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Minutes COW 4-19-2010Committee of the Whole Apri119, 2010 7:00 p.m. A meeting of the Village of Lemont Committee of the Whole was held on Monday April 19, 2010 in the Board Room of the Village Hal] at 418 Main Street in Lemont, Illinois. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Reaves called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. and acknowledged that the following were present: Trustees Ron Stapleton, Debbie Blatzer, Paul Chialdikas, Cliff Miklos and Rick Sniegowski were .present Trustee Jeanette Virgilio was absent but submitted comments for a couple of the items on the agenda. Also present were Village staff members Ben Wehmeier, Ralph Pukula, James Brown, Charity Jones, George Schafer, Ed Buettner, Gerald Turrise and Village Attorney Dan Blondin. DISCUSSION ITEMS Discussion of Heritage Park Condominiums Mr. Brown introduced some changes being requested by the petitioner for the Heritage Park Condo project. In June 2007 the Board approved the project which consisted of 56 condo units in four buildings. Mr. Brown stated that the new proposal would be to increase the density to 64 units on the same property. The project would also add a story to two of the buildings. The change would only slightly increase the overall density for the whole project, as recommended by an outside consultant a few years back. The density for the project alone would go from 12.12 units per acre to 13.85. Mr. Brown stated that from a staff perspective, the change doesn't alter the project much, but that he would prefer the Village get some additional landscaping or something else as a trade-off. Mayor Reaves read Trustee Virgilio's comments into the public record, as she was absent for the meeting. Trustee Virgilio commented that she never had an issue with the height of the buildings, based on the layout and the slope of the property, in addition to the architectural features of the buildings. The petitioners stated that the changes were designed to drop prices and sell more units. Mayor Reaves stated that other towns are starting to give concessions on density and other requirements due to the market conditions, as long as the quality of the product doesn't suffer. Trustee Chialdikas stated that he was open to changes on the project due to the market conditions. Trustee Sniegowski concurred saying he would be open to concessions on density versus sacrificing on quality of product. Trustee Blatzer stated that the density of the project still would be too high. Although she understands the current market, she stated that there is concern over setting precedent in town for others asking for increased density. According to staff, the changes would be considered substantial, so another public hearing would have to be held to alter the Planned Unit Development. The proposal would be going in front of the P&Z at a future meeting. Heritage Quarries Rezoning/Special Use Henry Fiene, contract purchaser of the project near in the quarry area, has requested a rezoning and a special use to allow for a scuba diving and camping operation. The Planning & Zoning Commission voted to recommend the rezoning but against the camping and scuba operation. The negative scuba vote was based on incomplete information from the petitioner regarding parking and site plans. Ms. Jones stated that from a staff perspective, there is no objection to the scuba operation but staff would need to see a detailed parking plan and emergency communications plan. Mr. Fien, the petitioner stated that he suspected around 85 car trips per day and about 180 per week. He stated that he could accommodate the parking to handle these vehicles. Mayor Reaves stated that he wanted Trustee Virgilio's comments entered into the record as well. In general, Trustee Virgilio agreed with the P&Z Commission, in favor of the rezoning but against the scuba diving and camping operations. Trustee Virgilio's viewpoint was based mainly on lack of a site plan to accommodate parking and emergency operations and also the clarity of the quarry for such an operation. The quarry is rather murky and would require an extensive amount of cleanup that would make it cost prohibitive to run a diving operation. In response to the clarity of the Quarry, the petitioner stated that he was willing to undertake an effort to clean up the quarry, and would need to in order to run his diving operations. Mayor Reaves stated that fundamentally he sees no issue with the request. He stated that he would be against any camping, since the Village has limited police staff on at night. Village Attorney Mr. Blondin addressed the liability issues. He said that the company would have to provide commercial liability insurance naming the Village additionally insured for the water liability. He was a little more concerned with the liability associated with the access road. The entity would also have to hold the village harmless for use of the road. In general, the majority of the Board was in favor of the request for the scuba operation. Mayor Reaves stated that he wanted the Committee of the Whole to take a look at the request again in the near future after more documents were submitted by the petitioner. Staff will get together a list of everything required of the petitioner. The list will include comments from the Fire District and Police Department on emergency communication and response and a request for type of parking plan required for the project. Once all the documents are received, the Committee of the Whole can review again. Re-Platting of Covington Knolls Townhouses Gallagher and Henry requests re-subdivision of a plat approved last year for the Covington Knolls TH Phase III. The re-subdivision is intended to decrease lot sizes and reduce the tax burden for-the three lots. They anticipate this will help make the unit sales more amactive in a competitive market. The Board did not have any issue with the request. Draft UDO Amendments Mrs. Jones went over some draft amendments that the P&Z have been discussing. The major change that needs discussion from the Board is altering the requirements for exterior building materials, i.e. prohibiting face block. Mrs. Jones went through a slide presentation showing types of block around town on various buildings. After discussion, it was decided that no change should be made at this time due to the poor economy and imposing further requirements on businesses. Discussion of Gateway SSA -Waiver of Tap-On/New Hook Ups Mr. Wehmeier brought up the issue of fee waivers and recapture requirements for the area near 83 & Main where the water main was extended. There are some undeveloped parcels in the area that are not part of the current special assessment imposed to pay for the water and sewer infrastructure. Currently there are no tools in place to require these property owners who use the infrastructure, to pay for it as well. Some options include establishing recapture ordinances to anyone who hooks up, utilize annexation agreements to negotiate a payment to recoup the costs, increase tap-on fees for these developments or deal with them on an individual basis. The item was for discussion only and would be coming up at a later time. In general, the Board was comfortable with using annexation agreements as they come along to require developments to pay their fair share. MWRD Update The Village has been in on-going dialogue with MWRD and IEPA concerning the status of the sewer system in Lemont. As-part of this, the staff was provided a draft from the MWRD of terms they would like included in a potential agreement between the district and the Village. Mr. Wehmeier went over a few of the items on the draft agreement. The Board questioned some of the agreements the Village would have to agree with. Getting the flows down to 150 gallons per minute would be nearly impossible. Trustee Sniegowski wanted clarification from MWRD on how they arrived at this number. The Board also wanted to know what other communities have signed on to these agreements. Currently, the Village is one of the first that MWRD is trying this with but more will be on its way. Staff will continue to negotiate with MWRD on the action items, and will continue flow monitoring to examine problems with the system. UNIFINISHED BUSINESS Mayor Reaves brought up a couple development items. Glen Oaks Subdivision will be coming back to start their single family home project, but in 5-6 different phases. They requested a waiver on putting all the sidewalks and parkway trees until completion of the project. The Board was fine with delaying parkway trees; however sidewalks will have to be put in throughout the project to prevent against gaps. They also asked for a waiver of impact fees, in which the Board was not receptive. Mayor Reaves also brought up that Atlantis Banquet has come in for their liquor license. They hope to be up and operational by June. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Reaves adjourned the meeting at 10:00 PM