Marc Realty vs. The Village of Barrington

Camiros Principal Consultant, Jacques Gourguechon, AICP, represented the Village of Barrington in a court proceeding that pitted a major developer against this idyllic and well-heeled residential community northwest of Chicago. The case came about by the Village's refusal to amend its zoning ordinance to allow a shopping center that the Village Trustees thought would effectively put the community's downtown out of business.

Expert testimony by Mr. Gourguechon indicated the fragility of the downtown economy and showed how current planning for the downtown could accommodate a major food store that was to anchor the proposed shopping center. Testimony further convinced the court that the placement of a shopping center in the proposed location would be a violation of the neighborhood that surrounded the site. Keeping the food store in the downtown was the key strategy to underpinning the maintenance of the downtown economy. Effective arguments by Mr. Gourguechon caused the court to rule in favor of the Village. The planning work done to support those arguments were then implemented by the Village fathers and, as a result, a new, modern Jewel food store now stands in the heart of Barrington's downtown, leveraging a renaissance of downtown retail, business activity and new investment.