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Resident urges public review of Cook Street plan and park near tracks after fatal crash
Summary
A Barrington resident who filed a FOIA request told the Village Board she found documents suggesting a park plaza near the train tracks and asked the board to open the Cook Street plan to public comment and publish safety analyses before proceeding with pedestrian gates and related projects.
A resident told the Barrington Village Board on Feb. 24 she has reviewed documents obtained via a freedom-of-information request and urged the village to open the Cook Street plan and a proposed Park Plaza near the train tracks for public comment.
The resident, Ms. King (resident), told trustees she has reviewed nearly 2,000 documents provided in response to her FOIA request and said the materials indicate “a push to get a Park Plaza made alongside with the pedestrian gate project,” close to where a fatal traffic crash involving a Glenview police officer occurred earlier in February.
The nut graf: Ms. King said the village has not provided an opportunity for public comment on the Cook Street plan and that she has not seen a safety report from Kimley Horn; she asked the board to release additional documents and open the plan to public input before building a park “with children very close to the train track.”
In her remarks Ms. King said she had asked the village several times to send a petition draft by email and that she received no response, prompting the FOIA request. “I had asked for some basic information which wasn't responded to, and that's why I had to file the FOIA request,” she told the board.
She said the FOIA materials included a traffic report but not a safety report from Kimley Horn, the engineering firm the village has contracted for pedestrian crossing work. She requested that any safety analysis be included in forthcoming document releases and that the village provide a formal opportunity for public comment on the Cook Street plan.
Ms. King also said she had asked for interdepartmental emails between the village manager and trustees and that she would appeal if any records were withheld. She asked the board to “open the Cook Street plan to public comment and not let that slow down the work on 59 and 14,” saying she supported pedestrian gates but wanted transparency and input.
Village President (name not specified in transcript) thanked Ms. King after her remarks; the record does not show the board taking formal action on her request during the meeting.
Background details in the meeting record show Kimley Horn and Associates Inc. is listed later on the consent agenda as the firm contracted for professional engineering and design services related to pedestrian crossings, and the consent agenda containing that contract was adopted by omnibus vote at the same meeting.
The comment was made during the “persons to be heard from the floor” portion of the Feb. 24 meeting; the transcript does not show trustees responding with substantive commitments to publish additional reports or hold a public hearing on the Cook Street plan during this session.
Ending: Ms. King said she expects more FOIA documents to be released and that she will pursue appeals if records are withheld; no follow-up date or staff assignment was recorded in the meeting minutes.
