Economic Development Committee

1 APPROVED 2 MINUTES OF THE NORTHBROOK ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION 3 Village Hall Terrace Room 4 July 8, 2015 5 Members Present: Chairman James Kahan, Jessica Donato, Edwin Feld, Tensley Garris, Mike Gold, Jay 6 Glaubinger, Kate Hall, Judy Hughes, Cathy Lauria, Tracy Mullen, Karen Roloff, Richard Rushkewicz, 7 Hillarie Siene, Joel Taub, Brian Wegley, Chris Young and Paul Zima. 8 Staff Present: David Schoon 9 Guests: None 10 Recorder: S. Anetsberger 11 Review of Minutes: 12 Member Roloff asked for recognition of the following comments under the section Roll of the EDC: 1) 13 Member Roloff asked that it be noted that she introduced the discussion on the comments made by 14 Sandy Frum on why new development is good. 1) She also asked that it be noted that she suggested the 15 Village publicize in the Northbrook Newsletter as well as sending messages to the local media regarding 16 all of the proposed development projects and their benefits. 17 Under the section New Business, Member Roloff makes notice that President Frum states she is 18 reaching out to new business constituents but suggests it should probably be corrected to read 19 "reaching out to our representatives". 20 On a motion made and seconded with two members abstaining, the minutes from the April 8, 2015 21 meeting were approved with corrections. 22 Public Comment-Hear from the Audience - None 23 Community Planning & Economic Development Coordinator Report 24 David Schoon, Village Staff Liaison provided updates regarding the following Commercial Developments: 25 (1) NorthShore 770 continues to move along. Three business have already opened: Noodles & Co., 26 Sleepy's, and Zengeler. Chipotle is scheduled to open soon; (2) the Marathon at Dundee & Skokie 27 appears to be getting closer to working out the details regarding environmental concern issues with RIC; 28 (3) 1000 Skokie went before the Plan Commission for their first public hearing. The development 29 includes Children's Learning Adventure, Lifetime Fitness and a 338-unit apartment complex. One 30 neighbor spoke on behalf of the neighborhood, and one representative from Open Communities spoke 31 addressing the request for affordable housing; (4) Dunkin Donuts at Pfingsten and Dundee should have a 32 building permit issued shortly; (5) Metro Self Storage on south Shermer is in for a permit after being 33 approved by the Village Board. A formal application was received for a self storage facility, Lock Up, 34 located at Sunset Ridge and Skokie Blvd. A formal application has yet to be received for a self-storage 35 facility at Lake Cook and Sanders; (6) Waterway Car Wash/Gas Station is under construction; (7) 36 Meadow Park Office Complex at 1131 Techny is under construction. Lurie Out-Patient Clinic plans to  1 open in early fall and Bright Horizon Day Care is planning to open a month or so later; (8) A proposal was 2 received for the Willow Festival shopping center; Kids' Science Lab desires to provide programming for 3 kids in a fun way to learn about science. Residential Developments under consideration or construction 4 include: (9) Assisted Living Facility – Nortbrook Inn Memory Care Center is under construction; (10) 5 Timber's Edge KZF received approval from the Board. They are waiting for approval documents to be 6 recorded so infrastructure improvements may begin; (11) E. R. James proposal at Voltz and Waukegan 7 Rd. has been to the Plan Commission twice. The issues have been dealing with the design of the planned 8 development to preserve the woods on the western edge and place the density on the remainder of the 9 site. The applicant will come back on July 21; (12) Staff is waiting on The Lodge to re-submit their revised 10 plans for Phases 4-5 for an additional 50 units; (13) Jacobs homes project on Shermer is in for final 11 formal application approval. The development will include 76 townhomes and a two-story office 12 building; (14) Red Seal Mission Hills - staff is in the process of reviewing the final plat and engineering 13 prior to Plan Commission and Board consideration; (15) Class 6B Status Report included the following: 14 1880 Holste applied and received 6B, 1885 Holste was purchased and rezoned to allow for a physical 15 fitness use, 1829 Stanley was purchased by Maurice Sporting Goods, 1808-50 is 90,000 sq. ft. and is 15 % 16 occupied and is currently in for rezoning, 237 Melvin building remains vacant, 3411 Woodhead is 17 120,000 sq. ft. and has been vacant for three years, 3005 MacArthur is still owned by a church and pays 18 no property tax; (16) Downtown Plan - Zoning Code Amendments - A Form Based Code looks at the 19 forms of the buildings and their relationship to the street. In some areas a pedestrian orientation is 20 more desirable. The code is more prescriptive in terms of design than what is currently required. The 21 Board will revisit the item later this summer/early fall. (17) Schoon reviewed proposed enhancements to 22 Zoning Procedures regarding special permits; (18) Schoon also reviewed a recent Zoning Code 23 amendment to allow Administrative Variations by staff; (19) ICDC completed 22 business visits within 24 Northbrook. Common themes were identified. They include the hardship of finding employees across all 25 types of businesses and issues with internet service and power service. ICDC continues the visits and will 26 report their findings. Member Roloff questioned if the businesses should be asked "their views on 27 development activity and if they see it as important;" (20) New Enterprise Resources Planning Software 28 (ERP)System - New implementation of Village wide software for functions from financing, building 29 permits, to business licenses. The software will help track where projects are in the process; (21) The 30 Facebook Shop Northbrook campaign continues as a partnership with the Chamber of Commerce. 31 Identifying Ways to Promote Economic Development in the Community 32 Chairman Kahan focused that the end goal of EDC is simply defined as retaining those existing 33 nonresidential revenue sources in the community and encouraging new nonresidential revenue sources 34 in the community. Suggestions for the following areas for achievement are: a) invite outside speakers to 35 EDC meetings to help the committee achieve its objectives; b) outreach in various forms to taxing bodies 36 or the community more broadly to explain the message why economic development is important in the 37 community; c) how new business activity is helping the community and why it is helpful. Chairman 38 Kahan requested ideas. Member Rushkewicz offered that approximately ten years ago a plan was 39 developed by EDC and perhaps it could be revisited and reviewed.  1 Member Zima offered that the Park District very rarely receives a bid from a Northbrook business on 2 proposed Northbrook Park District projects and asked if there was a way to consolidate a list of future 3 projects that become available for public bidding and to promote awareness of the projects to local 4 trades people. Awareness could be built upon in our local area. The Committee discussed the State of 5 Illinois mandate that Illinois schools use prevailing wage. Member Hall stated that some folks walk away 6 from projects requiring prevailing wage. Member Garris offered the Chamber website and electronic 7 newsletter to promote awareness. She shared that there are a number of tools, communication 8 vehicles, and meetings already in place to provide an opportunity to promote projects out for bid. David 9 Schoon, Village Staff Liaison regularly sends out a business newsletter. Member Hall suggested putting 10 together a calendar. 11 Member Hall offered the use of the Library to highlight EDC initiatives and suggested the use of other 12 public venues, i.e. Farmers Market. Member Hughes offered that she receives a monthly column in the 13 Tower and could highlight the economic development activity. David Schoon, Village Staff Liaison 14 recently met with a representative from the Small Business Administration to discuss services what they 15 provide. The SBA has a particular program that educates businesses on how to bid for public contracts at 16 the local, state and federal levels. Member Roloff stated that understanding the language can often be 17 an obstruction. Member Feld investigated other EDCs and found that some have a greater area of 18 responsibility. He questioned what is the niche of this Committee and what the Committee could do 19 that would be beneficial so all would feel good about providing EDC services. Chairman Kahan will follow 20 up on ideas. 21 Updates from Each Taxing District 22 Library - The Library held a grand opening for their new spaces in June. They are fully functioning. New 23 painting is planned for the building's exterior as well as repaving of the parking lot. Groups can book the 24 community rooms beginning July 15. The Civic Room seats 40 persons and the Pollak AB can seat 100 25 persons or split into (A and/or B) for 50 persons. Small study rooms seat 4-8 persons. Many business 26 resources are available. Over 2,000 kids signed up for summer reading at the Library. 27 District #30 - The district is rolling out their 1:1 iPad program down to grade three. A full day 28 kindergarten program will begin this Fall. Wescott School will receive new carpeting and new flooring. 29 District #27 - A 5-10 year capital improvement plan is in place. The fund balance remains solid. One new 30 teacher has been hired. Full day kindergarten will begin this fall. 31 District #31 - A system assessment identified strengths and opportunity. A new 5-7 year strategic plan 32 has been implemented that is more comprehensive. $4 million in bonds were issued in June. Field 33 School and a portion of Winkelman school will receive a new HVAC system. A third preschool program 34 and full day kindergarten were both added. Two new full time classroom teachers may be added due to 35 increasing enrollment. A five year technology project was entered into with Genesis Technologies. K-2nd 36 grades will receive iPads.  1 District#28 - Summer school is proceeding well. No major capital projects are planned. The District is in 2 the process of studying full day kindergarten. 3 District#225 - Summer school is in full swing at GBS this year. Two new principals were hired, Lauren 4 Sternfeld Fagel at GBS and Dr. John Freeman at GBN. The District is keeping an eye on Springfield 5 regarding the property tax freeze. The Board is watching the actions of the Governor and the state 6 budget. 7 Park District - The July 4 weekend went great. 400 runners participated in the Liberty Loop Race. 84 8 entries were in the parade. Golf through June is up 1200 rounds. 2500 kids are participating in summer 9 camps. Over 100 high school kids are employed as camp counselors. The Park District is operating 150 10 summer programs. Sports Center Pool renovations are set to begin at the end of summer. The project 11 will be paid for using reserves. 12 Old Business 13 None 14 New Business 15 None 16 Adjourn - On motion made and seconded, the meeting was adjourned at 9:00 a.m. The next meeting is 17 scheduled for Wednesday, October 14, 2015 at 7:30 a.m. 18 Respectfully Submitted - Sue Anetsberger 19 20 21 22 23