Board of Trustees

Village of Peoria Heights Board of Trustees January 7, 2025 The meeting was called to order at 5:30 p.m. Everyone stood for a moment of silence and the Pledge to the Flag. Upon calling roll, the following Trustees were present: Sarah DeVore, Jeff Goett, Elizabeth Khazzam, Jennifer Reichert, Matthew Wigginton, and Brandon Wisenburg. Others present included Mayor Michael Phelan, Village Administrator and Chief of Police Dustin Sutton, Village Clerk Stephanie Turner, and Village Counsel Attorney Mark Walton. Trustee Goett made a motion to approve the minutes from the December 3, 2024 meeting. Trustee DeVore seconded the motion. The minutes were approved 6-0. Mayor Phelan opened the meeting to public comment. Mr. JT Kellock came forward to ask for clarification on the request for street closure of Glen and use of Tower Park for Saturday, January 18, 2025 for Peoples March. He asked if there was a fee for closing the road and if it had been done before. Mayor Phelan noted it had been done before for a peaceful march during civil unrest. Mr. Kellock requested the Board provide additional clarification and discussion. Mayor Phelan noted the Village didn’t have a policy but considered requests on a case by case basis. Hearing no additional comments, Mayor Phelan closed the meeting to public comment. The Board of Trustees moved on to old business. Hearing no old business, the Board moved on to new business. Trustee Khazzam made a motion to Ordinance 2025-1746: an Ordinance Approving and Authorizing the Execution of a Business Development District No. 1 Redevelopment Agreement by and Between the Village of Peoria Heights and Sharbel Rantisi (4812 N Prospect Rd). Trustee Reichert seconded the motion. Trustee Khazzam explained Mr. Rantisi purchased a building about a year ago and was requesting $10,000 to offset his investment of more than $400,000 in the property. Mr. Rantisi stepped forward to explain the process of purchasing and renovating the property. Mr. Rantisi will be opening a law office in the building shortly and renting office space to another law office as well. Trustee Khazzam commented that it looked like the business would have its parking in the back, and Mr. Rantisi agreed. Trustee Wigginton noted he thought it was a great addition to the Village, but he preferred to see the funds used for sales tax generating businesses. Trustee Wigginton suggested the Board discuss policy for use of BDD funds noting the limited funds. Trustee Khazzam made a commitment to meet with Trustee Wigginton and Director Aldrich in January to present a policy to the Board. Mr. Rantisi noted the property value was increased, and he wouldn’t have paid the purchase price anywhere else. Trustee DeVore noted that a lot of the expenses listed in the application were exterior improvements. The Board voted 4-2 to approve the agreement; Trustee Wigginton and Trustee Wisenburg voted nay. Trustee Khazzam made a motion to approve Ordinance 2025-1747: an Ordinance Approving and Authorizing the Execution of a Business Development District No. 1 Redevelopment Agreement by and Between the Village of Peoria Heights and Feels Like Ohm, LLC and Brooke Swedman (4606 N. Prospect Rd). Trustee Goett seconded the motion. Ms. Swedman came forward to explain she owned a pressed juice bar in Junction City, and she was excited to move to the Heights. Director Aldrich explained the agreement is for a forgivable loan, similar to previous agreements. The Board voted 6-0 to approve. Trustee Khazzam made a motion to approve Ordinance 2025-1748: an Ordinance Approving and Authorizing the Execution of a Redevelopment Agreement by and Between the Village of Peoria Heights and Ipava State Bank. Trustee Goett seconded the motion. Director Aldrich noted the agreement was in line with TIF agreements the Village had made in the past since it’s with the property owner. He noted the improvements are to the building regardless of the business. He explained the arrangement is approximately for about half the net of the projected TIF growth. Mr. Steven Cook, representing Ipava Bank, came forward to explain the process of the renovations and the application. The building was in worse shape than anticipated and that doubled their budget which led the owners to seek an agreement. Trustee Wisenburg noted the total public investment would be around $70,000 between the two agreements. Trustee Wigginton commended Mr. Cook and Ipava for their dedication to making the space commercial. The Board approved the ordinance 6-0. Trustee Khazzam noted that she and Director Aldrich are working with the Village’s consultants on rewriting the Village’s zoning code. Trustee Wigginton asked if there was an anticipated completion date. Director Aldrich stated it was planned for midsummer. Trustee DeVore made a motion to approve Ordinance 2025-1749: an Ordinance Approving Township Lease at Village Hall and Village Lease for Township Garage. Trustee Khazzam seconded the motion. Trustee DeVore explained the Village had originally discussed the lease with Richwoods, but the agreement had updated wording clarifying that there are multiple leased properties. Attorney Walton noted the previous agreement didn’t mention the office space in Village Hall so it was updated to clarify. Trustee Wigginton noted he’d be abstaining as he serves as Clerk of Richwoods Township. The Board voted 5-0 with Trustee Wigginton abstaining. Trustee DeVore made a motion to approve Ordinance 2025-1750: an Ordinance Establishing the Number of Authorized Class A-2 Liquor Licenses Within the Corporate Limits of the Village of Peoria Heights. Trustee Goett seconded the motion. Trustee DeVore explained that since a restaurant had closed, the number of liquor licenses had been reduced, leading to the need for an additional license for a new restaurant Casa Agave. The Board voted 6-0 to approve the license Trustee DeVore made a motion to approve Ordinance 2025-1751: an Ordinance Amending Title 4, Chapter 1 of the Village Code of the Village of Peoria Heights for the Purpose of Revising Code Provisions with Respect to Class H Liquor Licenses. Trustee Goett seconded the motion. Trustee DeVore explained the license is being changed from allowing consumption 1 day a week to 2 days a week. Additionally, Curious Baubles is requesting a liquor license for events. Attorney Walton explained that there had been 2 unused, open licenses so the ordinance eliminates those before opening 1 license up for the applicant. Ms. Seers, owner of Curious Baubles, came forward to explain her business model and event ideas. She noted she has no plans to be a bar but wants to be able to offer drinks. The Board voted 6-0 to approve the ordinance. Trustee Wigginton made a motion to approve the street closure of Prospect Road from Kelly Avenue to Glen Avenue for Taste of Peoria Heights on Thursday, September 25, 2025. Trustee DeVore seconded the motion. Trustee Wigginton noted the continuing improvement year to year of the Taste of the Heights as an event. Chief Sutton noted the detour route would remain the same; however, the Village will likely revisit how Prospect Road is barricaded. The Board 6-0 to approve the street closure. Trustee Wigginton made a motion to approve a request for street closure on Glen Avenue and use of Tower Park on Saturday, January 18, 2025 for Peoples March. Trustee Reichert seconded the motion. Trustee Wigginton explained the Village had received a request from Peoria Proud to hold a march to show solidarity with various minority groups. Trustee Wigginton noted the event will have several speakers and anticipates a group of about 100. Mayor Phelan noted the group had requested to use Prospect Road, but, after conversation with Mayor Phelan and Chief Sutton, they agreed to move to Glen Avenue for traffic safety. Mr. River Russell came forward to provide additional details, including a map, as well as a list of speakers. Trustee Khazzam asked Mr. Russell to speak more about the event. Mr. Russel explained it was not a political event, but a way to show solidarity and love to minorities who might be feeling concerned. Trustee Wisenburg asked about why the Village rather than the City. Mr. Russell explained his love for the Village, and he believes it’s a welcoming community. Trustee Wigginton noted the success of the last march, and he asked Chief Sutton about police protection. Chief Sutton noted the route would be the same, and he didn’t anticipate any issues. Trustee DeVore noted she didn’t want to approve the event without the library’s approval. Trustee DeVore made a motion to amend the approval dependent on the consent of the director of the Peoria Heights Public Library. Trustee Goett seconded the amendment to the motion. The Board discussed the amendment with Trustee DeVore noting she wanted to make sure the library had notice. Chief Sutton noted he’d speak to Director Edwards. Trustee DeVore withdrew the amendment. The Board approved the street closure 5-1; Trustee Wisenburg voted nay. Trustee Reichert made a motion to approve Resolution 2025-01: a Resolution Approving a Joint Funding Agreement for Federally Funded Engineering Services for Prospect Road Improvements. Trustee Khazzam seconded the motion. Director Aldrich explained the Village had received $2,000,000 in federal funding for engineering with a Village match of $500,000. The Village has approved a contract with Hanson to be the engineers. The joint agreement is with IDOT so they’ll administer the funds. Director Aldrich noted that the relationship with IDOT was going well, and they hoped to begin planning soon. Director Aldrich spoke to the Board about the project’s phases and funding options. Mayor Phelan thanked Congressman LaHood for working with the Village to secure the funds. Trustee Reichert noted the project also included infrastructure which had to be replaced regardless of federal investment so the first phase was important, and the Village should seek outside funding wherever possible. The Board voted 6-0 to approve the resolution. Trustee Wigginton reported the Chamber of Commerce had concluded the Kris Kringle Mart successfully. He noted that the PHFD had been busy. Mr. Thompson reported on the part month noting it had been the busiest month in years. He noted regrettably there had been 2 deaths, but it was due to the delay in the report of the fire. He noted there had been 3 residential fires, and the PHFD had excellent response times. He stated the Board should come to expect this from the PHFD. Trustee Wigginton explained to the Board the process the PHFD had gone through reviewing the response to the fatal fire. Trustee Wigginton complimented Coroner Hardwood in reaching out to the firefighters and thanked him for his professionalism. Trustee Reichert made a motion to approve Resolution 2025-02: a Resolution Adopting and Approving the Village of Peoria Heights Active Transportation Plan. Trustee Khazzam seconded the motion. Director Aldrich explained the plan had been in work since March 2024. It was sponsored by TCRPC. He noted it had been presented to the Board a few months ago and not much had changed since that time. The plan contains some potential projects and future plans. The plan will be used to supplement the comprehensive plan and to apply for future grants. Trustee Wigginton questioned if the Village needed to review its comprehensive plan, and Director Aldrich noted he believed it was still useful. The Board voted 6-0 to approve. Trustee Reichert made a motion to approve Resolution 2025-03: a Resolution Approving Revised Memorandum of Understanding with the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission for Special Transportation Studies Funding. Trustee Wisenburg seconded the motion. Director Aldrich explained there’s a slight modification due to Tri-County Regional Planning Commission’s budget year. There’s also been a modification to payment as the Village was awarded funding for a parking study with Tri- County Regional Planning electing to have the Village apply its portion of funding the active transportation plan to the parking study instead. The Board voted 6-0 to approve the resolution. Mayor Phelan asked for miscellaneous business. Trustee Wisenburg asked counsel about liquor license count. Attorney Walton noted he would speak to Administration about assigned liquor licenses and verify the chart in the liquor license ordinance was accurate. Trustee Khazzam asked about the types of liquor licenses, and Attorney Walton stated there were 13 types. Attorney Walton stated if there were any outstanding it would be corrected. Chief Sutton noted it was an unusual license type and there weren’t likely to be many licenses that were unassigned. Hearing no additional business, Mayor Phelan opened the meeting to public comment. Mr. Kellock thanked Trustee Khazzam and Trustee Wigginton for taking point on professional services creep on Prospect Road. Mr. Kellock suggested there should be a fee for closing the road to pay for the cost of public services to close the road. Mayor Phelan noted the importance of drawing crowds to the Village and encouraging gatherings. The meeting was closed to public comment. Trustee Goett made a motion to adjourn, and Trustee Reichert seconded the motion. The Board of Trustees voted 6-0 to adjourn at 6:45 pm. ____________________________________ ______________________________________ Michael Phelan, Mayor Stephanie Turner, Village Clerk