VILLAGE OF NORTH AURORA
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING MINUTES
Monday, April 7, 2025
CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Gaffino called the meeting to order.
ROLL CALL
In attendance: Mayor Mark Gaffino, Trustee Jason Christiansen, Trustee Mark Guethle, Trustee Mike Lowery, Trustee Todd Niedzwiedz
Staff in attendance: Village Administrator Steve Bosco, Finance Director Jason Paprocki, Community Development Director Nathan Darga, Village Attorney Kevin Drendel, Public Works Director Brian Richter, Police Chief Joe DeLeo.
AUDIENCE COMMENTS – None
TRUSTEE COMMENTS – None
DISCUSSION
- Gas Station Liquor License (101 South Lincolnway)
Administrator Bosco explained that the agenda item was a liquor license request for the BP gas station at 101 South Lincolnway. He reminded the Village Board that years ago the BP that had been operating there had a liquor license. The facility’s car wash fell into disrepair, and as they accumulated fines the Village eventually revoked their liquor license for not remedying the situation, nor paying the fines as agreed to. The property was eventually sold and the property was now under new ownership. The new owners have agreed to demolish the car wash, which they were currently in the process of doing. Bosco stated that in in the meantime the owners would like to reopen with beer and wine liquor license as allowed.
The Board was in favor of moving forward with this request.
- North Aurora Auto Mall Signage Text Amendment
Administrator Bosco pointed out to the Board that the funds for the Road Project for the upcoming year were split between the MFT fund and the Capital Program, normally the Village pays for the Road Program completely out of the Capital Program but sometimes end up using Motor Fuel Tax funds. He stated that part of the reason this was occurring was because of the Orchard Gateway Project which had a massive federal grant that would be funding a significant portion of the over $4 million dollar project. In order to get the project moving forward, it would require the widening of Orchard Gateway in certain sections. That widening would put some of the signage in the area out of code. Bosco stated that Community Development Director Darga has done an exemplary job of working with the local businesses to resolve that issue.
Director Darga explained that the Sign Code had a special section just for the Auto Mall called the North Aurora Auto Mall Signage District. The code does not specifically designate setbacks, it then defaults to the general signage setback of five feet. Darga displayed a photo detailing the changes to the intersection of Orchard Gateway and Hansen Boulevard. He stated that the intersection would be signalized, therefore the sidewalk would have to be repositioned to accommodate for that change. With these proposed changes, the new right-of-way line would come within one foot of the Kia sign. Darga stated that similarly, on the other side it would require the moving of the Dodge, Jeep, Ram sign. The Kia dealership was working with staff to acquire the right-of-way but the change would make their sign nonconforming, therefore the sign would need to be moved, granted a variance, or a text amendment. Staff believed that a text amendment would be the best way to move forward. The text would insert that in the North Aurora Auto Mall Signage District at the corner of Hansen and Orchard the sign setback could be one foot. The verbiage would apply to just the two corners. Darga explained that there were no vision triangles or any concerns like that because the intersection was going to be signalized, and the right-of-way acquisition was a very wide corner clip. He stated that it would not block vision and it would basically make the signs legal.
The Board was in favor of moving forward with the changes.
Darga added that the change would appear on the next Board Meeting agenda for final vote.
- North Aurora Police Department Patch
Administrator Bosco reminded the Board that about ten years ago the Police patch was redesigned, at the time the process did not include a lot of the police officers’ input. As an exercise in team building and reinforcing the elevated morale that Police Chief DeLeo has helped achieve, the officers were asked for input on designing a new Police patch. The patch itself did not need any formal approval, it was being brought before the Board in order to address any concerns.
Chief DeLeo stated that the process to design the patch was a collaborative effort between Village Staff, Officers, Sergeants, and Command Staff. He spoke about some of the issues with the old patch that were addressed with the redesign of the new patch.
The Village Board had a favorable reaction to the new design.
- Deer Run Subdivision Concept
Administrator Bosco stated that the Village had recently seen an uptick in interest of developing residential areas that had long sat vacant or had started and stopped for a number of years. Bosco explained that the agenda item was for a concept plan of a property that had been zoned twenty years ago. The developers were looking for feedback to see if they would like to move forward with the project.
Director Darga stated that the property was Deer Run, the vacant field that is west Deer Path, south of Mirador, and east of Tanner Trails. It was currently zoned E-3, it was approved in 2008. At the time, it was annexed, zoned, had a PUD approved but nothing was ever built. There was no infrastructure built, it remained a cornfield. Darga displayed the original plan for the community. The plan called for 26 12,000 square foot lots and 47 14,000 square foot lots. It had connections to Bauer and to Stratford Drive, as well as a connection to Deerpath. Darga stated that the current proposal was from Silverthorne Homes. They were proposing to reconfigure the subdivision into two sections. The outer perimeter section that was adjacent to Mirador and Tanner Trails would have traditional single family homes with 10,000 square foot minimums, while the inner section would be an active adult senior single family lots. These would be smaller lots with a 6,000 square foot minimum. They would be serviced and maintained by the association. The developer was proposing to add a clubhouse. To get this proposal approved, they would have to amend the annexation agreement, amend the PUD, and rezone from E-3 to R-1.
Jim Work of Silverthorne Homes was on hand to speak about the company and the project. He spoke about their previous developments and displayed photos. He spoke about the reason behind making the lot sizes smaller, stating that people do not want larger lots to take care of. Mr. Work explained that they tried to be respectful of neighboring communities by making the outer ring of lots larger so they were similarly sized to homes surrounding them. Work stated that there would be 75 single family larger lots and 42 of the smaller homes.
Trustee Niedzwiedz expressed that he believed having an access point from Deerpath was a must. He stated that he felt it was an interesting idea.
Mayor Gaffino asked how wide the lots that backed up to the existing homes were. Work stated that they were 80-90 feet wide and 130 feet deep. The lots on the inside were to be 52 feet wide and 127-150 feet deep.
There was some discussion about what the homes could potentially cost and what the community could look like.
The Village Board had positive feedback for the developer.
- FY2025-2026 Budget
Administrator Bosco introduced the item as the Village Board’s third review of the draft budget process. He reminded the Board that the review process begins with a budget overview, the second meeting the budget is discussed at length, the third review is a review of changes based on such things as comments that have been made, and finalized numbers. Administrator Bosco stated that Finance Director Paprocki would take the Board through the review as well as discuss the grocery tax and water rates.
Director Paprocki began with budget changes on the revenues side. He stated that in the Route 31 TIF there would be a reduction of revenue from $830,000 to $785,500. In the United TIF there would be a reduction of property tax revenue from $1,630,000 to $1,544,000; the transfer from the Route 31 TIF to the United TIF would also decrease from $1,315,555 to $1,270,655.
Paprocki then discussed the budget changes to the expenditures. In the General Fund there would be an additional $3,000 added for Cloudpermit code enforcement module, and a $13,335 reduction for the Mark43 records software. The Route 31 TIF would see a reduction in United TIF transfer. The Capital Projects Fund, an additional $20,000 would be added to the Route 31 road diet engineering, an additional $29,000 for the Public Works Facility commissioning, and an additional $126,000 for Police Department RTU replacements. In the Vehicle and Equipment Fund, $40,000 for a backup server purchase would be removed. Paprocki then spoke in detail about the changes to the individual funds.
Paprocki spoke about the Grocery Tax, he reminded the Village Board that the sales tax on grocery items would be eliminated on January 1, 2026. He explained that municipalities were able to continue the sales tax on groceries past January 1, a local sales tax would take the place of the State tax, consumers would not be taxed twice. He pointed out that a local grocery tax would be paid by both residents and non-residents alike. The local grocery tax could be repealed by the Board. Currently, the sales tax on groceries was estimated to be $600,000 to $750,000 annually. A strong sales tax revenue has allowed the Village to not take full property tax levy increase in recent years. For the FY 2025-26 budget, the grocery tax was budgeted at $250,000. If the Board did not pass a local sales tax the FY 2025-26 capital transfer would be reduced from $400,000 to $150,000 and additional personnel and/or operating requests would be reviewed.
Trustee Niedzwiedz asked for clarification on how the State distributed the tax funds, Paprocki offered further detailed information.
Director Paprocki directed the review toward Water Rates. He reminded the Village Board that in early 2023 staff had proposed a five year water rate plan which had been adopted. The Village was currently in the second year of the five year plan, but staff was proposing a rate increase that would reflect the fifth year of the plan, $5.95 per 1,000 gallons with a minimum bi-monthly charge of $16.00 for the first 3,000 gallons, which had been left unchanged. Over the past three years, 16% of bills were only charged the $16.00. Paprocki displayed the current water rates for surrounding municipalities. After the proposed increase, the Village would still be one of the lowest rates for water service.
Paprocki continued speaking about the Water Rates, stating that the water system master plan was anticipated to be completed in the spring, the plan was to include recommended future capital and suggested water rates. He then spoke about the projected Water Fund reserve balances which would include a large user connection fee, a $1.6 million General Fund transfer, and $5.95 water rates for FY 2025-26. Paprocki and Administrator Bosco spoke about upcoming projects to maintain or upgrade infrastructure that were on the horizon for the Village’s water system. Some anticipated expenses included a Central Water Tower at $7,872,554, the East Water Tower rehabilitation for $800,000, $3,000,000 for lead service line replacements, well #7 improvements for $400,000, well #8 improvements $415,000, well #8 generator and automatic transfer switch, $400,000, east treatment plant improvements for $997,000, and west treatment plant improvements for $685,000.
The Village Board discussed the proposed changes to the water rates, some Trustees expressing concern about the jump in rates per 1,000 gallons. There was further discussion regarding whether this was a necessary rate increase.
The Board were in agreement to move forward with the water rate increase to $5.95 per 1,000 gallons.
EXECUTIVE SESSION – None
ADJOURNMENT
Motion to adjourn made by Trustee Guethle and seconded by Trustee Niedzwiedz. All in favor. Motion approved.
Respectfully Submitted,
Jessi Watkins
Village Clerk
