Dear Residents,

The review process for the Comprehensive Plan is still in progress. The Plan Commission held a public hearing on March 2 where it heard the presentation on the Comprehensive Plan by our Planning Consultant John Houseal of Houseal Lavigne. Following the presentation, the Plan Commission heard comments on the plan from those in attendance. Plan Commissioners also added their comments in regard to items for further discussion. The Plan Commission met again last night to establish a future meeting date which will be Monday, April 10th at 7pm in Rose Hall. I would encourage all interested parties to attend this upcoming meeting for the latest information as we work toward adopting the updated Comprehensive Plan.

Last week, the Executive Director from the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC) met with myself, Trustee Joe Abbate (our SWANCC Representative) and Village Administrator Bob Palmer. The annual report we received shows that the Village is doing a good job in the collection of recycled material compared to the SWANCC average.  The average SWANCC recycling rate per household is 21.74% of all collected material and the Village of South Barrington is recycling at a rate of 26.85%. Though we are doing better than average, there is room to improve since the overall collection numbers for recycling have been trending downward.  Please continue to repurpose and recycle as much as you can and for more information on what to recycle and where to recycle visit SWANCC.

To the residents in the Woods Subdivision, I was informed that Blue Stem Environmental will be doing a ‘controlled burn’ next week in the subdivision. I think many of us are familiar with this practice as an environmental management tool, typically conducted in large open park areas.  We have used this tool in the Conservancy to help control invasive species and to rejuvenate growth. Don’t be alarmed if you see some smoke next week in the Woods Subdivision area as a result of the controlled burn.
The upcoming consolidated election will be here in just a few weeks. Here are a few reminders to take into account leading up to April 4.

• Early Voting – Starts next week and goes from March 20 – April 3. For Early Voting you must vote in person.
• Vote By Mail Applications for the April 4, 2023 Consolidated Election have been accepted since February 24, 2023. Any registered suburban Cook County voter with a driver’s license, state ID or social security number on file may request a mail ballot using an online or paper application. Ballots must be postmarked by Election Day in order to be counted.
• Registered and unregistered Cook County residents can find their assigned polling place with the Your Voter Information tool.

The April election includes a South Barrington Park District Referendum on the ballot.  The referendum question pertains to whether the Park District can offer the vacant property, known as area “N’ in the Woods of South Barrington, for auction. The Park District is required, by law, to go to referendum to ask for approval to auction the property. For more information regarding the Referendum click here.

Our Cook County Commissioner, Kevin Morrison, always puts out an interesting newsletter (see below). For his March newsletter he has highlighted a Job Fair event in Bartlett that he is co-sponsoring. This is the 12^th Annual Job Fair event and it is sponsored by, in addition to Commissioner Kevin Morrison, the State of Illinois, Cook County, Hanover Township and State Representative Fred Crespo. The Job Fair will be held on Wednesday, March 29 from 11:00 am to 2 pm at the Hanover Township Senior Center, 240 S. IL Rt. 59 in Bartlett. A second event that Commissioner Morrison is co-sponsoring is titled “Solar for All with CUB and Cook County”. Solar for All is a state funded solar program designed to assist those interested in solar panels or alternatively to participate in “community solar” that does not require individual solar panels. This program will be held virtually on March 22 at 7:00 pm and you can register at http://bit.ly/3ZRbb0o.

You can always reach me by email at pmccombie@southbarrington.org or on our website. Anonymous comment boxes are also available in the lobbies of Village Hall and the Police Department. I read anonymous messages privately, so please do not hesitate to contact me.

Happy St Patrick’s Day!

Paula McCombie
Mayor

Read more of my Friday, March 17 message by clicking here.

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