VILLAGE OF NORTH AURORA
VILLAGE BOARD MEETING
JUNE 25, 2007
CALL TO ORDER
Village President John Hansen called the meeting to order.
ROLL CALL
In attendance: Village President John Hansen, Trustees Dale Berman, Bob Strusz, Mark Gaffino, Linda Mitchell and Max Herwig. Not in attendance: Trustee Mike Herlihy.
Staff in attendance: Village Administrator Sue McLaughlin, Management Analyst Wes Kornowske, Finance Director Bill Hannah, Building & Zoning Commissioner DeWayne Williams, Public Works Superintendent Mike Glock, Village Engineer Jim Bibby, Police Chief Tom Fetzer, Bureau Fire Chief Mark Bozik, Atty. Carolyn Jansons.
AUDIENCE COMMENTS
Allen Cavender, 303 Banbury Road, North Aurora – Mr. Cavender addressed the Board in reference to the ticket he received for after hours watering of his lawn. Cavender asked that the Board waive the ticket or reduce it to a warning due to extenuating circumstances. Cavender said he was in the process of building a fence and the construction was putting additional stress on the grass. He placed a soaker hose on his lawn for an hour. Village President Hansen said that watering lawns after hours is restricted and therefore a violation of the village ordinance. Trustee Mitchell said that Mr. Cavander emailed her about his situation. Mitchell said she emailed Mr. Cavander back to say that she could not ask for any special circumstance because at that same time the Village was dealing with the lower levels in the wells and the Village had to be extremely vigilant about the restrictions. There was no further discussion. The ticket would remain.
TUSTEES COMMENTS
Trustee Herwig asked that the next Committee of the Whole agenda include a discussion about the monument signs for Timber Oaks. Representatives from Timber Oaks would be present at the meeting.
Trustee Strusz said he wanted to clarify a comment that he felt was out of context when written by one of the newspapers last week. Strusz said that when he made the comment, “you bought a house, you have to live there”, at last week’s meeting, he was not talking about Walmart, rather the possibility of another big box going in on Oak & Orchard.
PRESENTATION: FINAL REPORT FOR SPACE NEEDS ANALYSIS BY FGM & MCCLAREN
Mary Ann O’Hara, Vice President of FGM Associates addressed the Board regarding the space needs final report. The study looked at long term and immediate need.
The building consists of 16,254 square feet (Village Hall Р11,600 s.f., Police Р4,600 s.f.). O’Hara said that the current Village Hall building will not support the Village Hall’s immediate need or build out need. It will remain deficient by 8,353 s.f. The existing site poses serious constraints with regard to expansion due to flood plain issues. The basement of the facility cannot be used: not accessible, moisture concerns, floodplain issue and the square footage of the basement is a quarter of what is available. Mechanical equipment is approaching the end of its useful life, electrical distribution does not have expansion capabilities and technology increases and becomes harder to accomplish in an existing building. Parking is inadequate. An addition/remodeling of the existing Village Building Hall was not advised.
Jim McClaren, AIA (McClaren, Wilson, Laurie, Inc.) addressed the Board regarding the police facility. Growth factor was factored in on build-out of the community. Conclusion of the study is that the community is building out. The cap is approximately 34% gross. Main concept of the project contemplates the potential of a two-structure concept (main police facility and a support building for storage of evidence). Parking needs: 40 spaces for the public and 75 spaces for staff. The main building was 24,041 gsf (sized for build out) and a support building of 5,761 s.f.
O’Hara noted three options for solving the space needs for both Village Hall and the Police Department:
1. Build a new stand alone 20,231 s.f. Village Hall on 3.6 acres at a cost of $6.5 million.
2. Build a new stand alone 29,800 s.f. police station on 4.1 acres at a cost of $10.8 million.
3. Build a combined facility for both police and Village Hall of 50,000 s.f. on 7.7 acres at an
estimated cost of $17.3 million.
Renovation of the existing facility is currently at an undetermined construction cost. O’Hara said that the recommendation was that the Board move forward with a schematic design exercise for the building to fully understand what the implications are of leaving the Village Hall in the existing building, what concessions and compromises might need to be made in the way of space. O’Hara said that once a schematic design is done, a renovation cost would be provided.
O’Hara cautioned that renovation of the existing building will result in a five year or less solution.
Sue McLaughlin asked what the cost would be for a schematic design. O’Hara said they would need to determine a scope of what the expectations are in terms of deliverables before she would could provide a cost.
O’Hara recommended the Board begin looking for property to build the police station if it decides to move forward. Trustee Herwig asked if a 4-/1 to 5 acre lot would solve the problem for the police station. O’Hara said yes and added that if the Village came up with smaller properties, FGM would test fit them to see if the building would fit on it with adequate parking, detention, setbacks, room for growth, etc.
Village President Hansen suggested moving forward to the next step. Trustee Mitchell said she was in favor of moving forward with the police station and deal with the current building and administration as a separate issue. Mitchell said that if there is a problem with space, there is nothing wrong with having the Public Works and Water departments, along with support staff at the Public Works building. Trustee Berman said he agreed.
CONSENT AGENDA
A.
