VILLAGE OF NORTH AURORA
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING MINUTES
JANUARY 16, 2017
CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Berman called the meeting to order.
ROLL CALL
In attendance: Mayor Dale Berman, Trustee Laura Curtis, Trustee Mike Lowery, Trustee Chris Faber, Trustee Mark Carroll, Trustee Mark Gaffino, Trustee Mark Guethle, Village Clerk Lori Murray.
Staff in attendance: Village Administrator Steve Bosco, Finance Director Bill Hannah, Community & Economic Development Director Mike Toth, Water Superintendent Paul Young, Street Superintendent Brian Richter, Police Chief Dave Summer, Fire Marshall Eric Bunkofske.
AUDIENCE COMMENTS – None
TRUSTEE COMMENTS – None
DISCUSSION
1. Burger King Site Plan
Community & Economic Development Director Mike Toth stated that the Village has received a proposal for a 28-chair, 15-stack drive-thru lane Burger King for one of the out lots at the Woodman’s property (Lot 3-2 of Willard’s corner). It will be attached to a 4500 s.f. retail space. The proposal has been reviewed by the Plan Commission and Staff. The Plan Commission had concerns similar to the situation with McDonalds where customers were coming in through one entrance and going directly to the drive through causing a traffic back-up. The petitioner addressed this and will install signs to direct customers to the drive through. Trustee Guethle said it is very positive to have a national chain come to the village. Mayor Berman asked about the square footage for the Burger King. Toth said it would be a 2,000 s.f. space. Trustee Curtis asked if building the restaurant in a strip center is a new concept for Burger King rather than it being a stand-alone building. Toth said he believed so and referred to the petitioner.
Michael Caldwell of Caldwell engineering said that N3, who is the developer, is looking at this site which would house a Burger King and another use. Trustee Curtis asked about the density of the drive-thru and questioned if there would be an issue with safety. Caldwell said there was no concern from the developer. Caldwell said this would be no different than that of a Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks that would be on the end of a building. Guethle asked about the time frame for the Burger King from start to finish. Caldwell said that typically it would be 6-9 months. The rest of the Board was in favor of the plan.
2. Food Store Parking Text Amendments
The text amendment would reduce the requirement of parking spaces for food stores. Currently the requirement for the Village is 5 spaces per 1000 s.f. Aldi is looking to build an addition and looking into expanding their parking lot. Toth said that seven of the ten surrounding communities used either 4 spaces per 1000 or took the net floor area (the customer service areas). By requiring less, the building addition would eat into their parking spaces. For a 230,000 s.f. building, it would be a reduction of 230 parking spaces which is over an acre difference in land. Toth added that the intent is not to simply reduce the parking spaces but to promote open space and green space. Toth noted that the Plan Commission received this favorably. Faber asked if a business would really take that extra space and make it open space or want to promote open spaces and green space. Faber said that he believes the business would choose to make their buildings bigger adding that the change would not create more green space, but more square footage for the stores.
Bosco noted that in reference to Aldi, the proposal does not require site plan review since it is such a small change and therefore just goes to a simple permit review. This generated staff discussion on whether or not the Village should be looking at our ratios for parking in general.
3. Waterworks Alternate Revenue Bond Issuance for Water Fund Capital Projects
Engineering is ongoing for the new wells and various other capital improvements. The Village passed a reimbursement resolution in December. The next step is the consideration of an authorizing ordinance and a public hearing at the next Village Board Meeting. A bond sale is anticipated sometime in March and closing will occur sometime in April. Currently, the authorizing ordinance has a $6.2 million cap amount. The Village is looking at a 15-year debt service term.
4. Financial Update – Finance Director Bill Hannah gave a high level overview of the FY
2016-2017 Mid-Year Financial Update
A balance budget has been passed for the current fiscal year and there have been positive surpluses over the last 4 years. The Village has maintained its AA+ bond rating.
Sales tax revenue is up 3.2% through the first 5 months of the year.
Income Tax revenue is down 9.5% first 7 months of the year
There is a 4% increase in receipts beginning this month due to the certification of the Village’s new population of 17,441 after the conclusion of the special census. This will help to offset some of the declines.
General Fund revenues budgeted at $10,504,592 with baseline projections of about $10,300,000.
Building Permits are $168,000 versus budget of $200,000. This will probably exceed that amount by the end of the year.
The OTB handle expired last year. Cable franchise revenues have been increasing steadily over the last several years.
On the expense side, the Village made an additional Police Pension contribution in December of $125,000.
The Village should be able to maintain its 60% reserve level which Standard and Poor’s is happy to see. S & P has commented in the past about the fiscal discipline the Village has shown over the years.
MFT Fund – $1.2 million in reserves at the beginning of the year. Of that, $700,000 went to pay the Village’s share of the Airport/Alder/ Ice Cream Drive reconstruction.
Route 31 TIF Fund – Increment of $377,000 this year is down from $450,000. This was offset with a decline in a developer reimbursement related to that property. Therefore, there was no net effect to the TIF Fund. The Village is paying for the final phase of Smoketree to be done this year which will be $411,000. The TIF Fund will probably have about $900,000 in reserves this fiscal year.
Over the next 5 years the Village will have some major resurfacing projects, primarily in Pinecreek, Country Club Estates, Chesterfield and Hartfield subdivisions. These projects may result in a shortfall of funds of $1.5 to $2 million over the next five years.
Water Fund – Water charges are about the same to date as they were last year.
Connection fees are about $14,000 to date, which is less than last year.
5. Silo Park Concept
The Village has discussed creating something around the silo area which would be a regional draw. Staff has worked with the FVPD to come up with a concept. Their landscape architect on staff drew up some concepts. Harner’s was in agreement with the concept. The idea would be to install lighting and possibly create an observatory. There would be a deck around the base with tables. A seating area would be built adjacent to Harner’s between the river and their restaurant. This would be a public seating area. There was also discussion of a kayak launch and beautifying the area. It would require taking down some trees around the silo area. Trustee Guethle said this would be a great improvement to the area. Trustee Carroll said he was concerned if the Village spends $100,000 to redevelop this area, and then it not be part of the village or park district. Bosco said the Village did state that it would want it to be a public entity and have control over it. Harner’s was in agreement.
6. Fireworks
The Board discussed bringing fireworks back to the river for the Fourth of July. The Board was in favor of moving forward. Bosco said that of the surrounding communities, seven have their fireworks celebration on the 4th of July and Geneva and Montgomery do not have fireworks. Only Plainfield does theirs on the 3rd. The Board was in favor of having North Aurora fireworks on the 3rd or 4th of July. Bosco to do further research and bring back to the Board for further discussion.
7. Potential renaming of Riverfront Park
The Board was looking at five options for the naming of the park: Riverfront Park, Foundry Park, Old Mill Park, Crossroads Park and Schneider’s Crossing Park. The Board agreed to keep the name as Riverfront Park.
EXECUTIVE SESSION – None
ADJOURNMENT
Motion to adjourn made by Trustee Gaffino and seconded by Trustee Gaffino. All in favor. Motion approved.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lori J. Murray
Village Clerk
