Building & Zoning Committee

VILLAGE OF NILES 1000 Civic Center Drive Niles, IL 60714 www.vniles.com Meeting Minutes September 19, 2019 8:15 AM Village Hall BUILDING AND ZONING COMMITTEE MEETING Chairman Denise McCreery - Trustee Members Charles Ostman – Community Development Director Rich Wlodarski – Community Development Assistant Director Tom Kanelos – Chairman Planning and Zoning Hadley Skeffington–Vos – Deputy Village Manager Danielle Grcic – Village Attorney Rich Mangold – Resident Building and Zoning Meeting Minutes September 19, 2019 Committee Meeting CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL The Niles Building and Zoning Committee meeting was called to order at 8:20 AM. Present: 5- Chairman McCreery, Ostman, Wlodarski, Kanelos, Mangold, Guests: 1- Bill Przybylski (Chicago Billboards) Absent: 2- Hadley Skeffington-Vos, Danielle Grcic (arrived later) APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chairman McCreery asked for a motion to approve the minutes of August 15, 2019 meeting. Mangold moved to approve the minutes, Kanelos seconded. AYES: 5 - Chairman McCreery, Ostman, Wlodarski, Kanelos, Mangold NAYS: 0 ABSENT: 2 – Danielle Grcic, Hadley Skeffington Vos OLD BUSINESS I. Discussion on expiration of non-conforming Use Wlodarski addressed a question asked by McCreery in the previous meeting about being able to reduce the special use time from 6 months. He references an email from Village Attorney Grcic saying it would be possible through legal channels. Ostman cites examples of Grainger and a particular closed gas station exploiting a loophole by opening for one day to extend the 6 month clock. More discussion follows regarding preventing this and other potential loopholes. McCreery requests to look into closing the loophole but not remove a business owners legitimate opportunity to profit from the sale of their land/business. Motion table the discussion was made by Kanelos, seconded by {inaudible}. AYES: 5 - Chairman McCreery, Ostman, Wlodarski, Kanelos, Mangold NAYS: 0 ABSENT: 2 – Danielle Grcic, Hadley Skeffington Vos Village of Niles Page 2 of 4 Building and Zoning Meeting Minutes September 19, 2019 Committee Meeting II. Discussion amending 8.1 use table and 8.5 use definitions Ostman recapped this carry-over proposed amendment to expand the use table to include and/or exclude items from the use table without leaving too many uses open to interpretation. This will include adding more categories and beefing up definitions. Discussion and agreement was made to keep this as an old business item for next meeting. NEW BUSINESS I. Chicago Billboard Presentation Presentation by Bill Przybylski of Chicago Billboard for a Village Entryway Sign at no cost to Niles. Signs are designed and tailored to the Village’s needs and wants. All construction and maintenance is paid for by Chicago Billboards who in turn make money by selling advertising on the digital face. The Village will have one of the eight 10 second ad slots for Village branding. Advertising will be of local Niles located businesses that are not “adult-oriented” entertainment or not permitted by zoning code. Questions arose as to the definition of adult-oriented. Political ads are also prohibited. Discussion about various sizes of the sign and having the sign fit into the zoning code. Discussion continued onto contract length and potential early severance. II. Discussion on vacant land Wlodarski began by explaining, following a resident complaint, how Niles compares to other towns in handling vacant land. Ostman suggested that property should be beautified if it will sit as vacant property and not be redeveloped. Onus will fall on the property owner to maintain. Examples included Ideal Uniform, properties just South of United Transmission and Golf Mill Park. Discussion continued about possible solutions to vacant land becoming an eyesore. It was agreed to come with some possible ideas for the next meeting. III. Discussion on owner responsibilities for vacant property Ostman began discussion by proposing that language be inserted into code regarding owners’ responsibility to maintain vacant property to prevent it from becoming an eysesore. Language should provide teeth to be able to give tickets and issue fines for violations. A few examples were discussed and it was decided to continue this topic at a future meeting. Village of Niles Page 3 of 4 Building and Zoning Meeting Minutes September 19, 2019 Committee Meeting IV. Discussion on Use Matrix 8.2 (B0 Non-Retail Use within 250’ of intersections on corner properties Kanelos began discussion by explaining that many of the past several months Planning and Zoning Boards variance requests have been for non-retail use within 250 feet of an intersection. Suggested a decision be made whether to stick with this policy or change it due to the fact that nearly all variance requests have been approved. Ostman said that the language does help at various times citing an example at Milwaukee and Oakton. Another suggestion by {inaudible} was of keeping a space retail for a certain amount of time before it become available to non-retail use. Chairman McCreery suggested it is in the best interest of the Village of Niles that the Village maintain some control over these special use requests. Ostman stated there is case law supporting that it must remain retail. PUBLIC COMMENT None NEXT MEETING DATE – Thursday, October 24, 2019. ADJOURNMENT Chairman McCreery asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:35 AM. Rich Mangold moved to adjourn. Seconded by Rich Wlodarski. Roll call was: AYES: 5 - Chairman McCreery, Ostman, Wlodarski, Mangold NAYS: 0 ABSENT: 2 – Skeffington-Vos, Kanelos (departed early), Grcic (departed early) Village of Niles Page 4 of 4