HomeMy Public PortalAbout2011-05-23 COW minutesMinutes of the Committee of the Whole Workshop of the President and the Board of Trustees Held on May 23, 2011 In the Boardroom Trustee Lamb called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Board Present: Trusteee Fay, Trustee Lamb, Trustee Racich, Trustee Rippy (7:10 p.m.), and Trustee Bonuchi. Board absent: Mayor Collins and Trustee Peck. Others present: Michelle Giba s, Village Clerk; Lou Haussmann, Engineer; Allen Persons, Public Works Director; Michael Garriga n, Planning Supervisor; and John Konopek, Interim Chief of Police. There were approx imately 4 persons in the audience. Trustee Bonuchi moved to approve the Temporary Ch air appointments of Trustee Lamb (5/23/11), Trustee Fay (6/13/11), and Trustee Racich (6/27/11). Seconded by Trus tee Racich. Vote by roll call. Fay, yes; Lamb, yes; Peck, absent; Racich, yes; Rippy, absent; Bonuchi, ye s. 4 yes, 0 no, 2 absent. Motion carried. Trustee Fay moved to approve the Minutes of th e Committee of the Whole Workshop held on May 9, 2011. Seconded by Trustee Bonuchi. Voice Vote . All in favor, 0 opposed. Motion carried. PRESIDENTIAL COMMENTS None TRUSTEES COMMENTS Trustee Lamb congratulated Sergeant Jennifer My ers on her recent graduation from the School of Police Staff and Comm and at Northwestern University. Trustee Bonuchi also congratulated Sgt. Myers. Trustee Bonuchi also tha nked Shirley’s Turtles for their fundraising efforts for the Ameri can Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. Trustee Fay thanked Jon Proulx fo r running another successful Ri ver Sweep. Trustee Fay also encouraged everyone to attend the Me morial Day Walk and Ceremonies. PUBLIC COMMENTS on Items Not on the Agenda None. WORKSHOP AGENDA #1 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATES Mr. Michael Garrigan stated that st aff would like to initiate an upda te of several po rtions of the Village’s Comprehensive Plan in order to address some of the recent market trends. The Village’s Comprehensive Plan was adopted in 2002 and no ma jor updates have been approved since 2005. Mr. Garrigan reviewed some poten tial areas to be updated.
Minutes Committee of the Whole Workshop – May 23, 2011 Page 2 of 5 TRANSPORTATION: Mr. Garrigan reviewed several Tran sportation Goals that ha ve not been fully achieved and stated that he felt neighborhood interconnection was important. Trustee Fay stated that he likes the interconnect ion between neighborhoods. He also would support extending 143 rd Street east and west, a nd would like to see Drauden extended north. Trustee Fay suggested looking at ways to in terconnect bikeways/pathways. Trustee Bonuchi stated that she too agrees with interconnectivity. She suggested keeping the focus on what is realistic and things that we can expect to see completed. Mr. Garrgian pointed out that there are missing links that sta ff can focus on including extending 143 rd Street west to Ridge and applying for CMAP grants. Mr. Lou Haussmann, Baxter and Woodman, pointed out that CMAP will be accepting applications for grants for intergraded transportation and land use planning. The grant is an 80% funding to 20% local match. Mr. Haussmann anticipates that th e grant will be approximately $80,000 and feels that the Village has about a 30% chance of receiving a grant. Trustee Bonuchi stated that she is in fa vor of pursuing the grant application. Trustee Lamb supported pursuing the gr ant application and felt that ev en without grant funds that the project was worth doing. Trustee Lamb stated th at the impact of the railroad on the community should also be taken into consideration for the tran sportation updates. He felt filling in the missing links is a high priority. He expressed some concerns regarding inte rconnecting the neighborhoods because people may fear that it will add extra an d cut-through traffic to the neighborhood. You need to look at who benefits from the interconnectivit y. Trustee Lamb also questioned the WIKADUKE Trail and the lack of commercial development. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Mr. Garrigan reviewed some of economic deve lopment goals of the Co mprehensive Plan. Mr. Garrigan stated that the focus should be on creating a more competitive environment. Trustee Fay stated that the Village should avoid pockets of retail. Trustee Bonuchi stated that she would like to see quality over quant ity. Don’t put businesses in for the sake of having a business. She also agreed on avoiding retail strip malls. Trustee Lamb stated that the focus should be on filling in the gaps. He felt that non-retail was a destination and did not nece ssary encourage retail; they need to intermix. Density is something we want to look for. He thought revitalizing downtow n was an excellent idea and suggested using the Fazio building for non-retail uses. Trustee Bonuchi stated parking will need to be addressed in the Village’s downtown.
Minutes Committee of the Whole Workshop – May 23, 2011 Page 3 of 5 FUTURE LAND USE & DENSITY Mr. Garrigan pointed out that the Comprehensive Plan’s density and land use was based on growth and market trends from 2002. Mr. Garrigan sugg ested focusing on identifying areas within the Density Plan that no longer make sense and re viewed some specific areas of the Land Use Map. Trustee Bonuchi stated that the Village needs to be sensitive to cu rrent homeowners. Trustee Fay also thought the Villag e should be sensitive on impacting existing residents. He also felt that the Central Area Plan (downt own) should be pedestrian friend ly, and suggested looking at what amenities there are currently and what is needed; a gr ocery store, for example. He suggested looking carefully at the Southwest and West Sector and to determine the needs as well. Trustee Racich stated that the Village should not sacrifice what we have today by just putting anything in. We can look at the Comprehensive Plan and tighten it up, but can not dream. He pointed out a recent article in the New York Times regarding foreclosed homes. We need to get rid of that inventory befo re building new homes. Trustee Lamb stated we need transportation in pla ce to handle more people. He thought that infill was important. He also felt that more amenities needed to be traded for more density. More amenities also benefits existing home owners. SCALE AND DEVELOPMENT Mr. Garrigan stated that the current Comprehensiv e Plan is premised on the fact that the Village would have an ultimate build-out population of 120,000 people and a land mass of over 60 square miles. The focus should be on determining whether or not that is still realistic. Trustee Lamb stated that even w ith a scale down, the Village can sti ll be a great place to live. Trustee Bonuchi stated that she would rather see qua lity over quantity. The Village needs to be more attractive to homebuyers as they will have the pick of the litter. Developers are working on more appealing floor plans to make smaller homes l ook bigger as well as having more amenities. Trustee Fay asked the staff to make sure that they factor in the Buxton Repor t. He also suggested looking at other land uses where people want to congregate like a Spor ts Complex or a park. Trustee Lamb suggested looking at f acilities and housing for seniors. Trustee Racich stated that hopefully Edward Hosp ital will expand and that will help revitalize the Village.
Minutes Committee of the Whole Workshop – May 23, 2011 Page 4 of 5 EMPLOYMENT CENTERS Mr. Garrigan stated that there may be an opportu nity to identify new employment centers in the Village that are not currently identified in the Co mprehensive Plan. Mr. Garrigan pointed out that 85% of the residents who work leav e the Village for their employment. Trustee Rippy cautioned that tran sportation and employment go hand in hand and we need to have transportation in place if we ar e going to attract more people. Trustee Lamb agreed with Trustee Rippy and thought that the I-55 corridor may be a viable option for employment centers. OPEN SPACE AND VILLAGE CHARACTER Mr. Garrigan stated that consistent with the cu rrent Comprehensive plan, the preservation of open space and the creation of a series of greenways and network parks continue to be an important long term goal for the Village. Trustee Fay suggested taking a look at other communities to see what works. He suggested even looking at places like Celebration, Florida. WORK PLAN Mr. Garrigan stated that the goal of this process is to create a working gro up of individuals made up of members of the Village Board, Plan Commi ssion, staff, and other appropriate community members to meet once a month and to report to th e whole Village Board on a monthly or bi-monthly schedule. There was unanimous support to create a working group. #2 PROPOSED CLOSER OF OAK STREET AT ROUTE 59 Mr. Allen Persons stated that staff is seeking Boar d input on the closure of either Arnold Street, Oak Street, both, or neither. Mr. Pers ons pointed out that both streets in tersect Route 59 at angles making it almost impossible for drivers to ma ke a left hand turn across Route 59. Trustee Lamb stated that it would make more sens e to close Arnold since Oa k Street leads to the downtown. Trustee Bonuchi suggested making Arnold a right tu rn only and prohibit bot h streets from turning north. She would like to get th e opinion of the residents prio r to making any decision. Trustee Fay suggested leaving bot h streets open and possibly rest ricting north turns from Arnold. Trustee Rippy suggested closing Arnol d and leaving Oak Street open. Trustee Racich stated that the Board should consider the resident s opinions. He did agree that restricting a north turn on Ar nold Street was a good idea.
Minutes Committee of the Whole Workshop – May 23, 2011 Page 5 of 5 Mr. Persons stated that he will contact the area residents. Chairman Lamb read the reminders. Trustee Racich encouraged everyone to attend the Memorial Day Celebration on May 30. Chief Konopek reviewed the details. Trustee Fay moved to adjourn. Seconded by Trustee Racich. Voice Vote. All in favor, 0 opposed. Motion carried. The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m. Michelle Gibas, Village Clerk