Barrington approves scaled-down townhouse development near Northwest Highway
Barrington village board members this week approved a 12-unit townhouse development on vacant land at the southwest corner of Taylor and 20th streets, near Northwest Highway.
Trustees at Monday’s meeting voted to annex the 1.63-acre property, formerly in unincorporated Lake County. They also rezoned the property to allow the townhouses and amended the comprehensive plan to change its classification from commercial to multifamily residential.
The ordinances passed without discussion as part of the consent agenda. A public hearing on the annexation did not draw comment.
Before reaching the village board, developer HAD Enterprises, LLC, scaled down the plan from what was originally proposed as a three-story, 21-unit condominium building.
Neighbors had raised concerns about cut-through traffic from Route 14, building height, and a lack of play space for children, landscaping and buffering.
The plan commission recommended denial of the original plan in February, and the developer put its application on hold.
The new plan went before the plan commission in September for review and was unanimously recommended for approval.
Residents still were concerned, however, and expressed reservations at a neighborhood meeting a month before the plan commission review.
Naval Surve, who has lived near Taylor and 20th streets since 1989, wrote to plan commissioners that the project raises concerns about noise in what he described as a quiet neighborhood.
He said he has a sunroom enclosed in glass and he had concerns about privacy and security.
Project engineer Michael Caldwell defended the plan at the neighborhood meeting as a buffer between commercial and residential, adding the village originally had slated the property for commercial development in its comprehensive plan.
Zhivko Hadzhiev, manager and authorized agent for HAD Enterprises, LLC, told neighbors he expects construction to take nine or 10 months once ground is broken.
He said the units would be priced at about $650,000 to $700,000.
szalusky@dailyherald.com