Barrington Hills loses bid to block disconnection of land

Barrington Hills has lost its case in the Illinois Appellate Court to block the disconnection of 145 acres from the southeast corner of the village.

In making its ruling, the court upheld the earlier finding of the circuit court that the village had fought to retain jurisdiction over two small water detention areas as "a legal gimmick" to prevent the sought-after disconnection.

The two so-called "barrier parcels" are each 301 feet wide and less than two acres in area. They became part of the village's eastern border in 1997 when Barrington Hills voluntarily gave up 45 acres that became part of The Woods subdivision in neighboring South Barrington.

Attorney John Murphey, who represents the land owners, said the removal of land from within a municipal boundary is normally allowed except in cases where it would leave isolated pockets of incorporated land.

Murphey said Barrington Hills officials throughout the eight-year lawsuit have claimed that the detention areas are essential to the village's flood control, and therefore unable to become isolated from the rest of the village.

But according to the appellate court's ruling, former South Barrington administrator Bruce Trego testified that, in the summer of 1998, Barrington Hills Director of Administration Robert Kosin told him that the village planned to retain jurisdiction over the barrier parcels to block disconnection of property further west.

Neither Kosin nor Barrington Hills Village President Robert Abboud could be reached Tuesday for comment on the ruling or whether the village might appeal the case again to the Illinois Supreme Court.

"We would be surprised if the Supreme Court took this case," Murphey said on behalf of his clients, the Iatarola family.

Murphey said the family bought the land in the early 1960s, subsequently getting trapped by the change in Barrington Hills' zoning that required all development be restricted to single-family homes on lots of at least five acres.

But a few years ago, while the lawsuit was already in progress, the landowners reached a prospective annexation and development agreement with neighboring Hoffman Estates in the event the property was successfully disconnected.

Murphey didn't have specifics about the development plan, but said it was for a mix of homes with commercial development along Route 59.

Hoffman Estates Village Manager Jim Norris confirmed that his village has approved a detailed pre-annexation agreement with the landowners.

Barrington Hills has 35 days from Monday's ruling to file a request for hearing from the Supreme Court. If nothing has been filed by that point, the landowners will be free to pursue annexation by Hoffman Estates, Murphey said.

But if a request is filed, development of the site will have to wait until the Supreme Court has made a decision.