After years of squabbling over road access at their adjoining borders, the communities of Barrington Hills and Algonquin appear to be placing years of differences to rest.
More than three years ago, the communities’ fight over the closing of Spring Creek Road in Barrington Hills was taken to the Illinois Supreme Court.
That six-year dispute was put to an end when the high court decided not to overturn a lower court ruling in favor of Barrington Hills’ decision to close the road.
Barrington Hills placed gates along the road in an attempt to reduce traffic flow into its village from Algonquin.
“There was a strong reaction then,” Barrington Hills President James Kempe said. Algonquin’s “mayor at the time said we were doing it for snob appeal.”
But as a result of a proposal to develop a new subdivision in Algonquin, village officials are working together to help alleviate traffic congestion along their borders.
“We both have a goal and if we can find a way to mutually satisfy each other, that’s a better way to go about it. It makes no sense to roadblock each other,” Kempe said.
Kempe and Algonquin Village President Ted Spella are also talking about drafting a formal border agreement spelling out the dividing lines between the towns for developers, in part to put an end to their years of disputes.
“I think it’s important that we have a boundary agreement and that we have neighbors working together on transportation,” Spella said.
A boundary agreement would “further define corporate jurisdictions of the municipalities so developers can’t play one community against the other,” Spella said.
In the meantime, the two towns are trying to work out a plan to limit traffic congestion along Haegers Bend Road, near the site where Buffalo Grove developer Edward Zale is proposing a 108-acre subdivision in Algonquin.
Haegers Bend Road borders Barrington Hills and Algonquin.
Several months ago, Algonquin officials invited a Barrington Hills engineer to draft a plan to alleviate potential congestion along the road by dead-ending a portion of the road about 100 yards north of where it now enters County Line Road, Kempe said.
The developer has proposed a new road that would run parallel to Haegers Bend, and Barrington Hills is also proposing a short, one-way road that would link the developers’ new road with Haegers Bend. The reconfigured road would allow traffic to continue to flow out to County Line Road, Kempe said.
Algonquin officials don’t expect to hear a formal proposal from the developer until later this month, but Spella said he’s open to Barrington Hills’ proposals. He said he would like nothing more than to work out a compromise that would limit traffic congestion for both communities.
“We haven’t discussed it yet with the board but the village manager and I believe it’s doable,” Spella said.
Yet not all Barrington Hills leaders are excited about the idea. At least one suggests the compromise will only result in more traffic coming into the area.
“Algonquin doesn’t need another subdivision that is going to be dumping tons of traffic onto County Line Road,” Barrington Hills Trustee Brian J. McManus said. “If we go along with this proposal, we would be accommodating another massive Algonquin development. Developers are ruining Algonquin, just like they are ruining Lake in the Hills and a lot of other municipalities in this area.”
But Kempe said the rest of the village board would accept the road-closing plan, especially if it paves the way for a boundary agreement between the villages.
Without a boundary agreement, developers will continue working against the towns’ interests, Kempe said.
