South Barrington village trustees, meeting in joint session Thursday night with their counterparts from the South Barrington Park District, persuaded park officials to hold off conducting a feasibility study on building a sports complex on 22 acres next to the AMC Studio Centre cinema complex.
The Park District was considering spending up to $30,000 on the study, which would have looked at the economic feasibility of building a facility with ice hockey rinks and indoor soccer fields.
While village officials said they support the Park District, they are unsure about the best use for the 22 acres, which is owned by the the municipality.
Village and park officials agreed that the village first needs to do its own study on the best use of the property as part of the villagewide comprehensive plan.
Trustee Bernardine Rosenthal said it would be to the village’s benefit to either keep the land or sell it to the Park District. That way, the village could continue collecting a 25-cent-per-admission tax from AMC as part of its development agreement with the municipality.
