Economic Development Commission

Public participation is invited. When called upon, please approach the microphone and state your name. Kindly limit your remarks to three (3) minutes. VILLAGE OF VILLA PARK Village Hall, Committee of the Whole Room 20 S. Ardmore Avenue Villa Park, IL 60181 Economic Development Commission August 21, 2024 5:30 PM Chairman: Tony Oddo Commissioners: Ghada Abdelhafez-Fahmy, Larry Calvert, Patrice Gallagher, JP Hochbaum and Ethan Tutor-Leon 1. Call to Order - Roll Call 2. Approval of Minutes a. Minutes, June 19, 2024 3. Public Comments 4. Business a. Business Retention Visits - Status 5. Commissioner Comments 6. Village Board Liaison Comments 7. Staff Liaison Comments 8. Adjournment The Villa Park Village Hall is subject to the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. An elevator is operational at the north side entrance to the Village Hall during normal work hours and also during evenings. lndividuals with special needs are requested to contact the Village's Compliance Officer at (630) 834-8500 so that reasonable accommodations can be made for those persons. Page 1 of 3  ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION MINUTES June 19, 2024 The meeting of the Economic Development Commission was called to order June 19, 2024, at 5:30 p.m. PRESENT: Commissioners: Tony Oddo, Ghada Abdelhafez-Fahmy, JP Hochbaum, Patrice Gallagher, Larry Calvert, and Ethan Tudor-Leon. OTHERS PRESENT: Director Marc McLaughlin, Deputy Director Michelle House and Michael Murray with Bloomingdale Township Mental Health Auxiliary. PUBLIC INPUT ON AGENDA ITEMS: None. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES: Motion to accept the minutes made by Commissioner Hochbaum and seconded by Commissioner Tutor-Leon verbal rollcall and passed with all ayes. The minutes for the Economic Development Commission for March 20, 2024, were approved. GENERAL DISCUSSION/BUSINESS: Chair Tony Oddo thanking Commissioner Calvert for filling in at the last meeting and getting the business retention letter passed. In the packet is a list of approximately 50 new businesses from 2023 where Certificate of Occupancy’s were issued. The idea is to reach out to these businesses to get some feedback as to how things are progressing, any improvements, what they would like to see in the future. Basically, an array of questions. Commissioners agreed to 2 new businesses and 1 older business to visit this year. The goal of this is fact finding to possibly assist in various ways in the future. Open lines of communication. Commissioners reviewed the list and chose which businesses they would like to visit. Staff will create and mail out the introduction letter to begin contact and set an appointed time. Commissioner Gallagher commented that the places she visited a pattern of concerns began and no tools to support these. The goal is to help businesses thrive. Currently the visits are to open dialog and continue from there. Prior to covid it was discussed having corridor meetings for each area, (North Ave., St. Charles Rd & Roosevelt Rd). PUBLIC COMMENTS NON-AGENDA ITEMS: Guest Michael Murray from Bloomingdale Township Menta Health Auxiliary spoke about the benefits of a 708 Mental Health Board within the community and a referendum for the coming election. If this referendum would pass, an additional tax would be imposed on all DuPage County Taxpayers. In order to accomplish this, 2,000 signatures are needed on the petition. This program would improve services to those in need. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS: Commissioner Ghada Abdelhafez-Fahmy is happy to begin meeting the businesses. Commissioner Gallagher questioned whether the EDC meeting could be hybrid, it is not possible. It was explained that commissioners will need to follow the open meetings act. Page 2 of 3 Commissioner Tudor-Leon requested a copy of the questionnaire, believed it could be sent in the google form and to resend to all commissioners. Commissioner Oddo: Is there any update on the traffic survey? The results will be presented to the Committee of the Whole in July. Would it be conceivable to get a report on businesses that did not last more than a few years, understanding that it may not be possible. For the next meeting business cards to hand out for more direct questions that we could not answer would be helpful. VILLAGE BOARD LIAISON COMMENTS: None. STAFF LIAISON COMMENTS: Director McLaughlin gave a quick update on approval of the following: • The Union received approval from Planning & Zoning in April, an RDA is being drafted and once that is completed it will proceed to the Village Board. Hopefully construction will begin in fall. • The new Rec Center is looking great, priming and painting the exterior. Then work will begin on the interior. • Eco Terra has obtained financing and is finalizing it. Working on an extension of their RDA. • 626 N. Addison is a future Tattoo Shop. • North Park Plaza is working on an indoor pickle ball court. • The old bridal shop on St Charles is still under a remodel permit. • Bell Tire received approval from both Planning & Zoning and the Board to move forward with the North Avenue location. • 660 N. Villa received approval from Planning & Zoning for a Variation, Subdivision, Special Use and Annexation for a Construction Company’s Headquarters. • 330 E North Avenue was approved for a Cannabis Dispensary. The building is being split. This has not gone to the board as of yet. ADJOURNMENT: Motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Commissioner Tudor-Leon and seconded by Commissioner Hochbaum. The motion passed with all ayes. The meeting was adjourned at 6:27 p.m. Complete recorded minutes are available on the Village Website. Respectfully Submitted by, Pat Boksha Page 3 of 3