Commission on Aging

Thursday, November 8, 2018 I. Call to Order and Roll Call: The regular meeting of the Wheaton Housing Commission was held in the Gammon Room, Wheaton City Hall, at 303 W. Wesley Street, Wheaton, Illinois. Housing Commissioner Chair, Bob Barger, called the meeting to order at 7:05 pm on Thursday, November 8, 2018. Present: Absent: Bob Barger, Chair David Horton Stu Johnson Mike Rybinski Jan Kay Tom Zullo Bill Gilbertson Joe Kreidl – City of Wheaton Guest: Marcella Incarnati Four students from Wheaton North Government class II. Approval of Minutes: Commissioner Kay moved, and Commissioner Johnson seconded, a motion to accept the minutes of the October 11, 2018 meeting. The motion was unanimously approved by a voice vote. III. Correspondence: a. SFY 2018/ CY 2019 Housing Assistance Program Summary Commissioner Johnson visited Joe W and found that he met all the criteria for admission to our housing assistance program. MOTION: Gilbertson/Johnson to add Joe W to housing assistance. The motion was unanimously approved by a voice vote. Gaetana T has been removed from the list because she is now in assisted living. IV. Old Business: a. Soon to be new member: Marella Incarnati will be approved by the City Council as a member of the Housing Commission at their next meeting. b. Potential new member: Commissioner Barger announces that Kristine Eisenmann, a real estate broker, wants to join the Housing Commission but she could not be present at our meeting tonight. Commissioner Barger will meet with her soon to discuss with her what we do and she hopes to come to our December meeting. c. SALT Newsletter: We got no response from our senior housing information in the SALT newsletter. Probably a throw away publication. Commissioner Barger suggested that we take 20-30 names of renters in low-income areas off the paper list and send a letter to their apartments outlining who qualifies for the housing assistance program to see if  that would produce a response. All agreed to see what response we get from this initiative. d. Web Site: Commissioner Barger will now schedule a time before the end of the year to do a video discussing where to find helpful information on seniors and housing web pages e. Affordable Housing: The potential piece of land- the parking lot on the southwest corner of Main and Roosevelt cannot be built on because it is in a flood zone. Toms Price is selling their store in Wheaton. It might have been a potential site for affordable housing, but it has already been purchased by College Church. f. Roosevelt Rd Redevelopment: The Wheaton Planning and Zoning Board met last month, and the members of the Board and the public were given a chance to respond to the consultant’s report. A video of the two-hour meeting is available on the City of Wheaton web site. Affordable housing, some described as workforce affordable housing, was brought up by many on the board and well as the public in their comments. This is just one piece of the solution to revitalizing Roosevelt Road but all seemed to agree with the consultants report that this is important to address. The issue of zoning was discussed and the need to be willing to make multifamily residential a part of the redevelopment. There was discussion of affordable housing that we currently have along Roosevelt Rd. Several business owners along Roosevelt Rd. told stories of not being able to keep tenants or to get new tenants to fill their building. The next meeting of Planning and Zoning is next Tuesday evening at 7pm where more public input is anticipated. Joe Kreidl will attend the meeting and anyone else is also welcome to join the meeting. Commissioner Barger said he as well as someone from Impact Du Page Housing subcommittee and a representative from Mercy Housing will make a presentation to Planning and Zoning Board on Supportive Housing at their meeting on December 11. These was much discussion on the role of the Housing Commission, whether the consultants were to listen to public input and then make recommendations, who would qualify to rent an apartment in the building, the footprint of the building and land required, the need to present examples of what Mercy Housing has done in Chicagoland in the past, whether other developers might be interested in this project. Commissioner Barger will hopefully meet with Jim Kozik soon to get his input into the Affordable Housing presentation. Joe Kreidl will see what percent of city of Wheaton employees do NOT live in Wheaton. Commissioner Barger will attempt to do the same for Wheaton College and School District 200. V. Adjournment: A motion to adjourn was made by Commissioner ,Johnson and seconded by Commissioner Gilbertson. The motion was unanimously approved by a voice vote at 8:30 pm. The next regular meeting of this commission will be held on Thursday, December 13, 2018. 2