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Archive for the ‘LeCompte/Anderson Commercial Horse boarding amendment’ Category

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 »

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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.

Why Anderson II must go

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.

There they go again

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.

Here we go again

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.

 

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Candidates file for April 2017 Village elections

Posted in 2017 Elections, Barrington Hills Farm, BH Polo Club, Commercial Horse Boarding, Conflict of interest, Ethics, FRVPC, Horse Boarding, LeCompte/Anderson Commercial Horse boarding amendment, Politics, Riding Club of Barrington Hills on December 21, 2016| 4 Comments »

Four seats on the Barrington Hills Board of Trustees are up for election in the April 4, 2017 Consolidated Elections, and the Riding Club of Barrington Hills seems to be aiming for all four now that candidates have filed with the Village Clerk on Monday.

Running for the office of President are:

  • Martin J. McLaughlin* (Independent)
  • Louis Iacovelli (Riding Club)

Those running for three Trustee positions are:

  • Colleen Konicek Hannigan* (Independent)
  • Paula Jacobsen (Riding Club)
  • Elaine M. Ramesh (Riding Club)
  • Matthew P. Vondra (Independent)
  • Robert M. Zubak (Riding Club)
  • Ralph Sesso (Independent)
  • Linda H. Cools (Independent)

Incumbent Trustees Fritz Gohl and Mike Harrington are not running for re-election in April, however Gohl will be running unopposed for trustee to the Barrington Township Board of Directors.

*Incumbent

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December 7th Village Board meeting recordings released

Posted in Animal Welfare, Audio Recordings, Barrington Hills Farm, BH Polo Club, Commercial Horse Boarding, Deception, FRVPC, Horse Boarding, Land Use, LeCompte/Anderson Commercial Horse boarding amendment, Politics, Real Estate, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Village Board, Village Code, Zoning Board on December 18, 2016| 4 Comments »

Audio recordings from the December 7th special meeting of the Board of Trustees have been posted to the Village website.  To access the menu of recordings edited by agenda item, click here.

The meeting began with an announcement that the James J. Drury commercial boarding text amendment which was on the agenda for the meeting had been formally withdrawn earlier in the day, so no discussion or vote on that agenda item would take place.

Prior to public comments, the chair announced that the standard three minute limit rule on comments would be adhered to, as can be heard here.

Multiple Zoning Board of Appeals hearings had been held where residents had ample opportunities to speak as long as they wished, and it was noted that the public had been given significant latitude in their remarks, and that the Board of Trustees had reviewed the recordings and/or transcripts from those meetings.

Despite this, the first person to read public comments obviously decided that these established rules for public comment don’t apply to him.

The developer of Barrington Hills Farm had submitted written comments to the Board of Trustees, which were available to all in attendance, prior to the meeting.  Yet he chose to read them in their entirely anyway, in a self-serving speech lasting well beyond three minutes, choosing to ignore two polite requests from the chair to conclude his remarks as can be heard here.

Obviously some feel they are more important than others, but the fact is this person was not only disrespectful to the Board, but more so, to the many residents in attendance who took their personal time to listen to what the Board of Trustees had to say about the Zoning Board’s recommendation on commercial horse codes.

Seven other residents made comments, for and against, regarding the Zoning Board recommendation, and one used her time to comment on the Longmeadow Parkway Project.

Prior to the board beginning discussion on the Zoning Board recommendation, the chair asked Village Attorney Mary Dickson to weigh in on the validity of the “construct” of the form letter statements the Barrington Hills Farm Developer had been mailing to residents for months apparently in the hopes of amassing sufficient response to require a “super-majority” vote by trustees to pass an amendment nullifying the Anderson II commercial boarding code.

Counsel stated she’d seen a number of the petition statements, and her preliminary opinion was they didn’t satisfy the statuary requirements of our Village Code, and therefore, a super-majority may not be required.  The recording of this discussion can be heard here.

When discussion began, President McLaughlin invited each board member to provide their opinions on the recommendation before them before the Zoning Board.  To listen to each member’s viewpoints in order of presentation, click on their names highlighted below:

We recommend listening to the remarks made by all board members, particularly those made by President McLaughlin.  His uncharacteristically candid, off-the-cuff comments will resound with most residents, reminding them why he was elected, so please take a few minutes to listen.

When the vote was called, five board members voted to approve the Zoning Board recommendation to repeal Anderson II, and two opposed, thus making any debate over the number of votes required due to questionable petitions moot, as a super-majority was achieved.

The next Village Board meeting is scheduled for Monday December 19th.

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Village Board votes to repeal Anderson II

Posted in Animal Welfare, Commercial Horse Boarding, Horse Boarding, LeCompte/Anderson Commercial Horse boarding amendment, Village Board, Village Code, Zoning Board on December 8, 2016| 2 Comments »

The Village Board of Trustees voted 5-2 to approve the Zoning Board of Appeals recommendation to repeal the Anderson II Commercial Horse Boarding Code during a special meeting last night.  The dissenting votes were cast by Trustees Gohl and Harrington.

Horse boarding will now fall under the Home Occupation Ordinance as it had from 2006 to 2015 until such time as the Zoning Board prepares new codes which we imagine will be considerate of all residents’ property rights, whether they board horses or not.     

We’ll have more information on the meeting once audio recordings are released.

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Special Village Board meeting Wednesday

Posted in Agendas, Barrington Hills Farm, BH Polo Club, Commercial Horse Boarding, FRVPC, HARPS, Horse Boarding, Land Use, LeCompte/Anderson Commercial Horse boarding amendment, Real Estate, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Village Board, Village Code, Zoning Board on December 6, 2016| Leave a Comment »

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.

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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.

 

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November 9th Zoning Board meeting recordings released

Posted in Animal Welfare, Audio Recordings, Barrington Hills Farm, BH Polo Club, Commercial Horse Boarding, County, Deception, FRVPC, HARPS, Horse Boarding, Land Use, LeCompte/Anderson Commercial Horse boarding amendment, McHenry, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Village Code, Well Water Quality, Zoning Board on November 25, 2016| 1 Comment »

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.

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October 31st special Village Board meeting recordings released

Posted in Audio Recordings, Elections 2011, Ethics, LeCompte/Anderson Commercial Horse boarding amendment, Taxes, Village Attorney, Village Board, Village Code, Zoning Board on November 21, 2016| 1 Comment »

On October 31st, the Board of Trustees held a special meeting to discuss a zoning enforcement matter.  The menu of recordings by agenda topic can be viewed here.

The sole agenda item for this board meeting was to discuss, and vote on, “Authorizing the Execution of a Settlement Agreement of a Zoning Enforcement Action Against Operation of a Business at 3 Saville Road.”

Records dating back as far as 2012 refer to resident complaints over a homeowner operating an HVAC business from the subject residence, ostensibly under the Home Occupation Ordinance (HOO).  The Code Enforcement Officer eventually issued a cease operation letter.  The homeowner filed an appeal with the Zoning Board of Appeals, which was denied, and eventually the Village had to file suit in court since the homeowner apparently refused to comply.

Despite the fact the business operations were eventually ceased or scaled back sufficiently to comply with Village code, a judge recommended the Village fine the resident for the period of time they were not in compliance of Village ordinances recommending a settlement fine of $25,000.

Prior to voting on this settlement, trustees bought up parallels to a similar situation that occurred with Oakwood Farms where no fines were assessed, even for the period of time Oakwood was not in compliance with Village Code.

The Village issued a cease and desist letter to Oakwood Farm after neighbor complaints, which the owner ignored, and a lawsuit was filed and won costing Barrington Hills taxpayers a purported $180,000. The law firm representing the Village at that time continues to provide their summary of the matter in a February 1, 2010 press release on their website, which can be viewed here.

Politics at that time seemed to supersede, however, and the home business operator made modifications to their operations, resulting in the issuance of a letter from the then Building Enforcement Officer, Don Shuman, on March 15th of 2011, declaring the Oakwood operation compliant with HOO (for more background, click here).

Back to the present, the five board members in attendance at the October 31st meeting voted 4-1 (Trustee Gohl voted no) to settle with the Saville Row homeowner for the amount of $25,000, which at least covered the legal expenses incurred to taxpayers.  It should be noted this appears to be the highest amount ever assessed to a homeowner in violation for a period of time of the HOO.

The question is, shall or should the owners of Oakwood Farm have been assessed fines for the period of time they were not in compliance with Village codes?  We think so.

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Another reason why Anderson II must go?

Posted in Animal Welfare, Barrington Hills Farm, BH Polo Club, Commercial Horse Boarding, Conflict of interest, Ethics, FRVPC, Horse Boarding, Land Use, LeCompte/Anderson Commercial Horse boarding amendment, OP/Ed, Real Estate, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Topics Of Interest, Village Board, Village Code, Well Water Quality, Zoning Board on November 14, 2016| 8 Comments »

In the summer of 2014 when the then Zoning Board of Appeals was considering four proposals for amending commercial horse boarding codes, we pointed out how four members of the board at that time had potential conflicts of interest (see “Conflicted”), particularly since one of the proposals was from a private riding club to which the four belonged.

However, what we were unaware of at that time is that an attorney on the Zoning Board, for which the current commercial boarding code was named, has been preparing IRS tax filings for the Riding Club of Barrington Hills since at least 2004.  In fact, just a month before the Riding Club submitted their proposal in June of 2014, this Zoning Board member prepared the 2013 IRS form 990 for the Riding Club as seen below:

(Click on image above to enlarge)

(Click on image above to enlarge)

A complete copy of the 2013 Riding Club tax return can be viewed here,  and historic returns dating back to 2004, including the most recent one filed this year, can be accessed by clicking here (once you access the site, click on the “Tax Documents” tab to view all available filed returns).

Had we been aware of this professional business relationship at the time the Zoning Board was considering adopting new horse boarding code, we would have made residents aware.  This appointed official did not volunteer this information for consideration by the board or counsel before or during the proceedings.

We believe this may be one more reason for the Board of Trustees to concur with the current Zoning Board of Appeals recommendation and vote in favor of repealing the Anderson II codes.  At least then, the current Zoning Board members can begin with a clean slate.

-The Observer

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Zoning Board recommends repealing Anderson II

Posted in Animal Welfare, Commercial Horse Boarding, Horse Boarding, Land Use, LeCompte/Anderson Commercial Horse boarding amendment, Real Estate, Village Board, Village Code, Well Water Quality, Zoning Board on November 11, 2016| 3 Comments »

Following a public hearing held on November 9th, the Zoning Board of Appeals voted 6-1 in favor of sending a recommendation to the Village Board of Trustees to repeal the so-called Anderson II or LeCompte/Anderson commercial horse boarding amendments to Village Codes enacted in 2015.  The sole dissenting vote was cast by Patrick Hennelly.

Zoning Board members discussed creating appropriate and fair new codes for horse boarding in the future, however the consensus seemed to be that the Anderson II amendment allowed far too much adverse exposure to neighboring property owners to remain on the books in the interim.  Horse boarding will fall back under the Home Occupation Ordinance as it had been since 2006 under the board’s recommendation.

As always, when audio recordings from the meeting become available, we’ll have much more to report from the three and a half hour meeting Wednesday night.

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