VILLAGE OF NORTH AURORA
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING
JULY 20, 2009
CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Berman called the meeting to order.
ROLL CALL
In attendance: Mayor Dale Berman, Trustee Chris Faber, Trustee Mark Guethle, Trustee Bob Strusz, Trustee Mark Gaffino, Trustee Vince Mancini, Village Clerk Lori Murray. Not in attendance: Trustee Mike Herlihy.
Staff in attendance: Assistant to the Village Administrator Wes Kornowske, Finance Director Bill Hannah, Community Development Director Scott Buening, Public Works Superintendent Mike Glock, Water Superintendent Paul Young, Village Engineer Jim Bibby, Police Chief Tom Fetzer, Fire District Representative Ryan Lambert, Atty. Carolyn Jansens.
TRUSTEE COMMENTS – None
AUDIENCE COMMENTS
Jeff Penkuhn, 25 Poplar Place, North Aurora – Mr. Penkuhn said he moved into his home 2-1/2 years ago and has observed cars going in all directions on Poplar Place due to school and baseball games. He has witnessed property damage from people trying to get out of diagonal parking and making a backwards u-turn. Penkuhn asked that the Village organize the chaos and make it safe. Penkuhn proposed that the school’s circle driveway be a left-turn only, directing traffic to go back out to Harmony and then to Sycamore so that cars can get to Oak Street. Penkuhn said that the Village needs to make it safer for the children and that the residents are in favor of making Poplar one-way. Buses would travel from Harmony to Princeton to Sycamore.
Leroy Fichtel, 19 Poplar Place, North Aurora – Mr. Fichtel said that he sees traffic from 9 a.m. until 10 pm. and hopes that something can be done. Mr. Fichtel said he agreed with Mr. Penkuhn’s comments.
Chuck & Nancy Kuntzi, 21 Poplar Place, North Aurora – Mrs. Kuntzi said that they were at a meeting about 8 years ago trying to get Poplar changed to a one-way street. Mrs. Kuntzi said that everyone listened to what they had to say, but nothing was ever done. Kuntzi said there are the same problems today as there were back then. The Kuntzis said they were not against the traffic, the school, the park or the ball games, but have seen how traffic flows one way much better than both ways. Kuntzi said she can see 10 cars turn around in just her driveway. A couple nights ago her son’s car was hit since someone was backing up and wanted to head north instead of south. Mrs. Kuntzi questioned why the parking spaces are at an angle if Poplar is a two-way street.
Bernita Herlihy 23 Poplar Place, North Aurora – Ms. Herlihy noted her concern for the safety of the children. She said she has seen so many instances of cars almost hitting children and cars stopping and letting children out on the driver’s side of the car when cars are coming from the other direction. Ms. Herlihy said she is concerned that there is going to be a serious accident. Ms. Herlihy said she has been at her residence for 6 years and the traffic is getting worse. She stated that there is no 20-mph speed limit sign anywhere within the school area. The neighbors are willing to make this a one-way street since it will make this a safer situation for everyone. Mayor Berman asked Chief Fetzer to review the situation and determine what can be done. Trustee Guethle asked that a speed limit sign be installed on Poplar.
Mark Hagen, Director of Transportation for West Aurora School District 129 – Mr. Hagen said that changes have been made within the last three weeks of school. A lot of concerns have come through the PTO and the school district. Observations were done since April and it was noticed that on Poplar, especially in the morning, a bulk of the cars are traveling southbound to drop off their children on the west side to gather with other kids on the playground area. The majority of cars drive down Poplar and this moves smoothly in the morning. Transportation is still dropping children off in the circle drive. Changing to a one-way on Poplar may help the situation, but want to make sure that the first couple of homes going south on Poplar are still a two-way for access of the cars going out of the circle drive in the afternoon to go onto Harmony.
Chief Fetzer said that he would look into this with Village Engineer Jim Bibby and Officer Cyko.
DISCUSSION
1. Discussion of Installation by Schneider
Mark Hagen, Director of Transportation for West Aurora School District 129, 220 Alder Drive has requested the Village’s permission to put in place a new sidewalk (7’ x 5’) and to stripe a walking crossway path on the east side of the school. At Schneider School, on the north entrance, when the children are leaving in the afternoon, they are heading north on the sidewalk. The crosswalk would lead the children to Cornerstone Church where parents are allowed to park. At the 4-way intersection (Dee & Banbury), pedestrians cannot cross the street since there is no sidewalk going north of Dee Road. Village Engineer Jim Bibby said that the last midblock school crosswalk constructed in the Fox Valley was at the Geneva Middle School in 2006. In order to have that meet the standard regulations, it required a flashing solar power yellow beacon. Total cost was in the high seventeen to eighteen thousand dollar range. That was for Viking Drive where the traffic count was probably half of what it is on Banbury Road. Bibby said there are issues with the entrance into the church parking lot. The geometrics are not set. The church pavement is not wide enough and needs to be resolved.
Bibby said that one of the key issues that snarls all of this is Staff that park on Banbury Road from the Peterson Healthcare facility. That will be resolved by the project that was just approved by the Plan Commission and Village Board. If staff from Schneider that park there can get off street and then expanding the staff lot, it could result in an additional 10 or 12 parking stalls in that lot. With signage, could create short term parking on the west side of Banbury and some on the north side of Dee Road.
Mayor Berman asked Chief Fetzer to look into this further and report back to the Board.
2. Discussion of Extra Space Storage LOC release and acceptance of public improvements
Scott Buening said that Staff recommended the Village release the letter of credit in the amount of $255,036. All improvements have been completed. Consent Agenda.
3. Discussion of Text Amendment Corner Side Yard fence changes from 3 feet to 4 feet Buening said there have been some issues with fences on corner side yards. There have been different interpretations as to what the allowable height was. Staff proposed to raise the maximum height for corner side yards from 3 feet to 4 feet. Plan Commission recommended approval. Trustee Mancini said he thought the reason for the change was for a visual line of sight from vehicles approaching corners to see oncoming traffic. Buening said that front yard fences would still be restricted to 3 feet. If there is a driveway or another roadway that intersects, the 45-foot visual triangle would still need to be met. Mancini asked if a resident could have a three-foot fence in the front side yard and increase to a 4-foot fence in the back. Buening said yes. Consent Agenda.
4. Discussion of Conco Quarry Special Use/Annexation Agreement 65 foot mining setback reduction
Scott Buening stated that representatives from Conco were present and requesting an amendment to the existing Special Use/Annexation Agreement to reduce the mining setback of 65 feet to 0 feet, particularly against the north and south property lines to continue the mining operations. Buening said they would still need to go before the Plan Commission and the Village Board. Two public hearings would be needed.
Attorney Henry Stillwell, 300 E Roosevelt Road, Wheaton, IL, legal counsel for Lafarge Aggregate, Inc. (current owner of the Conco mine) – Atty. Stillwell said that no formal applications had been filed but that Lafarge had met with Staff. LaFarge was hoping to seek an amendment to the existing annexation agreement that was entered into in 1992, as well as the special use permit for mining operations and processing which was approved as a part of that annexation agreement. Seeking to amend paragraph 21 of the Annexation Agreement which currently provides that all mining operations shall be not less than 65 feet from the nearest property line of the subject property. Stillwell said that the 1992 annexation has fairly extensive performance standards (paragraphs 4, 5, 6 & 7). Stillwell said that Lafarge is not seeking to modify any of the performance standards. Stillwell said that the standard of 65 feet is unique to this particular mine, both in respect to all of Lafarge’s other mining facilities they have with respect to underground mining. Surface level setbacks would remain unchanged. With respect to the underground mining operations, the 65 foot setback does not have any relationship with the ability to comply with those performance standards.
Mayor Berman said that the significance is that this requirement is not in any of the other agreements Lafarge has in other areas. Berman said this stipulation was something that was in the agreement and no one thought about what the future would be. Trustee Faber asked how often the Village receives phones calls regarding the mining. Buening said that there have been more calls just recently since the mining is moving closer to the homes. Mayor Berman said that Lafarge is looking for immediate relief and that the long range solution is to go deeper. Trustee Faber asked, if the setback was reduced and this provided an extra three months of work, what Lafarge would do at that point.
Dave Baker, land manager of Lafarge, said that the ComEd property to the north and to the east is the property Lafarge would need to move into after the 65-foot setback.
Trustee Mancini said he didn’t believe the Board could make any recommendation at this point. Mancini said it would be risky to make a recommendation when counsel is talking about due process and constitutional violations. Trustee Gaffino agreed and said he would want to wait for more information in a public hearing.
Atty. Jansens said that Lafarge is asking if they should move forward to determine if they are wasting the Board’s time or not. Mayor Berman said that this issue needs to move forward. Atty. Stillwell said they would get their applications on file and move forward with a public hearing.
5. Discussion on retaining Design Perspectives, Inc. for the Riverboat Grant Funded Quadrant 2, Phase 2 Riverfront Improvements
Wes Kornowske said that Staff recommended the Village continue using this firm for the next step of the riverfront improvements. Direction by the Board was to move forward with Design Perspectives.
6. Discussion on Quadrant 2, Phase 2 Riverfront Improvement Project Alternatives
Wes Kornowske said that the project is partially funded by a $50,000 riverboat grant that was awarded in 2008. The issue is that the Village Board had budgeted $100,000 for the project and the grant is for $50,000. A memo was provided in the meeting packet describing what the Village would get for the $50,000. Staff’s recommendation was to move forward with the grant funding. Trustee Mancini said that his only concern was investing $100,000 in an area that has flooded on three different occasions in the past. Representatives from NOARDA said that this concern was addressed and that is the reason why improvements were moved north.
Trustee Gaffino asked if there was any support from the park district. Kornowske replied that there was not.
The Board said they supported the riverfront project. Trustee Faber said that the Board needed to decide where the best use is for the dollars on the riverfront in order to improve it. Faber said that if the Village has the grant and spends it on shoreline stabilization but the art garden costs another $50,000, is that what the Village is looking to do with the money. Mayor Berman said the idea is for NOARDA to come up with the ideas and the funding and go from there. Berman said that the Village has a $50,000 grant that should be used, but beyond that, the Village is open to suggestions. Berman said he was not sure that the village should be supporting, financially, something of this nature at this point in time when there are a lot of others in the community looking for support. Mayor Berman said he did not see the Village expending more than the $50,000 grant at this time. Trustee Gaffino said he was 100% supportive of the project, but there were comments with the overlook regarding the sign of the times and spending that kind of money. Gaffino said he was concerned that spending money beyond the grant would not be a good idea. Kornowske said the shoreline stabilization is the most important part of the grant project. Trustee Faber said that if the shoreline stabilization comes in at $30,000, the Village can spend the remaining $20,000 on something else.
The Board directed Kornowske to move forward on spending the $50,000 grant money.
7. Oak Street Pedestrian/Bike Bridge Payout Update
Wes Kornowske said that IDOT had approved another payout for the bike bridge. The Board would not see an invoice until the project is closed at which time costs would show the difference between the grant amount and the actual cost.
ADJOURN TO EXEC SESSION
Motion made by Trustee Gaffino and seconded by Trustee Faber to adjourn to executive session. All in favor. Motion approved.
(return from executive session)
ADJOURNMENT
Motion made by Trustee Guethle and seconded by Trustee Gaffino to adjourn the meeting. All in favor. Motion approved.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lori J. Murray
Village Clerk
