City Council Regular Meeting

URBANA COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING MINUTES DATE: Monday, March 16, 2020 TIME: 7:00 P.M. PLACE: Urbana City Council Chambers, 400 S. Vine St, Urbana, IL 61801 The City Council of the City of Urbana, Illinois, met in regular session March 16, 2020, at 7:00pm in the Council Chambers at the Urbana City Building. ELECTED OFFICIALS PHYSICALLY PRESENT: Maryalice Wu, Ward 1; Shirese Hursey, Ward 3; Bill Brown, Ward 4; Bill Colbrook, Ward 6; Jared Miller, Ward 7; Diane Wolfe Marlin, Mayor; Charles A. Smyth, City Clerk ELECTED OFFICIALS PRESENT VIA TELECONFERENCE: Eric Jakobsson, Ward 2; Dennis Roberts, Ward 5 ELECTED OFFICIALS ABSENT: None STAFF PRESENT: Elizabeth Hannan; Carol Mitten; Lorrie Pearson; James Simon; Lily Wilcock OTHERS PRESENT: Members of the Media; Lori Edwards from Union Development Holdings, LLC and Bryan Bradshaw from BKB Engineering were present via teleconference. 1. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL There being a quorum present, Chair Jared Miller called the meeting of the Committee of the Whole to order at 8:35pm following a special meeting of the City Council. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING CM Wu made a motion to approve minutes from the March 2, 2020 meeting. Motion seconded by CM Brown and carried by voice vote. 3. ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA There were no additions to the agenda. 4. PUBLIC INPUT AND PRESENTATIONS There was no public input and there were no presentations. 5. Staff Report City Administrator Carol Mitten acknowledged the outstanding effort of City staff in adjusting to the current work situation. She said there are other places that allow remote work to be done but at this time the City is not set up for remote work. Ms. Mitten told committee members that the bid openings she spoke about a couple of weeks ago are still on schedule. She said those have been changed to a virtual format rather than in- person. The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) has begun construction on University Avenue. The speed limit on University Avenue was scheduled to be lowered to 30 miles per hour after construction was complete. She said IDOT has lowered the speed limit to 30 as of this date, March 16, 2020, because of the ongoing construction. 6. Ordinance No. 2020-03-009: An Ordinance Authorizing the Purchase of Certain Real Estate (1007 N. Gregory St. / 2020) Page 1 of 3  Community Development Director Lorrie Pearson presented this ordinance. She said it is a request to purchase a single family house at 1107 North Gregory Street for continued use as transitional housing. Rosecrance has been operating this property as transitional housing since 2013, and now would like to focus on their core services. Ms. Pearson said if the City purchases it for $0, then they will continue to run it as transitional housing as they do two other units in Urbana. She said if the property does not remain affordable, the City will have to pay the U.S. Department of Housing and Urbana Development (HUD) $200,000. She said the best way to assure affordability is to buy the property. CM Wu made a motion to send Ordinance No. 2020-03-009 to council with recommendation for approval. Motion seconded by CM Hursey and carried by voice vote. 7. Ordinance No. 2020-03-014: An Ordinance Approving an Amendment to a Planned Unit Development (1208 W. Bradley Avenue / Plan Case 2396-PUD-20) Planner Lily Wilcock presented this ordinance. She said Union Development Holdings LLC requested an amendment to the Melrose Apartment Planned Unit Development (PUD) to exclude the western 14.51 acres from the PUD. The amendment would allow the applicant to build a by-right, affordable housing development on the vacant lot to the west of the One North apartment complex, along Bradley Avenue. Since that parcel is currently part of a PUD for Melrose Apartments of Urbana, a new development would have to conform to the site plan of the Melrose Apartments of Urbana PUD (“Melrose PUD”) without an amendment. Ms. Wilcock gave the history of this site. She said 1982 the Comprehensive Plan included developing North Lincoln Avenue as a commercial corridor, and by the mid-1990s there was a gas station, several hotels and some retail development. The Comprehensive Plan amendment, Map Amendment (rezoning), Special Use Permit for a Planned Unit Development, and development agreement submitted by Intergroup in 1996, today includes One North, Capstone Quarters, and the vacant 14.51 acres at 1208 Bradley Avenue. The only part of the original Planned Unit Development that was constructed was One North. The possibility of extending Goodwin Avenue was discussed. It would make the area more accessible and possibly give MTD a safer place to drop off riders than the east side of Lincoln Avenue. Ms. Wilcock said there is stormwater infrastructure to the north and it would be very expensive to move it. MTD will not route buses through the site as they want to stay on arterial road routes. Lori Edwards from Union Development Holdings responded to an inquiry about the cost of the proposed units for renters. Ms. Edwards said the units would be mostly one to two bedrooms with some that will have three to four bedrooms. Rent would be about $770 for a one bedroom to about $1,100 for a four bedroom. She said income range would be from about $30,000 to $55,000 for the units. CM Hursey had to leave the meeting early, asked to table this discussion until the next Committee of the Whole meeting. Motion was seconded by CM Jakobsson and carried by voice vote. 8. Resolution No. 2020-03-015R: A Resolution Adopting Financial Policies (2020) Finance Director Elizabeth Hannan said Don Ho, Senior Financial Analyst was supposed to present this resolution, but was at home not feeling well. A recorded version of his presentation was played for committee members instead. Mr. Ho reminded committee members that when the financial forecast was presented in January, they were told there would be some changes made to the current financial policies before adoption of the budget. He said the two main changes they would like to make would be to the Vehicle and Equipment Replacement Fund (VERF) Funding, and to the General Fund Reserve. Page 2 of 3  The VERF Fund has a total value of about $13.5 million. It collects fees form other funds and ensures that adequate funds are available. The current practice for this fund is to set the funds aside in advance, fund at 90% of the projected replacement costs and there is no requirement for a minimum fund balance. He said after looking at various scenarios of funding, staff recommends a minimum fund balance requirement of 10% of the total value of assets, and funding of 85%. The General Fund Reserve provides options for responding to unexpected events and essential for financial flexibility. The current practice for this fund is that it is at least 15% of recurring expenses, can only be depleted to below 10% if there is a catastrophic need. If the fund dips below 15%, the Finance Director recommends a strategy for replenishment. When analyzing the current practice, there were three main risks found. The first is the dependency on sales tax revenues, which are about 30% of total revenue in the General Fund. The second is the possibility of failure of infrastructure, which currently has a large backlog. The third risk is the dependency of other funds on the General Fund. Mr. Ho said staff recommends a minimum fund balance of at least 20% instead of 10% for FY21, with the reserve being depleted below 15% rather than 10% in the event of catastrophic need. The Finance Director will recommend a strategy to replenish the reserve, taking no longer than three to five years if the reserve goes below 20%. Ms. Hannan said it might not be possible to meat the 20% level for coming year because of the current situation, but that is still the goal. She responded to questions and concerns from committee members. CM Roberts made a motion to send Resolution No. 2020-03-015R to council with recommendation for approval. Motion seconded by CM Brown and carried by voice vote. 9. ADJOURNMENT With no further business to come before the council, Chair Miller adjourned the meeting at 9:28 p.m. Kay Meharry Assistant City Clerk This meeting was video recorded and is viewable on-demand. Minutes Approved: April 6, 2020 Page 3 of 3