Appellate court sides with developer in de-annexation flap

A state appeals court this week unanimously upheld a lower-court decision allowing a developer to de-annex 117 acres from Barrington Hills and make it part of unincorporated McHenry County.

The decision, however, soon may be moot as the village and landowner are nearing a compromise allowing a controversial subdivision to go forward within the town's borders, Village President Robert Abboud said Wednesday.

"I think we're going to resolve it," Abboud said. "I have the feeling we are rapidly moving toward a successful conclusion."

The agreement could return all 485 acres de-annexed by the Fritz Duda Co. since 2004 back to the village, Abboud said.

The company and its partners would be permitted to build homes, Abboud said, but the "vast majority" of them would adhere to the village's five-acre minimum lot size requirement. A proposed spray-irrigation system for treating and disposing of wastewater would be replaced by an underground septic system.

Unlike prior settlement proposals, a portion of the Duda property would not be annexed by neighboring Algonquin to allow a more dense neighborhood within the proposed Barrington Farms subdivision.

"The best approach is to have the whole thing come back to Barrington Hills," Abboud said.

Dominic Signoretta, a vice president for Fritz Duda, said through a spokeswoman that the company is hopeful about a resolution, but declined further comment.

The company has been at odds with village leaders for nearly a decade over the future of its property near Haegers Bend and Spring Creek roads, adjacent to the town's border with Algonquin.

After the village board rejected plans for a golf-course community, Duda sued in 2001 to de-annex 368 acres of the site.

When the first suit succeeded, the company sued again, this time winning court approval to remove another 117 acres.

But the company's plans hit a huge snag in 2006 when the McHenry County Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously rejected its plans for the 371-home Barrington Farms subdivision on the initial 368-acre site.

The rejection led company officials to open talks with the village, McHenry County and Algonquin aimed at reaching a compromise that would allow some type of development on what is now open space and farmland.