Board of Trustees Meetings

REGULAR MEETING BOARD OF TRUSTEES, VILLAGE OF NILES July 22, 2008 8:00 p.m. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The Pledge of Allegiance was led by President Blase. ROLL CALL The Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees was called to order at 8:00 p.m. by President Blase. The following trustees were present: Biederman, Callero, LoVerde, Murphy, Preston, and Przybylo. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Trustee Murphy made a motion, seconded by Trustee LoVerde, to approve the minutes of the June 24, 2008, Board Regular Board Meeting meeting, as submitted. On roll call, the vote was: June 24, 2008 AYES 6 Biederman, Callero, Murphy, LoVerde Preston, Przybylo NAYS 0 ABSENT 0 There being 6 affirmative votes, the MOTION CARRIED. PROCLAMATION Police Chief Dean Strzelecki announced that National Night Out, where the community and law enforcement join together National Night Out 2008 to fight crime, will be held on Tuesday, August 5, 2008, at St. August 5, 2008 John Brebeuf, 8307 Harlem Avenue, beginning at 6:00 p.m. with a flashlight walk around the neighborhood at 8:30 p.m. OLD BUSINESS Variation Continued to August 26, 2008, Board meeting. 8008 W. Oakton Street 08-ZP-08 NEW BUSINESS Creating a Planned Unit Trustee Callero stated that Zoning Petition 08-ZP-09 requests Development Known as consideration for approval for a Special Use creating a Assi Plaza at 8801-8985 N. Planned Unit Development (P.U.D.) known as Assi Plaza at Milwaukee Avenue 8801 through 8985 N. Milwaukee Avenue. The purpose of 08-ZP-09 the P.U.D. is to allow the construction and operation of a hotel, parking structure, banquet facility, family resort complex and office building. This ordinance creates a P.U.D.  July 22, 2008 with the following conditions: approval of the shared parking analysis providing 1,052 spaces with a two percent variation (not to exceed 21 spaces); and approval of the landscaping plan by the Community Development Department. The Plan Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals recommend approval by a unanimous vote of 6-0. For the record, Trustee Callero stated that the Board members have all received and thoroughly reviewed voluminous information on this matter including minutes from the Plan Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals from the last six months in addition, various trustees have also attended the meetings. The Trustees are aware of the meetings with the local residents and the help from the Niles Park District. They are also aware of the compromises and agreed additional cost by the developer for parking, site work, and dedication of right-of-way to help alleviate traffic and parking problems. The Trustees are aware of the estimated cost of $80 million to be spent on this project by the developer and they are also aware of the estimated additional revenue of $170,000 per year in sales tax and $75,000 per year in real estate taxes. Above all, the Trustees are aware of the concerns of the residents and the petition with concerns and questions which they just received and the answers given by the Community Development Department. For informational purposes for the residents and visitors in the audience, Trustee Callero explained the process as follows: he will make a motion to pass the Zoning Petition 08-ZP-09 Ordinance, upon receiving a second, there will then be a question, answer, and discussion period by this Board. After a thorough discussion, and only at that time, will there be a vote on the motion. Trustee Callero made a motion, seconded by Trustee LoVerde, for a Special Use creating a Planned Unit Development known as Assi Plaza at 8801-8985 N. Milwaukee, with 1,052 parking spaces with a 21-space variance and with the approval of the landscaping plan by Community Development. President Blase then called up the Petitioners. Attorney Paul Kolpak, representing Assi Plaza, introduced himself. Attorney Kolpak stated that he wanted to add one thing to the benefits that Trustee Callero already mentioned, and that is that the cost of the benefits to the Village of Niles will be approximately $2 million to his client. In addition, one of the things they didn’t produce at the last meeting was an overall benefit via the taxing bodies of the Village. In order to arrive 2  July 22, 2008 at this, he took the four tax bills where Assi Plaza is now for the gas station, the vacant lot, and the restaurant Our Nights. He went to Maine Township for the taxing rates for the 2006 tax bills, since the 2007 tax bills will not be complete until October of this year, and he generated the tax bills for those properties which came to a total of approximately $460,000 that will be generated. He then took a value at $25 million for this project, even though the cost of the project is $80 million, and contacted Maine Township but they didn’t have a formula, and so he contacted two real estate tax attorneys, and one came in about $23 million and the other $28 million, so he came up with an estimate of $25 million which will generate $1,650,000 in new taxes to the Village. This site will generate an additional $614,000 to the school district and would generate about $429,000 annually to the high school district. Attorney Kolpak stated that they have been working on this project for a long time and within the last 90 days they had input from the Village, the Village’s traffic engineer, and experts for the water and came up with what he considers a thoroughbred. Attorney Kolpak believes they have answered all of the experts’ questions and have designed it so that all of the experts who have appeared here and have consulted with the Village are satisfied that, based on their areas of expertise, this project conforms. Trustee Przybylo asked what the sales tax impact was and Attorney Kolpak responded about $170,000 which he thinks is conservative. Trustee Przybylo asked if there was any sales tax related to the bank or the hotel room. Attorney Kolpak added that there is a two percent hotel tax. Trustee Przybylo asked if they predicted a heavy occupancy. Attorney Kolpak said that 200 rooms, even at $170, if you take 70 percent occupancy or even 60 percent occupancy, he thinks that they can come up with those numbers. Trustee Przybylo said like $168,000, Attorney Kolpak said $170,000. President Blase asked how many new parking spaces will be created outside of the property and added that one of the main concerns with the public generally is the traffic flow and how we can handle this so that it doesn’t inconvenience the majority of the people living there. President Blase asked the traffic expert from Gewalt Hamilton Associates to address that issue. Attorney Kolpak explained that the Village retains Gewalt Hamilton and the developer pays their fees. Bob Hamilton, Chairman of Gewalt Hamilton, introduced himself and stated that they are a civil and traffic engineering firm in 3  July 22, 2008 Vernon Hills who have been retained by the Village of Niles over many years to do several different projects. In this case, they were retained by the Village to work with the developer and actually build the site plan. It was really a different process because, as the Village’s staff, they essentially detailed the site plan around the proposal. To answer President Blase’s question about circulation, he stated that there are a number of changes to circulation. He noted that any viable redevelopment of this site will increase the volume of traffic generated. He noted that the majority of the daytime retail traffic is already there, because Assi Plaza is already operating. Gewalt Hamilton’s main charge with the Village was parking and they also looked at traffic. Milwaukee Avenue will essentially stay the way it is except that there will be reductions in the number of access points onto Milwaukee and there will be three points of access from the subject property, that will make Milwaukee work a little better simply by removing the friction. They have a right-in, right-out, left-in, that avoids the left-out at the south end. The reason for that is that left-out across multiple lanes is your number one cause of accidents, so they have removed that left-out. The main entrance, which is essentially a central one across the face of the store, is a full directional access that has a left-turn bay inbound and it essentially has the extension of a third lane extended which acts as a right-turn bay inbound. The northern most entrance is the one which is going to carry probably the least in the way of retail, but the most in the way of truck traffic, that is a right-in and right-out. The reason there are no lefts there is because of the left-turn bay which approaches the signal at Ballard. This is set up with wide radii so that they can bring trucks in and they will be backing in. There is an area provided so the trucks can reverse and then back into the docks, so they can pull in efficiently off Milwaukee and then turn around in a dedicated zone and be able to back into the docks. If they are coming from the north, they will also have the opportunity of coming in from Ballard and being able to work their way around to that same turnaround and back into it, so the trucks really have a pretty good opportunity here. The negative on the Milwaukee Corridor is that there is a fair amount of this traffic that is going to want to leave the site and head south. We are too close signal-to-signal to permit another signal. IDOT has some limitations on how often you can have signals and this does not meet the requirements for a 4  July 22, 2008 second signal or an intermediate signal. Some traffic, particularly at lighter times, will be able to make that left turn out and other traffic is going to make their way up across the north side and come out and use the Ballard approach to Ballard and Milwaukee. Ballard, though, is a real point of constraint. Ballard today has one lane westbound - getting to the signal you go right, left, or through - you’re in the same lane. What that means is that as soon as somebody decides to make a left turn, nobody goes. What is proposed here is that the developer will dedicate right-of-way along the entire frontage. Normally they take it from both sides, but there is a development on the north side that precludes it, unless they put the guy on the north side out of business or start taking the backyards of some homes. So, in this case, the developer will provide an additional 20 feet along the length of this property, much bigger at the corner for the radii, another 20 feet to add an additional lane in, so there will now be a through right in one lane and dedicated left in the opposing lane. On the opposite side of Ballard, they will add one more lane which will be the dedicated left, right, through which, he noted, is all at the developer’s expense. The other method of getting in and out of the site is an access out to Washington which goes out of the middle of the site, and is effectively a backdoor access, and unless you live in the neighborhood or north on Washington it doesn’t give you any advantage. The neighbors have quite correctly pointed out that anybody who would come out and make a right and expect to get back at the Dempster frontage road signal will only do it one time, and then they’ll figure out that it is not very efficient and will go in the other direction, which is longer but a lot faster. They would anticipate people that come out and take a left might come out on the side entrances and work their way up to Washington, because there is a pretty fair customer population in that direction for the Plaza. An important thing to consider in terms of traffic is when the traffic occurs. Our code on the parking side considers exactly that because of the shared use parking provision that we permit them to consider, and Mr. Hamilton thinks from a professional standpoint that is a really good thing to do. The traffic does the same thing. Traffic from the hotel, the spa, and the banquet are going to occur with a totally different pattern than Assi Plaza, the business day operation in the offices, and in the bank with offices above it. There are six distinctively different uses on this site, 5  July 22, 2008 which will spread out those peaks and valleys and will make this site operate rather continuously rather than having any really big peaks that will cause serious congestion. Mr. Hamilton stated that, absolutely, he expects there will be some congestion – there is congestion today and if you add more traffic there will be more tomorrow. Is that worth it in return for a viable retail site? Well, that has typically been Niles’ response to it, simply because they want a viable community and he happens to agree with them. They didn’t do a specific level service analysis because they weren’t asked to, but Mr. Hamilton doesn’t think it is necessary in this case. President Blase asked about providing some other parking spaces. Attorney Kolpak stated that they had two meetings at the White Eagle with the neighbors on Washington and their concern is that they have smaller homes with not enough parking. Over the time that this shopping center has been vacant, they have utilized that area to park on someone else’s property which, since it wasn’t being utilized, was fine. To help, one of the things that his client has agreed to do is to allow parking from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. for 72 spaces which will be drawn by lottery - however the residents of Washington want to, they will be happy to do it. The reason for those hours is a couple of things: one, this has to become a viable center and we can’t have people parking during business hours and taking 70 spots away from retail use; the other thing, and one of the reasons they asked the neighbors to be here, is that when you plow or anything else you can’t have isolated cars all over, and this way it can be controlled. The other thing that his client has agreed to do is to pay for and redesign the parking on Washington which would then create an additional 40 spots on Washington. So, can we solve the Washington problem? In one of the meetings they said they need about 300 parking spaces, we can’t do that. They can try their best to be a good neighbor, and the way they figured that out was to provide about 110 parking spaces (72 on their site and 40 on Washington) that they will pay for. President Blase asked for questions from the Board. Trustee Biederman stated that going through the parking analysis they indicated that the shared parking is the 1,049 spaces that they will need, and there is a total of 1,052, so there is only a surplus of 3 spaces. Trustee Biederman asked if that includes what is required for Binny’s and what they need for their parking requirements. Mr. Hamilton responded, yes it does, and it also includes a vacancy rate within the numbers in the 6  July 22, 2008 first place. They don’t anticipate that at the peak time there are is only going to be 3 vacant spaces in the place. There are a certain number of spaces required to support a use, but that includes some vacancies so your search times doesn’t get inordinate. You’d hate to be the guy who is over here looking for a space and the 3 vacancies are over there. The vacancies are spread out. Trustee Preston asked Mr. Hamilton to repeat the total number of spaces on the Assi Plaza lot that is our real number – she did not want to have to deal right now with the Niles Park District/residential parking. Mr. Hamilton responded 1,052 spaces. Trustee Preston added that she could see that Trustee Biederman is referring to Shared Parking Analysis - ULI Exhibit A. Trustee Preston asked for an explanation of: Exhibit A under Individual Site Demands for Saturday spaces, where it shows in red 1,188 spaces with a percent shared parking in red for Saturday of 12 percent. Mr. Hamilton responded that 1,188 is prior to the shared use parking being considered. Trustee Preston stated that the sheet she is referring to is dated June 30, 2008, and is asking if there is a new piece of paper with a different date on it. Mr. Hamilton responded that that is the one he has also, and that they did a raft of those because they kept on mixing the uses. He stated that if you jump up it will show you what is actually being used when they are shared: Shared Site Demands Saturday Spaces shows 1,049. Trustee Preston asked what the 1,188 number means? Mr. Hamilton responded that that is if they didn’t share anything. If they simply looked at all peaks and didn’t share across the lots and such. Trustee Biederman stated that the memorandum says that on weekdays the highest combination of parking demand occurs at 6 p.m. at 1,041 parking spaces and on Saturday it’s 1,049. So, on the weekend is there only going to be 8 more spaces on peak demand? Mr. Hamilton stated that if you look at the components of that you can see what the big numbers are. Trustee Biederman finds it very hard to believe that on the weekend there would only be 8 different spaces on peak demand. Mr. Hamilton stated that this isn’t unusual and is based on the combination of uses and that the office spaces are zero at that point. Trustee Biederman asked how many employees they estimate that are going to be using the parking facility. She counted the Assi employees at 28, she couldn’t figure out what the bank and offices would have, the hotel is 40, and there was nothing for Binny’s and the spa. Mr. 7  July 22, 2008 Hamilton stated that he doesn’t think he can tell her that number because their data doesn’t segment them out. They look at the total parking available. If he told her, he’d be guessing. Trustee Biederman stated that they still have to park there though. Attorney Kolpak asked, if you look at your data, is that including employee parking? He thinks Trustee Biederman is saying that it is “this” plus the employees. Trustee Biederman said yes. Mr. Hamilton stated that maybe if he explains how the data is generated it will make it clear as to what it means. This data is generated by the Institute of Transportation Engineers and is generated from independent data from independent free- standing sites. For instance, a grocery store which has nothing else in it, but they can tell how many spaces are required and then the end result, that’s what they really need. They will look at a grocery store that does the same thing or a hotel which does the same thing, and there are a gazillion of these independent free-standing uses that they can use as the database. They take those individual patterns and can see how they change during the day and they combine them, that is how they get the shared use, under both the ITE approach and our code. Attorney Kolpak added that he wanted to really make it simple, that the figures that Mr. Hamilton is referring to is spaces and that includes visitors and employees together. Mr. Hamilton confirmed that they make no distinction between the two. Trustee Biederman asked, with regard to the stop sign on Washington Street, if there any discussion about changing that to a stop light because, as Mr. Hamilton had indicated, there would be traffic heading east on Ballard going north on Washington, and there is just a stop sign there. Mr. Hamilton responded that under Illinois State Law, in order to warrant a traffic signal and make is so our Police can write valid tickets on it, it needs to meet certain minimum requirements. Those minimum requirements are essentially volume and a certain number of movements through the intersection major and minor legs. Their initial review of this shows it does not meet any of the warrants that are authorized by the State of Illinois. If at some point in the future we found that it did meet those warrants, then we could put a signal in at that point. He has done this any number of times where they don’t know whether or not it is going to meet it, they don’t anticipate it will, but there could be other things in the area that would make it grow, and then you negotiate in that the developer participate 8  July 22, 2008 in the future if indeed it did warrant. Attorney Kolpak added that it is always a possibility, but it does not now. Trustee Biederman also asked about the diagonal parking along Washington. It was brought up in the Zoning minutes with regard to safety when a car is backing out onto Washington that that would not be an ideal situation to have. Mr. Hamilton responded that diagonal would not be his first choice, but if they are going to increase parking and you are going to do it in the right-of-way that is what they have as a possibility. Diagonal parking has worked quite safely in many areas, for a long time downtown Park Ridge has it through the heart of the business district on Prospect Avenue, and it has operated quite successfully. Again, it would not be his first choice. If you have a Volkswagen parked there and the guy next to him has an Expedition, you are inching out real slowly because you can’t see a thing and that is absolutely correct. Maybe Washington was wider from back before the viaduct went in at Dempster, but Washington is much wider than it needs to be. They anticipate taking advantage of that with pavement markings and staging the northbound lane about six feet off the end of those spaces. Not perfect, but a pretty good compromise solution. Trustee Murphy asked to go back over the sales tax revenues for Niles. He has two reports that don’t jibe to what is being talked about. Attorney Kolpak stated that he did the real estate taxes, and Mr. Park is not here to discuss the sales tax. He can look at what was given. He thinks Mr. Park figured 200 rooms at 70 percent occupancy, so they are talking about roughly 140 rooms at $150 (he apologized because the answer to that question was not generated by his office - he generated the real estate tax but not the sales tax). Trustee Murphy stated that he should know that sales tax is always the number one item on their agenda. President Blase asked if Trustee Murphy was limiting his question to just the hotel or to the whole operation. Trustee Murphy responded the whole operation. Trustee Preston referred to the tab called Income Projections in the book, under Assi Hotel, the first one has income projections, but the second page called Hotel Operation Monthly Projected Income gives you a breakdown by the value of the room, the percentage, and the projected income. 9  July 22, 2008 Attorney Kolpak added if we’re looking at $125 per day you are looking at $530,000 per month in estimated revenue times 12 which would give you $6 million, and 2 percent of $6 million is $120,000, and you are also looking at a banquet hall and some retail. In the middle, he comes up with $120,000 and if he goes to the high end he can come up with $145,000, plus a banquet hall and retail, and a spa and another 12,800 feet of additional retail space that will be in there. Attorney Kolpak added that if we took the low end at $125 and we generate over $6 million at 2 percent that’s $120,000. That’s not counting what we’ve done with the coffee shop and everything else which will generate another $600,000, so we’re up to $135 at the low end and $152 at the high end and we’re not counting the other building with approximately 13,000 square feet that is also going to be retail and we don’t have the numbers in for that. Trustee Murphy added that the other advantage that is here is in tax for District 63 which benefits the community. Attorney Kolpak stated that when he was doing this for the real estate taxes, he thought he missed a decimal, because he was coming up with $1.5 million, and then he realized if it’s worth $25 million and the taxing body is at 6 percent, that’s $1.5 million. Attorney Kolpak was quite shocked that you are looking at over $1 million going to the two school districts in increase. Attorney Kolpak says if anybody asked what it’s going to do to his taxes, well the school district has $1 million more than they had before and maybe they won’t have to come back and ask for more money, or maybe they do. But at least there is $1 million more in their budget. Trustee Preston asked Mr. Hamilton about Exhibit 7 called Total Traffic Year 2015 and asked if there is total traffic for something sooner than 2015 and why did they pick 2015? Mr. Hamilton stated that 2015 is a planning horizon that they typically use that would be full build-out, they could use a 20 year horizon. Trustee Preston asked, were they talking Phase IV of the total build-out of Assi Plaza? Yes, their data is based on build-out. Trustee Preston asked about the traffic light at Ballard and Washington, there is a stop sign there and there are numerous stop signs that are going in at the egresses around the property. She attended the May and July Zoning Board meetings, and because the minutes of the Zoning Board meeting have not been approved yet by the Plan Commission, she listened to the entire tape to refresh her memory and to know what was really going on. Trustee Preston had a 10  July 22, 2008 question for the Police Chief about the stop signs and there was a comment about cars rolling through the stop sign at Washington and Ballard, is there a possibility, within the realm of the law, that we could put cameras at that stop sign and people who violate the stop signs could then be ticketed both there and on Dempster, where the sign says Do Not Block Intersection, and they do it all the time? Police Chief Strzelecki stated that the only camera enforcement that he knows about right now that is legal by the State of Illinois is the red light cameras. He’s never heard anything about the stop sign cameras. Mr. Hamilton added that Gewalt Hamilton is one of the state contractors who actually install the intersection red light cameras, and today in Illinois that is all that is permitted. The only other photo cop permitted is in a construction zone and then you have to have an officer in attendance in order to do that. Illinois has not gone to any other automatic or remote enforcement, not that we can’t in the future, but today they do not. Trustee Preston stated that she served on the Milwaukee Avenue Redevelopment Plan Committee and they worked on that for 14 months, of which Trustee Biederman was the chairperson, and they just finished that up in February and included Milwaukee Avenue from Imlay to Monroe. They don’t have an official plan from Monroe north but that’s something that in the soon future. A couple of years ago they had a Camiros Plan, which Steve Vinezeano put together and the Board approved, and they had dreams for what the rest of Milwaukee Avenue was going to look like. This particular piece of land looked a whole lot different than what is here tonight. What they were really concerned with, as was IDOT, was the flow of traffic on Milwaukee Avenue and the concern of the bus transportation on Milwaukee Avenue. In all the paperwork and the verbiage, nobody has mentioned anything about the Pace Bus 270. She knows that the Pace Bus 270 stops two places in that area on Milwaukee Avenue: just west of the Dempster intersection picking up passengers who have been going west on Dempster and now are going to catch the 270 bus to connect to go north on Milwaukee and, of course, people get off at night, as she’s ridden this bus; and the second place that the bus stops is at the corner of Ballard and Milwaukee. Her question is: what kind of idea is there for taking into consideration the bus traffic and the bus stops? Mr. Hamilton stated that there was a sidewalk proposed by the developer along the south side of Ballard, and he got the question earlier today from Village staff about whether they 11  July 22, 2008 could they fit one in along the east side of Milwaukee and the answer is, yes, they could. Trustee Preston added that that question came from her. He added that, as a result of that, they would have sidewalk on all four sides – some of it carriage walks and some of it offset, but there would be sidewalk on all four sides. If you’re going to have a bus operation, having a sidewalk with the pedestrians able to get to it and away from it is a really good thing. From that point of view, they are making the bus more desirable and more efficient. They don’t have any pullouts for buses, and typically they don’t do those. They have proposed bus stop shelters, and that is something we could certainly ask for. Trustee Preston questioned whether the extra lane at the south end of that property that the bus uses, which is not a bus pullout, will stay there? Mr. Hamilton responded that will continue and is essentially a long right turn bay that comes from the Dempster frontage road up to their center entrance. Trustee Preston stated that the Milwaukee Avenue Redevelopment project is to make Niles a walking community or more of a walking community, and with condominiums right across the street who will be using Assi Plaza, they certainly need a sidewalk to walk on as do the neighbors just south of Dempster Street. Then we would have to amend any proposal that we would have here to say that a sidewalk must go in on Milwaukee Avenue. Trustee LoVerde asked Mr. Hamilton is there was any consideration or research done in terms of a traffic signal that would be located on the east side of Washington at Dempster. The concern when he was at the Zoning Board hearing was the amount of traffic that is going to backup when you’re coming out of the center. His question: is there a traffic signal that could be installed on the east side that would be synchronized with the current existing light that would allow traffic to come out freely before it all backs up on Dempster? Mr. Hamilton responded that the problem is that there is a fairly short amount of green phase available for eastbound Dempster frontage road and there is a fairly heavy demand coming off of the through lanes of Dempster, so that if you put a signal there it would let them be a little more orderly, but it isn’t going to get them through the point of constraint any faster. The day that the viaduct was built many years ago with the diamond interchange was the day the capacity was set. There is not much you can do to increase that capacity unless you decrease the efficiency of Milwaukee, and if you talk to 12  July 22, 2008 the State you’re going to find that is not a very popular suggestion. Trustee LoVerde asked Attorney Kolpak that, in light of the current economy, does his client anticipate construction of the entire development in continuous phases. Attorney Kolpak stated that his understanding is in talking to the partners out east that their financing is already completed. Trustee LoVerde asked Chuck Ostman to confirm that, from a Village standpoint, the parking structure would have to be built some time prior to any additional buildings? Mr. Ostman, stated absolutely, there would have to be sufficient parking. Trustee Callero questioned whether the financing was definite. Attorney Kolpak stated that his understanding from talking to the partner from the east coast who flew in for the Zoning Board is the answer is “yes” - an $80 million project at this time, and he thinks it’s a done deal. Trustee Przybylo asked a question related to the business plan. He understands the Assi food mart and the concept of Asian food and the popularity that it holds with many people, not only Asians, but Americans of European decent.; but he doesn’t understand the hotel and the banquet and the health club concept. What are they trying to attain here and what’s going on? Attorney Kolpak candidly responded that he asked that when he first got involved and Mr. Kim explained it to him. He said we may have noticed that a lot of the businessmen have purchased a number of our buildings in the industrial area and they feel very strongly that this is going to be world class spa. He asked the question because he was interested, and he remembers that many years ago he was before this Board and they were talking about a spa going behind Women’s Workout World, and he asked, what’s the difference between an Asian spa? Essentially, his understanding is that if he sent his wife to a spa she could do all the things that she could get at Mario Tricoci over there. In addition, there are certain spa rooms that are like family rooms where a whole family would come in and steam and do things together that are with the Asian culture. Mr. Kim feels very strongly that he is going to attract from a seven state area and that people are going to fly in to O’Hare, stay at the hotel, and plan these spa weekends, and that the businessmen are going to come in. In part of the economic impact study, there was a list of hotels and, quite candidly, Niles is underserved by what he calls a medium priced hotel. We don’t have that in Niles, 13  July 22, 2008 and he feels very strongly that is his market. Trustee Przybylo summarized that this is not essentially a Korean cultural center then, but a center that is going to cater to all types of people. Attorney Kolpak confirmed this and is hoping that he’ll go there sometime and he and that Mr. Kim discussed that it’s not going to be designated for just the Asian community, everyone will be welcome there. The store carries a lot of Asian things, there is not just Asian buying in that store, it’s open to a broad market and he thinks we are going to find the same thing with the spa. Trustee Biederman asked if there is some type of membership that you need to have to be associated with this spa, as there is a chart that lists an Admission Fee? Attorney Kolpak stated that in his conversations with Mr. Kim that it’s not going to be like a Women’s Workout World or a spa, but if you’re part of the hotel you can use the spa, or if he wanted to send his wife there, he could. You will pay as you walk in, there won’t be a membership fee. Trustee Biederman referred to another chart that shows that on the weekend usage they estimate only for the spa 1,614 people? And the weekday spa shows 712, is that correct? And what is that chart trying to indicate? Attorney Kolpak did not know and could not answer the question. He agreed 1,000 people on a weekend would seem a lot to him. Trustee Biederman stated that it also talks about a movie theatre in there, is that additional? Michael Kim, President of Assi Plaza, came up to answer the question but Attorney Kolpak responded that there will be no movie theatre. Trustee Biederman also asked about the plastic surgery listed with a well-being clinic? Mr. Kim stated that it is not going to be there. Attorney Kolpak responded that there will no doctors or plastic surgery. Trustee Biederman responded that it says so right there. Attorney Kolpak stated there are going to be things that a nonmedical person can administer. Trustee Biederman asked if this person is going to be Board-certified. Attorney Kolpak responded that anyone there that requires a license from the State of Illinois or the Village of Niles will comply. He stated that they are not going to come up with a 200-room hotel and a world-class spa and get put out of business. That’s bad business. Trustee Biederman also asked about the meeting rooms – there are two rooms for 200 square feet, so that can be in addition with the usage of the 1,614 people. Does that number include these meeting rooms being used? Attorney Kolpak 14  July 22, 2008 responded that if that number is a valid number it would include everyone and not be in addition. Trustee Biederman said it stated that it says 300 people for the banquet room and then there are two meeting rooms. How many people can those two meeting rooms hold and the banquet facility? Attorney Kolpak answered that what would typically happen in one of these meetings is that you would be at the hotel, and now you have a sales meeting, you are going to come down from the hotel and go into this meeting, etc. Trustee Biederman understands the protocol; she is asking how many people can go in the meeting rooms besides the 300-seat banquet room? Mr. Kim, the Vice President of Saang Architects, stated that this plan was developed a long time ago and they actually changed the scale of the whole spa. It was a 60,000 square foot 3-story building, but now they are proposing a 2-story building at 25,000 square feet. So, actually the meeting rooms should be smaller than the proposal that the Board has. He thinks that these meeting rooms will hold less than 50 people. Trustee Biederman asked about the ones by the banquet room. Mr. Kim responded about 500 total for the two. Trustee Preston followed up on the comments that have been made. They have referred to a number of pages in the book that the Trustees received on July 16, and a number of the testifiers have said “no we are not doing that” and somebody else has said, “no those numbers aren’t right,” etc. Who has the current, up-to-date packet that she has to vote on? Because she can’t vote on something that says “no that’s not it, that’s been changed” and “this is a different number and this and this and this”. Where is the piece of paper that she is voting on tonight? Attorney Kolpak responded that this has been in the last two months an evolving project. A project that has shown dramatic size, the corner building at one point is 3 stories – everything was bigger and it’s been shrunk in order to meet parking and the traffic flow requirements. Attorney Kolpak said that the answer to the question is that they are testifying today to whatever the questions are and he thinks that it has been his experience in the past that they don’t read into the record and say this is Exhibit A and they will vote on everything in Exhibit A (referring to the Assi Plaza Rezoning and Development Proposal binder). If they would like a book that details what they are testifying to they would be more than happy to produce that book. He added that their testimony is under oath, and not only is it under 15  July 22, 2008 oath, but when they come in for their building plans they have to build what they have developed as they planned or else they won’t get a building permit. If they come back here and say, oh by the way, it’s not 500 feet but it’s 1,000, then their parking is askew and they will never get their building permit. President Blase stated that they cannot accommodate Trustee Preston’s question and so they will have to vote the way they want to vote depending on the information they have received. President Blase stated that normally under Robert’s Rules of Order we would not necessarily have to have public reaction to this because they have already done all of that. But, because the way we do business, we want to hear from the public, but we ask you to understand that we have read all of the information; you can tell just by the questions that have been asked that this Board hasn’t been sitting around doing nothing. They have read everything, including all the things that have been said in the previous meeting, so we are fully aware of all of that. President Blase asked if there was any group present that had a spokesman. They are will be allowed three minutes, and if it gets too repetitive, he will ask the Board for their vote. Resident Nancy Comita addressed the Board. She has been a resident of Niles for 36 years as well as a lot of her other neighbors. She reviewed the previous use of the Assi Plaza property. In 1960 it was originally a trailer park, then a Memco, Eagle, PharMor, McDades, Sports Authority, and now Assi Food Market. There have been different restaurants, Niles Auto Center and a beauty shop. All bringing revenue into the Village. As far as they are concerned, the Assi Plaza as planned in its entirety would be way too much commercial use and it is overbuilding. Last Friday, Ms. Comita gave the Board members a copy of a Petition with eight signatures to review. Mr. Ostman responded with a letter to all eight. She stated that the points he made are not completely clear. His response stated that the proposed development is to route the traffic out to Milwaukee Avenue reducing any significant impact to residential area. Yet, the drawing shows two exits from proposed hotel and parking garage emptying out onto Washington Street. It also states that the hotel customers, once checked in, travel very infrequently and the banquet facility would also experience low traffic counts once attending an event. She knows that when people check into a hotel, they are just not going to stay there – they will want to 16  July 22, 2008 go and see the area, especially downtown Chicago. Even families staying at the hotel to visit Lutheran General Hospital will be out and about in traffic. The spa and banquet hall will also have probably 100-150 cars coming and going in traffic. There is already a high two-story office building being erected adjacent to Assi Food Store. Why is it necessary to build another two-story office building with a drive-thru bank facility on the corner of Ballard and Milwaukee? It states that the banking facility with the proposed drive-thru window will not have any negative effect to the intersection; of course it will create more traffic out to Ballard and Milwaukee. She asked, why not just set up the bank in the Assi Food Store, like Dominick’s with a Chase branch, and Jewel has a TCF branch? Ms. Comita on behalf of the residents asked that the Board discuss their ideas and amend some of the issues that she’s discussed. She stated that we want this area to be safe for all, especially our children. She thanked the Board for giving her the opportunity to present this issue. She then handed Mayor Blase a petition with 232 signatures. (Petition is available upon request from the Village Clerk’s Office.) Sherwin Weinberg addressed the Board. He is a resident of Niles for 38 years and lives at 8839A Washington Street. He stated that the residents of Washington Street came to him about six months ago to try to relieve the parking situation. He and Attorney Kolpak and Mr. Kim have come to an agreement of 72 spaces to be established on the Assi property and 40 more on Washington Street. They also have 102 spaces in back of their complex, where the Village provided a brand new alley and spaces last year. It should be more than enough parking for the residents on Washington Street. Leonard Galati spoke on behalf of the Wisner Street residents. One of the problems that they have is flooding on Wisner Street, and there next concern is parking. He stated that it looks like they’ve been forgotten. There is not enough parking for anyone and also from the overcrowding on Washington it is going to trickle down into Wisner Street and where do they go from there? They have no where to go. He became interested in this project from day one with Attorney Kolpak at White Eagle. They addressed the sidewalk, it was their idea and the parking, all because they care enough to take their time and get involved. He remembers when they would ask a question; Attorney Kolpak would get all nervous like they were a big bother for him. But they have to live in this area. He owns rental property and lives in this area and they 17  July 22, 2008 know all about the traffic and everything. Rosemary Palicki, 8246 N. Merrill, and a resident for 32 years addressed the Board. In regard to tonight’s issue, it was said that Niles’ typical response to businesses is to say “yes” to produce viable businesses, and as one of the Trustees said, sales tax is always the number one item on the Board’s agenda. She knows that as she has been coming to meetings for two years and it is always first and foremost and as a tax payer she is glad, but she thinks we also need to consider the quality of life of the residents that are in this area. She pointed to the diagram and asked if it showed that there are houses here and that all those people are going to be affected. Someone said that the Kim development will not be able to solve the parking problem, but they will try to be a good neighbor. You can’t be a good neighbor if you affect the quality of life of the people that are there. She stated that they talked about the parking in downtown Park Ridge being viable, it’s diagonal, but it’s not residential, its businesses and a public downtown area. Ms. Palicki stated that this Board tonight has a chance to step back and consider not only sales tax, which is important, but to consider that the electorate has come out and has been coming out to many meetings and expressing their opposition or wish for change. She really thinks that it is their charge, as elected officials, to balance sales tax with what the people want. In today’s economy we can’t afford to risk residential property values going down even more in order to raise sales tax. She stated that this is their charge and this is what they need to consider and they need to vote on both issues and not just one. Bob Zimmer on Lauren Lane addressed the Board. He is a veteran that served in the Korean War and the one who caused such a commotion during the meeting on July 7th when he tried to express his views. What started out as a meeting held by the Zoning Commission to discuss parking restrictions alongside Assi Plaza affecting less than 200 people, quickly developed into an elaborate presentation with large maps and fancy drawings by a group of Mr. Kim’s consultants showing what his $80 million complex would look like. It quickly became obvious to him that a great deal of money was already spread around on the project and his words would have no impact. If Mr. Callero would at least allow the 30,000 citizens of Niles to vote on this project in a referendum to be held in two months, he would be satisfied with their final decision as should Mr. Callero as well. Further, he would like to publicly 18  July 22, 2008 apologize to the 30,000 Niles citizens for his inability to inform or excite all the TV stations, newspapers, and politicians in the area that he tried to contact. They have absolutely no idea what this will do to Niles, because the media could care less in the all American City of Niles. How sad. Trustee Preston asked again what she was actually voting on tonight, and she asked Mr. Ostman what happens regarding the questions that they’ve raised and the actual documents and how they will be resolved. Mr. Ostman responded that this is the latest package with the latest site plan, and over the last 90 days, as Attorney Kolpak indicated there were a lot of changes especially to the size of the spa area and that’s why the numbers don’t match up and even the floor plans and diagrams provided. Mr. Ostman referred to a memo towards the front of the book and he indicated that due to the changes in the downsizing of the spa, the prospective view of the spa and the floor plan is just a sampling of what is inside. President Blase stated that as long as this has not been presented as Exhibit 1 and has just been used to facilitate the discussion, then there is nothing they can do about the technicality that they don’t have what they think they should have. President Blase stated that a motion was made and seconded. On roll call, the vote was: AYES 4 Callero, LoVerde, Murphy, Przybylo NAYS 2 Biederman, Preston ABSENT 0 Trustee comments: Trustee Biederman added that this project is way too large for this site and she thinks the parking is going to be a nightmare and the congestion. Trustee Preston cannot vote until she has more specific information. She received the information on July 16 and it should have been as up-to-date as possible. Trustee LoVerde commented that as a Trustee he took an oath personally to do what was in the best interest and to the best of his ability for the entire community. And in all the years he’s been around construction and in this industry, he’s never seen 19  July 22, 2008 a developer respond so cooperatively and generously to every concern raised by every resident, every staff person of the Village, and every community organization. Trustee LoVerde believes it is their responsibility to make sure that they generate the needed required dollars to provide the continued quality services that this Village is accustomed to, so he voted yes. Trustee Przybylo commented that he knows it is going to be different and a lot of people may think there is a lot of density here. But the fact of the matter is that it is a workable plan and staff would not have looked at it and agreed to it as they have if it wasn’t workable. There will be some impact but he does not believe it’s going to be an impact that is going to negate the quality of your life in that area. He thinks the parking is adequate and he thinks that we should be very fortunate to have this kind of investment in the year 2008 when world economy is falling apart. So he voted yes and is hoping it is going to be a big success. There being 4 affirmative votes, the MOTION CARRIED. President Blase thanked everyone who took the time to come and knows that they don’t all feel well about this, but rest assured that we care about you and we will certainly do everything we can to make this work properly for you. Upon leaving, one resident wanted to go on record with the comment that she certainly hoped that this was not at our children’s expense. Amend Chapter 98 Traffic Trustee LoVerde stated that this ordinance allows the Village and Vehicles, Prohibition of to charge a license storage fee to any motor vehicle that is Motorized Vehicle Storage stored for longer than seven days. The annual Village fee for and Fees storage is $100.00. Exceptions to this ordinance can be obtained through the Village Administration. Trustee LoVerde made a motion, seconded by Trustee Callero, to adopt the ordinance amending Chapter 98 Traffic and Vehicles Prohibition of Motorized Vehicle Storage and Fees. President Blase added that one of the things we are trying to address is the Ford property that is vacant on Touhy Avenue and is now being used for storage by someone who is paying the landlord and making the landlord not very quick in trying to rent or sell the property. 20  July 22, 2008 On roll call, the vote was: AYES 6 Biederman, Callero, LoVerde, Murphy, Preston, Przybylo NAYS 0 ABSENT 0 There being 6 affirmative votes, the MOTION CARRIED. Amend Zoning Ordinance, Trustee Przybylo stated that this is an amendment to our Section IX Manufacturing Zoning Ordinance, Section IX Manufacturing District by District – Permitted and adding sports and recreational facilities and equipment rental Special Uses to permitted use and automobile sales, warehouse sales and restaurant to special use. President Blase stated that in the industrial area of Caldwell and Howard (which is now a manufacturing district) there is a clothing operation that wants to go on that corner for retail sales, and an auto agency that wants to go next to that. Normally this not allowed in the manufacturing district so want to make it part of Special Use in Manufacturing to allow this kind of a use. Trustee Przybylo made a motion, seconded by Trustee Biederman, to adopt the ordinance amending Zoning Ordinance, Section IX Manufacturing District - Permitted and Special Uses. On roll call, the vote was: AYES 6 Biederman, Callero, LoVerde, Murphy Preston, Przybylo NAYS 0 ABSENT 0 There being 6 affirmative votes, the MOTION CARRIED. Resolution Supporting the Trustee Preston stated that in an effort to help secure the 2016 City of Chicago’s Bid for Olympics and demonstrate strong regional support for this the 2016 Olympic and once-in-a-lifetime event. The Metropolitan Mayors Caucus Paralympic Games 2016 Regional Coordinating Committee has asked the Village of Niles to support the City of Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. This resolution will be included in the official bid packet that will be submitted to the International Olympic Committee. The Northwest Municipal Conference is on record earlier this spring as encouraging all of its members to support Chicago’s Bid for the Olympics. Trustee Preston, made a motion, seconded by Trustee Murphy, to support the City of Chicago’s Bid for the 2016 Olympic and 21  July 22, 2008 Paralympic Games. On roll call, the vote was: AYES 6 Biederman, Callero, LoVerde, Murphy, Preston, Przybylo NAYS 0 ABSENT 0 There being 6 affirmative votes, the MOTION CARRIED. Waive Permit Fees for Notre Trustee Murphy stated that this a request from Notre Dame Dame High School for High School to waive permit fees in an estimated amount of Remodeling and Construction $7,857.00 for the interior remodeling of new classrooms and of a Grotto the construction of a new exterior grotto. Trustee Murphy made a motion, seconded by Trustee LoVerde, to waive the permit fees for Notre Dame High School for remodeling and construction of a grotto. On roll call, the vote was: AYES 6 Biederman, Callero, LoVerde, Murphy, Preston, Przybylo NAYS 0 ABSENT 0 There being 6 affirmative votes, the MOTION CARRIED. Renew Teen Center Lease Trustee Biederman stated that Village Administration is Agreement requesting Board approval to renew the lease agreement with General Growth Properties for the Teen Center space at Golf Mill Mall. The renewal term for this lease will be July 1, 2008, to June 30, 2009. Rent was increased from $700.00 to $735.00 per month, but all other terms and conditions of the lease remain the same. Trustee Biederman made a motion, seconded by Trustee Preston, to approve the renewal of the lease agreement with General Growth Properties for the Teen Center. Trustee LoVerde asked what the reason was for not entering into a longer term lease. George Van Geem responded that since it’s not a mature program yet, we thought it was advisable not to lock in for a longer term lease. He can see that happening a few years down the road. On roll call, the vote was: 22  July 22, 2008 AYES 6 Biederman, Callero, LoVerde, Murphy, Preston, Przybylo NAYS 0 ABSENT 0 There being 6 affirmative votes, the MOTION CARRIED. Bid Award - 2008 Water Main Trustee Preston stated that we received six bids for the 2008 Improvement Program Water Main Improvement Program with the low bidder being Lampignano & Son Construction Co. in the amount of $300,430.00. It is a budgeted amount at $340,000.00 with a savings of $39,570.00. Trustee Preston made a motion, seconded by Trustee Biederman, to award the contract for the 2008 Water Main Improvement Program to Lampignano & Son Construction Co. in the amount of $300,430.00. On roll call, the vote was: AYES 6 Biederman, Callero, LoVerde, Murphy, Preston, Przybylo NAYS 0 ABSENT 0 There being 6 affirmative votes, the MOTION CARRIED. Bid Award – Deconstruction, Trustee Callero stated that this is a request to award the Removal and Disposal of Salt contract for deconstruction, removal and disposal of the salt Dome Roofing Structure dome roofing structure to LoVerde Construction in the amount of $17,711.00. That is $711.00 above budget. Trustee Callero stated that we went out for bid and only had one bidder and that was LoVerde Construction. Trustee Callero asked Scott Jochim, Public Services Director, why there was only one bidder, and he stated that no one else came in. Mr. Jochim explained that he actually went out seeking additional bidders, by stopping at a house that was being demolished in Niles and also in Northbrook, but neither was interested. Mr. Jochim also asked Lampignano, however they could not fit it into their schedule, since this project has to be demolished in the next month because Dome Corporation will be coming in to install the new dome. Originally the Dome Corporation gave us a bid just as a service to us in the amount of $19,000.00. Trustee Callero also asked why this was higher than last month’s bid by LoVerde Construction for $14,000.00, and the answer is that the trucking fees have gone up in gas and the builders are much more active now. Last month, LoVerde could have fit it in a two-month’s time, at his 23  July 22, 2008 schedule, now it has to be done in one month’s time because of the new salt dome coming in. LoVerde Construction demolished the salt dome in Arlington Heights and they were very happy with them and satisfied with the results. There may also be overtime because of the time constraints. Trustee Callero made a motion, seconded by Trustee Przybylo to award the contract for the deconstruction, removal, and disposal of the salt dome roofing structure to LoVerde Construction in the amount of $17,711.00. Before Trustee LoVerde voted, he asked the Clerk to make the following statement part of the public record: “As of December of 1997, I have no ownership interest, no beneficial or financial interest in LoVerde Construction Company, Inc.” Trustee Joe LoVerde On roll call, the vote was: AYES 5 Callero, LoVerde, Murphy, Preston, Przybylo NAYS 1 Biederman ABSENT 0 There being 5 affirmative votes, the MOTION CARRIED. Trustee Biederman would have liked to see more bids presented. Contract for GIS Internet Trustee Callero stated that this is a request to authorize Platform Ruekert-Mielke Engineering to develop a customized data storage and retrieval system for both staff and Niles residents. All data will be protected with appropriate security. Trustee Callero is one of the co-chairmen of the GIS Committee and they unanimously endorsed the project and this consultant. Ruekert-Mielke has done work for 60 communities in Illinois and Wisconsin, including Evanston, Barrington, Lake Forest and Wauconda. They will use all of our information developed under our GIS system and put it on a platform to be used interchangeably by Public Works, Community Development, and Engineering. Police and Fire aren’t ready yet, because they are developed under their own systems. It also puts information on our citizen website for current and potential residents, including school districts, voting districts, polling places, bus schedules, etc. If we were to buy additional software to do all of this, we received a bid from 24  July 22, 2008 Alltek Systems for $109,815.00. Ruekert-Milke will work with us and will do a lot of the work in-house. The budgeted about is $20,000.00; this request is for $19,950.00. Trustee Callero made a motion, seconded by Trustee LoVerde, to approve the contract with Ruekert-Mielke Engineering for a GIS Internet Platform in the amount of $19,950.00. On roll call, the vote was: AYES 6 Biederman, Callero, LoVerde, Murphy, Preston, Przybylo NAYS 0 ABSENT 0 There being 6 affirmative votes, the MOTION CARRIED. PETITIONS FOR President Blase stated there is one Petition for Referral to the REFERRAL Plan Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals, and the application fee has been paid: 08-ZP-11 Byung Duk Joe Special Use to Open Up a Car Rental Business 7958 N. Waukegan Road Trustee Preston made a motion, seconded by Trustee Biederman, to refer petition 08-ZP-11 to the Plan Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals. On roll call, the vote was: AYES 6 Biederman, Callero, LoVerde, Murphy, Preston, Przybylo NAYS 0 ABSENT 0 There being 6 affirmative votes, the MOTION CARRIED. FINANCIAL REPORT Trustee Callero stated that the Accounts Payable for the month of June 2008 were $4,219,306.28. The ending cash balance as of June 30, 2008, was $36,716,144.20. Trustee Callero made a motion, seconded by Trustee Murphy, that the Accounts Payable for the month of June 2008 be approved for payment and the Treasurer’s Report filed for 25  July 22, 2008 audit. On roll call, the vote was: AYES 6 Biederman, Callero, LoVerde, Murphy, Preston, Przybylo NAYS 0 ABSENT 0 There being 6 affirmative votes, the MOTION CARRIED. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Board, Motion to adjourn was made by Trustee Preston and seconded by Trustee Callero. On roll call, all concurred. The meeting adjourned at 9:27 p.m. ____________________________ ________________________________________ Village Clerk Acting Village President 26