The case for Equine Opportunity Zone
March 10, 2026
Letters to Editor by Eddie Lehwald
As a South Barrington homeowner living on several acres with only my horses for company, I think it goes without saying that I’m pretty plugged in to the current zeitgeist and Gov. Pritzker’s BUILD Plan is a bad idea.
You know that feeling when you’re on your horse and nothing can hurt you? Of course you do. That’s what Pritzker is trying to take away. Imagine, you’re out for a ride on a fall morning and out of the mist pops the governor, hammering away on a duplex on what used to be your private horse trail.
Look, I understand that there’s at least some evidence that we as a state are short a few hundred thousand homes and I suppose you could make an argument that if we don’t do something about that, it will only get worse, but here in South Barrington there’s just no room. Our five-acre minimum lot size is barely enough as it is, what with all the horses and horse infrastructure to support our horse-based way of life. I mean, trying to keep a horse on four, three or even two acres, can you imagine? Where would you dressage?
I’m all for small government, but I draw the line at my — admittedly distant — neighbors being able to build any kind of house they want; single horse-based zoning has gotten us where we are today and that’s good enough for me.
I’m proposing a counter-plan, The Farrier Housing Act, which will declare South Barrington to be an Equine Opportunity Zone. In this zone the minimum lot size shall be 10 acres and any new construction must have parking for at least three horses.
Not that there will be any new construction, because as I said before, we’re full.
Eddie Lehwald
Chicago
