VILLAGE OF NORTH AURORA
VILLAGE BOARD MEETING
DECEMBER 10, 2007
CALL TO ORDER
Village President Hansen called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
ROLL CALL
In attendance: Village President Hansen, Trustee Dale Berman, Trustee Mike Herlihy, Trustee Bob Strusz, Trustee Mark Gaffino, Trustee Max Herwig.
Staff in attendance: Village Administrator Sue McLaughlin, Management Analyst West Kornowske, Finance Director Bill Hannah, Village Engineer Jim Bibby, Police Chief Tom Fetzer, Asst. Public Works Superintendent (Water Division) Paul Young, Fire Bureau Chief Mark Bozik.
AUDIENCE COMMENTS
Tom Lenkart, 839 Columbia Circle, North Aurora – addressed the Board in regard to the park area for the riverfront. Lenkart said that there are some serious concerns that the Village needs to address before approving anything. Lenkart said his concern is that this is a boardwalk to nowhere and there is not enough commercial to sustain the expense that the Village would have to put forth for the boardwalk. Lenkart said that at the last open forum, there was discussion about the Fox Valley Park District versus North Aurora. Lenkart said that there is not a great relationship between the park district and North Aurora and the residents do not get the same consideration as the Aurora residents. Lenkart said that if there is a boardwalk made out of wood, it will require a lot of maintenance and the question is who will be responsible for this. The park district or the Village? The other concern is the kiosks and the event area. It will be on the park district land, not on North Aurora’s land. Will the Village see any of the revenue that will come in from these kiosks? Another concern is that this is not comprehensive and the Village cannot ignore the commercial businesses along Route 31. The riverfront has to be designed as a whole and the boardwalk built comprehensively. Traffic flow, parking and visibility would have to be taken into account. Finally, Lenkart said that flooding was a concern. If dams are removed, how will it affect the water levels and flooding in the future?
TRUSTEE COMMENTS
Trustee Gaffino said that the Village’s Management Analyst Wes Kornowske and Tom from Design Perspectives went to the county on Friday and requested money from the forest preserve for the riverfront project. The result was the Village receiving $110,000 toward the project. Gaffino thanked Kornowske and Tom (Design Perspectives) and a special thanks to Jim Mitchell for guiding the Village to the availability of these funds.
PRESENTATION: DESIGN PERSPECTIVES ON THE RIVERFRONT VIABILITY STUDY
Tom from Design Perspectives addressed the Board and said that there were no engineering concerns from a preliminary standpoint. Design perspectives noted that the points mentioned by Mr. Lenkart are well taken. There is thought as to how to connect Route 31 to the riverfront, but the focus for Design Perspectives was on the riverfront.
To the north and south, the plan is to look at trail improvements and increasing the width of the trails. Increasing width will increase the comfort factor of using the trail. The plan calls for four quadrants. The area around Village Hall will have a children’s garden and better accessibility to the gazebo. There will be parking renovations and an overlook that could act as a fishing pier. Heading west into quadrant one is the wetland garden and will include garden stone paths and sitting areas. Future developments are shown for the current area of the community center and fire protection district. There will be new streetscaping across the bridge along Oak Street. Connections heading to the south, which would be an overlook. Additional parking is being designed in several areas. Design Perspectives stressed that the Village would need to organize events at the riverfront to ensure it is a successful space. Having a lot of special events will be very important to the success. On the island side, discussions were about the clean up mode and keeping it open with the new playground and increasing the renovation, streamlining the parking and looking at some type of event lawn. There will also be more environmental gardens. Design Perspectives will address the concerns mentioned by Mr. Lenkart in the next revision to the Board.
CONSENT AGENDA
A.
