivities will take place on Park Avenue at Cook Street.
Other holiday events include: Visits with Santa from 9:30 a.m. to noon Saturdays at The Arboretum of South Barrington; visits and photos with Santa and Mrs. Claus from 1-3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10, at Deer Park Town Center; and horse-drawn carriage rides, merchant open houses, caroling and visits with Santa through Dec. 18 in historic downtown Long Grove.
Black Friday shopping at Woodfield Mall Friday November 26, 2021 in Schaumburg. (Brian Hill | Staff Photographer)
At local chambers of commerce around the suburbs, the quest has begun: To convince people to shop with their feet instead of their thumbs, in quaint storefronts instead of in big boxes.
In other words, how do they convince residents to buy local instead of ordering off Amazon.com or heading to a giant retailer like Target or Walmart?
How do they convince suburbanites to keep their money in their community instead of sending it off to some distant corporate headquarters?
“After COVID especially I think everyone realized how important local really is,” said Allison Orr, executive director of the Downtown Wheaton Association. “And everyone looks for things to do and ways to support their own community. And I think Wheaton has been exceptional at that. Our community has been so supportive of entrepreneurs and local business, and I think if you look at the composition of downtown Wheaton, you’ll see that.”
You’ll see it in Barrington too, where local merchants create the kind of hometown atmosphere that entices people to move to suburbs like Barrington, Wheaton, Glenview, Naperville and St. Charles.
“Absolutely, shopping local supports the small businesses, and you need shops that create character in your community,” said Suzanne Corr, Barrington Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO.
“They’re adding local jobs to your community. They’re also adding the gathering spaces that bring families together and enhance the quality of life in your community. Small businesses are owned and operated by local families who live, work and invest here. They’re involved here, they raise their kids here, they pay their taxes here supporting infrastructure and schools in your community.”
