Village of Bartlett Committee of the Whole met Aug. 20.
Here is the minutes provided by the committee:
President Wallace called the Committee of the Whole meeting to order at 7:24 p.m.
PRESENT: Chairmen Camerer, Carbonaro, Deyne, Gabrenya, Hopkins, Reinke and President Wallace
ABSENT : None
ALSO PRESENT: Village Administrator Paula Schumacher, Assistant Village Administrator Scott Skrycki, Economic Development Coordinator Tony Fradin, Management Analyst Joey Dienberg, Finance Director Todd Dowden, Planning and Development Services Director Roberta Grill, Senior Planner Renee Hanlon, Public Works Director Dan Dinges, Public Works Engineer Bob Allen, Building Director Brian Goralski, Head Golf Pro Phil Lenz, Police Chief Patrick Ullrich, Deputy Chief Geoff Pretkelis, Deputy Chief Jim Durbin, Village Attorney Bryan Mraz and Village Clerk Lorna Giless.
BUILDING AND ZONING, CHAIRMAN HOPKINS
More Brewing
Chairman Hopkins stated that the petitioner proposes to construct an 8,063 Sq. Ft. sit- down restaurant on a vacant piece of property on the south east corner of Railroad Ave. and South Oak Ave. at 121 West Railroad Ave. The site plan includes two outdoor dining areas on a first floor patio and second floor roof top with small batches of beer being brewed on the property and those products packaged for take away. He asked Roberta to explain further.
Planning and Development Services Director Roberta Grill stated that this property has been zoned for business throughout the history of the villages zoning ordinance. The property is the former site of Lucky Jacks. The village acquired the property and demolished the building, now the lot stands vacant today. She stated that More Brewing is in the audience tonight and they are requesting a site plan for an 8,000 sq. ft. building with sit-down restaurant. The first floor is a dining room and patio area and in addition is a mezzanine dining room and patio. They are requesting special use permits for a restaurant serving alcohol, the two outdoor dining areas and packaged liquor sales. Periodically, the petitioner is purposing to package their new release beer products and sell them on site for offsite consumption. The petitioner operates this same business model in a restaurant located in Villa Park. The proposed building architecture is a contemporary style that includes a glass overhead door along the Railroad Ave. façade which will incorporate an indoor/outdoor design element to the building. It is going to consist of black brick which is the major building material. The small wall along the first floor of the patio would be a gray block and the other material would consist of a composite wood that is walnut in color.
The petitioner is asking for variations. The first variation is for a 100% reduction in the number of off street parking spaces. According to the zoning ordinance, they would be required to have 132 off street parking spaces. This is based off a floor plan of 368 seats and 25 employees at the peak shift. Due to the large number of parking spaces nearby, staff believes that parking can be accommodated offsite. In the packet is a parking analysis the summer intern completed. On the table, it identifies the free parking areas in green, in yellow is the daily pay spots and in blue are the permit spots. In the chart, it tells you that in downtown, the total number of parking stalls is 879. During the workday there are 282 spots available, not including the proposed parking across the street from this building. The proposed lot is in the capital budget and is projected to add another 22 spots. In the evening, the number of available spots increases to 591 open spaces. Although they have 368 total seats, that includes all of the outdoor patio seats on the first and second level which are seasonal.
The second variation request would allow for a one foot building setback for the rear property line which is to the south. They are also asking for a one foot set back on the corner side yard which is along South Oak Ave. They are asking to increase the allowable floor area from the required.6 to 1.08 and a 60% reduction in the open landscape requirement from 15% down to 5%. They are also asking to eliminate the required loading space. Staff has gone and looked along South Oak Ave. and there is adequate space for a loading zone which the formal Lucky Jacks establishment used, but there is also an area that is appropriate for an on street handicap stall and there is already a ramp there. There are also two handicap stalls in the lot across the street, adjacent to Banbury and three handicap stalls across the street at the depot museum.
The village was fortunate enough to receive a $20,000 grant from the RTA which contracted with Codametrics to draft a form based code for the village. It is focusing on our downtown area and will be before you on September 17th when we will go into more detail. This code focuses on regulating the appearance, placement, and scale of buildings and how they relate to one another. If this code was approved today, we wanted to see how that project would fit in with it. If it were in place, the parking for this use would drop to 20. In addition, there would be no variation needed from the side yard and it would eliminate the open space request as well. With that, staff is recommending forwarding this to the Plan Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals for their review and to conduct the required public hearings.
Chairman Carbonaro asked if there would be any issues with trucks making deliveries with the rear variation.
Ms. Grill stated that it would be located at the zoning area on South Oak. There is adequate room there. That’s where the former operator had their loading as well.
Chairman Gabreyna asked if the other businesses across the property will have access to the road.
Ms. Grill stated that their access is not on this property. It is part of Bartlett Taps property. The petitioners are here tonight if you have any specific questions.
Chairman Deyne stated that he would like to move it forward and get the comments from the Zoning Board of Appeals.
President Wallace stated that it is good to see the petitioners again and he looks forward to working with them.
Chairman Reinke asked if we needed to send it to Committee of the Whole again or could it come to the Board for a vote.
President Wallace stated that he thought they should go straight to Board unless the Plan Commission saw an issue with the plans.
Chairman Reinke asked if there is anything the village can do to help send their customers to the right parking lots.
Ms. Grill stated that staff has talked to them about getting the word out and signage. They have suggested having their employee’s park across the tracks in the former gas station lot.
Chairman Gabrenya stated she thought the neighbors would like that.
Chairman Hopkins stated that it will be forwarded on to the Plan Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals.
POLICE & HEALTH, CHAIRMAN CARBONARO
Senior Survey Analysis
Chairman Carbonaro stated that on March 18, 2019 the village staff sent out a survey to all residents currently receiving the senior water billing discount.
Management Analyst Joey Dienberg stated that village staff sent out a survey to all of our residents that are receiving a senior discount on their water bill, this survey consisted of five questions. On the first question, we asked what specific issues are the most financially challenging to our seniors. As you can see in the chart, there were close to 20 different options that were listed by respondents. The most frequently mentioned challenges were taxes at 43%, utilities at 18% and home repair at 17%. The second
question asked what seniors believe the village should prioritize in the next 3-5 years. The number one issue was taxes at 39%, utilities at 10% and safety at 10%. The third question asked seniors to rank the level of importance for four different issues. One being most important and four being least important, they ranked taxes number 1, safety number 2, ability to afford home repairs was 3 and mobility throughout the community was ranked number 4. The fourth question that was asked was what services seniors find the most helpful to them. Far and away, the number one answer was the utility bill discount offered at the village. 55% of respondents to the survey did not answer this question, stating that they do not know any services that they benefit from. Staff is going to be sending out a letter to our seniors outlining the different services available to them with contact information to Groot for their garbage discount and the various services offered by Hanover and Wayne Townships. The last question asked if the seniors use a computer to take advantage of the various services offered by the village. 33% of seniors stated that they do not use or own a computer. That is important to staff so that we can more effectively communicate with our seniors through different mediums such as the Bartletter and mailings.
President Wallace stated that he thought doing this survey was really important because it helps us get an overall view. He thought Chairman Camerer’s volunteer group (Bartlett Community Cares Initiative) could maybe help as well.
Chairman Camerer stated that the group is community based and it is to help residents that really have issues with drugs or other addictions as well as seniors. It is available and there is some money available to some degree. The group can’t afford to mow all seniors’ lawns, but on a hardship case it might be worth pursuing. That was not the sole intent of the group.
Village Administrator Paula Schumacher stated that there are also some regional programs that deal with some home repairs and relief for utilities. What we have found out in the past is that our residents don’t meet the minimum income threshold. The information that we are sending out is very comprehensive for what is available and it should help a lot of our residents fill some of those gaps.
President Wallace asked the village to consider some of the things that were brought up when it comes to budgeting next year. He thinks the staff has already done that, but wants to continue that effort. It was an awareness thing on some items, some of the things we didn’t think about before, we now know about, which is good.
Ms. Schumacher stated that one of the things that Building Director Brian Goralski identified was finding the common repairs that seniors are facing with aging homes and reducing those for seniors. The survey is a first step as we will be heading into strategic planning so we can keep this information at the forefront.
President Wallace stated the Committee will be adjourning to Executive Session to Discuss Imminent Litigation Pursuant to Section 2(C)11 of the Open Meetings Act. President Wallace moved to adjourn to executive session. That motion was moved by Chairman Carbonaro and seconded by Chairman Deyne.
ROLL CALL VOTE TO ADJOURN THE MEETING TO EXECUTIVE SESSION
AYES: Trustee Camerer, Carbonaro, Deyne, Gabrenya, Hopkins, Reinke
NAYS: None
ABSENT: None
MOTION CARRIED
The meeting adjourned at 7:42 p.m.
President Wallace called the Committee of the Whole meeting to order at 8:08 p.m.
PRESENT: Chairmen Camerer, Carbonaro, Deyne, Gabrenya, Hopkins, Reinke and President Wallace
ABSENT : None
President Wallace moved to adjourn the Committee of the Whole Meeting. That motion was moved by Chairman Carbonaro and seconded by Chairman Deyne.
ROLL CALL VOTE TO ADJOURN THE MEETING
AYES: Trustee Camerer, Carbonaro, Deyne, Gabrenya, Hopkins, Reinke
NAYS: None
ABSENT: None
MOTION CARRIED
The meeting adjourned at 8:09 p.m.
https://www.village.bartlett.il.us/Home/ShowDocument?id=10488
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