Posted in Accidents, Algonquin Rd, Cook, County, Horizon Farm, IDOT, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, Longmeadow Parkway, Plan Commission, Public Safety, Real Estate, Roads & Bridges Committee, Taxes, Topics Of Interest, Traffic on October 2, 2023| Leave a Comment »
IDOT has posted its September 2023 newsletter. Topics covered include:
A copy of the newsletter can be viewed and downloaded here.
Posted in Accidents, Algonquin Rd, BCFPD, IDOT, Traffic, VBHPD on October 1, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Sylvia Margaret Anderson
The medical examiner has identified a Fox River Grove woman who died after she struck a semi-truck and then crashed head-on into a pickup truck in Barrington Hills Wednesday afternoon.
An autopsy performed on Sylvia M. Anderson, 74, of Fox River Grove, showed she died as a result of multiple injuries from a motor vehicle collision, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Posted in Accidents, Algonquin Rd, IDOT, Longmeadow Parkway, VBHPD on September 28, 2023| 3 Comments »
The Barrington Hills Police Department and Lake County Major Crash Assistance Team (MCAT) investigates a fatal crash involving three vehicles at Algonquin Road and Bateman Road in Barrington Hills Wednesday afternoon. | Photo: Nick Rusin
A 74-year-old woman died after she struck a semi-truck and then crashed head-on into a pickup truck, causing a large fuel leak, in Barrington Hills Wednesday afternoon.
The Barrington Hills Police Department and Barrington-Countryside Fire Protection responded around 12:11 p.m. Wednesday to Algonquin Road and Bateman Road in Barrington Hills for a multiple-vehicle crash.
Barrington Hills Police Department Press Information Officer William Walsh said a preliminary investigation shows a 2016 Lexus, driven by a 74-year-old woman, was traveling southbound on Bateman Road.
The Lexus entered the intersection and struck the side of a semi-truck tractor-trailer, which was traveling eastbound on Algonquin Road, Walsh said.
The impact with the semi-truck caused the Lexus to go into the westbound lane of Algonquin Road.
The Barrington Hills Police Department and Lake County Major Crash Assistance Team (MCAT) investigates a fatal crash involving three vehicles at Algonquin Road and Bateman Road in Barrington Hills Wednesday afternoon. | Photo: Nick Rusin
The Lexus collided head-on with a 2016 Ford F-350 pickup truck, driven by a 49-year-old Crystal Lake man, Walsh said.
The impact with the semi-truck caused the Lexus to go into the westbound lane of Algonquin Road.
The Lexus collided head-on with a 2016 Ford F-350 pickup truck, driven by a 49-year-old Crystal Lake man, Walsh said.
Read more here.
Editorial note: Since IDOT has refused to install a traffic signals at the intersection of Route 62 and Bateman Road, we believe the speed limit in the areas of Bateman and Helm Roads should at least be significantly lowered.
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, Board of Health, Cook, County, FPDCC, Going green, Horizon Farm, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Kane, Land Use, Longmeadow Parkway, Politics, Press Release, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, Road construction, South Barrington, Topics Of Interest, Transparency, Unions, Village President, Well Water Quality, Western Bypass on August 24, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Sarah Glees of West Dundee wins a $500 scholarship from the One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest for her film “The Long-Lived Effects of the Long Meadow Parkway.” Funds for the scholarship were provided by the Environmental Law and Policy Center. (Courtesy of One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest)
By Lisa Files
One Earth Film Festival
West Dundee resident Sarah Glees will be awarded an Environmental Action Award in the One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest for her film “The Long-Lived Effects of the Long Meadow Parkway.”
The award consists of a $500 scholarship from the Environmental Law and Policy Center. Glees plans to use the funds to help pay for Elmhurst University, where she is a senior.
The Long Meadow Parkway (under construction) has a four-lane Fox River bridge crossing, which is meant to alleviate traffic in Kane County, Illinois.
Glees begins her 7-minute film “The Long-Lived Effects of the Long Meadow Parkway” with an interview with Parkway opponent Sue Harney, a Dundee Township Trustee and former Dundee Township Supervisor from 2000-17.
Harney explains that trucking companies wanted the Parkway to serve logistics hubs where items are stored or manufactured and then trucked out. Her main concern is contamination of the Fox River from heavy metals such as arsenic and chromium released from tires, hydraulic fluid, gas leaks, and the fine particulate matter from exhaust.
“It’s so long-lived and so very fine that when it gets into the water and the river, the fish have the same problem we do,” Harney said “It gets into their bodies and their gills. It’s like a slow poison.”
Glees suggests possible solutions such as electric trucks, which have no emissions, and permeable pavement, which reduces runoff and the cost of water treatment. She writes in her contest submission: “It means so much to share this story and hopefully evoke change.”
Since its inception in 2013, the One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest has grown from a local, Oak Park, Illinois, project to a highly competitive international competition garnering 403 submissions.
Countries such as Brazil, Australia and Mexico and states such as California, Georgia and Indiana will be represented among this year’s winners at the Global Awards Celebration at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 17, in person at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St., in Chicago, or online virtually anywhere in the world.
“The Long-Lived Effects of the Long Meadow Parkway” will premiere at this special event. Free tickets are available at tinyurl.com/yfc23awards.
“The secret ingredient to our success is youth. They have opinions, ideas and viewpoints about the climate emergency,” said contest Founding Director Sue Crothers. “It’s hard for people to deny what’s happening when they’re living through extreme floods, fires, and tornadoes. And the younger generations have something to say about the mess our generation has made.”
The Young Filmmakers Contest asks students from age 8 to 25 to create a 3- to 8-minute environmental film that inspires change or action. Animated or stop-motion films can be a minimum of 45 seconds long.
The deadline each year is June 25, which gives individuals and school groups the entire academic year to submit their film projects.
The call for entries for 2024 will open soon on Film Freeway at filmfreeway.com/OneEarthYoungFilmmakersContest.
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 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, County, FUBAR, Horizon Farm, Kane, Longmeadow Parkway, Politics, Traffic on June 2, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Thanks to $12.5 million in funding secured by local state legislators, people using the Longmeadow Parkway bridge over the Fox River will not need to pay a toll when it opens next year.
“I made a promise to the people of my district that this brid
Thanks to $17.5 million in funding secured by local state legislators, people using the Longmeadow Parkway bridge over the Fox River will not need to pay a toll when it opens next year. (Gloria Casas / The Courier-News)
e would not become a toll bridge,” said state Rep. Suzanne Ness, D-Crystal Lake, whose District 66 includes parts of Algonquin, Carpentersville and Elgin.
“We’ve needed another way of passage across the Fox River, and it would be wrong to ask working families to pay more than they already do just to go to work, get groceries or take kids to a sports field,” she said.
The $100 million Longmeadow Parkway Corridor is a 5.6-mile roadway that runs through portions of unincorporated Kane County, Algonquin, Carpentersville and Barrington Hills. Funded with a mix of federal, state and local money, it is designed to relieve traffic congestion in northern Kane County.
The Kane County Board authorized the sale of bonds to cover its share of the bridge expense and planned to collect tolls from bridge users in order to repay the debt. The toll cost was expected to be about $1.75 to $1.95.
The additional funding needed for the bridge was included in the state’s newly passed 2023-24 budget. In addition to Ness, state Reps. Anna Moeller, D-Elgin, and Don DeWitte, R-St. Charles, advocated for it in the last legislative session.
More 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”
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