City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening.

I'd like to call to order the City Council meeting for the City of Highland Park, Illinois, July 13th, 2026. Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Senter.

Present.

Council Member Bruckman. Here. Council Member Ross. Here. Council Member Tapia.

Present.

Council Member Littler.

Here. Council Member Bloomberg. Mayor Rotering. Here. We have a quorum. Everyone okay with Council Member Tapia joining us electronically? Yes. Yes. Okay, great. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.

indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

May I have a motion to approve the minutes of the Consolidated Meeting of the City Council held June 29th, 2026? So moved. Second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Thank you, the minutes are approved. May I have a motion to approve the warrant list? So moved.

Second.

Any comments or questions on the warrant list? Hearing none, will the clerk please call the vote?

Council Member Senter? Aye. Council Member Bruckman? Aye. Council Member Ross? Aye. Council Member Tapia?

Aye.

Council Member Littler? Aye. Mayor Rotering? Aye. Six ayes, no nays. The warrant list is approved. Continuing on, the report of the mayor. We have no appointments this evening. We have no proclamations this evening. We do have plenty to talk about this evening. So a little over a week ago, Our community came together for our America 250 Independence Day weekend events. While the weather did not fully cooperate for Independence Fest and the fireworks display on Friday night, Saturday's parade and pool party and Sunday's concert by Dr. Mark We're a true celebration of our community pride and patriotic spirit. Many thanks to all who made the weekend possible, especially our city manager, Geeta Newkirk, assistant city manager, Aaron Jason, and Emily Taub, police chief, Lou Jogman, fire chief, Joe Schrage, public works director, Ron Bannon, and all of our incredible city staff who've worked tirelessly on these events for the past six months. Special thanks to our friends at the Park District of Highland Park. Thank you all. So tonight, we are really proud to recognize the Highland Park Career Exploration Program and so many professionals who have contributed to its success over the years. Launched in 2015 as a business engagement initiative, HPCE was founded by then Councilmember Alyssa Noble and City Manager Gaeta Newkirk in close partnership with Township High School District 113 and the Highland Park Chamber of Commerce. With the goal of strengthening the connection between Highland Park's business community from small business owners to professionals, working at some of our city's largest employers, and the next generation of professionals, business owners, skilled tradespeople, civil servants, and entrepreneurs, the HPCE program has introduced high school students to a wide variety of career paths over the past 11 years. As part of the program, Alyssa and Gita connected participating high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors with mentors in the students' areas of professional interest. Students participated in job shadowing, workplace visits, ongoing mentoring, and even internships, thanks to the generosity of the participating businesses and professionals. The success of the HPCE program is truly indicative of our community's commitment to care for each other and to foster unique ways to support Highland Park's growth. Beginning with the 2026 school year, Township High School District 113 will assume leadership of the HPCE. as part of its expanding college and career readiness initiatives. It's been absolutely incredible to watch the growth of this program year after year and to see its impact now expand to all Highland Park High School students is truly remarkable. More than 65 professionals who participated in the HPCE program are recognized in tonight's packet. If you're joining us tonight because of your generous support of the HPCE program, please stand to be recognized. We're going to give you one more task before you sit down. If you could please come to the podium and share your name and your profession, and then come forward to the dais. We have special recognition. Everybody, come on up.

Cheryl Steiger, commercial and fine artist. And what else did you want to know?

And then come over here.

I'm Mark Hill, I'm a professor and a surgeon, and that's what I do.

Excellent, thank you. Come on forward.

I'm Ben Cuttshide, landscape architect with the Park District of Highland Park.

Excellent, thanks, Ben.

And former PDC member.

And former DC member.

Scott Leonard, fleet foreman, City of Highland Park.

Michael Picard with a background in both computers and in retail.

I'm Michelle Knittmeyer, and I'm one of the social workers with North Suburban Legal Aid Clinic. Thank you.

Thanks so much, Michelle.

Good to see you.

Council Member Spry. We're taking a picture.

Council Member Locke, any name? I can ask you a little closer than there.

Just for consistency, can the three of you show your certificates?

I told you, one more task and then they're free. We also want to share special appreciation to the following organizers and managers of the HPCE program. Alyssa Noble, former council member, Alyssa Noble Consulting and AM Communications, thank you. Geeta Newkirk, city manager, City of Highland Park. Dr. Shayla Holland, Superintendent, Township High School District 113. Dr. Karen Ritter, Assistant Superintendent, Township High School District 113. Dr. Holly Fleischer, Principal, Highland Park High School. Mira Ante, Township High School District 113. And Jennifer Giannopoulos, Township High School District 113. Thank you all for your contributions to the HPCE program. through which you have impacted so many students, and I think you wanted the organizers to come forward as well? Yes, okay, so I just named you, come on up, thank you.

Here we go again. Thanks, everyone. Thank you.

Council Member Noble, you're not allowed to sit down yet. Sorry to do that to you. And I know you threatened to kill me when you talked about this earlier this afternoon. But your contributions to the Highland Park community are too numerous to list tonight. From your appointment to the Business and Economic Development Commission, to your service as an elected commissioner, Council member, your unwavering advocacy for our business community, to your eye for detail on infrastructure projects and your enthusiastic celebration of all things Highland Park, to your immediate support of our community in our darkest days, you truly have led by example in your dedication to this community. No, we're not naming a street for you. Don't worry about it. No, we're not. The Highland Park Career Exploration Program is just one way that your time and talents have made a lasting impact on Highland Park. As many here tonight can attest, your commitment to improving the quality of life for all residents, including those with four legs, has only accelerated since your time on the City Council. Organizations like the North Suburban Legal Aid Clinic, the Highland Park Community Foundation, and Orphans of the Storm have benefited from your professional expertise and your passionate advocacy. How fortunate we are to know you and to work alongside you. So it is our honor, come on up, to present you with the key to the city.

Yes, it does open Dairy Queen.

Hold on while we present the key, the official key. I would make me take it out. Get this out of the picture.

Good recycling, that's okay.

Okay, but wait, there's more. So, oh, and I forgot to hand out the coins, so if you wanna pass these around, thank you, sorry. It's our pleasure to welcome back to the podium Dr. Mark Nolan-Hill to provide an update from the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative. The initiative is a binational coalition of mayors from communities in the United States and Canada who rely on water from the Great Lakes working together to advance the protection and restoration of the Great Lakes ecosystem through development and implementation of a comprehensive Great Lakes protection and restoration plan. Goals of the initiative include strengthening coastal resiliency given the impacts of climate change, advancing water equity, and leveraging economic benefits of freshwater resources. I invite Dr. Hill to share some more about this important work, thank you.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council. I'm Dr. Mark Nolan Hill, and I'm going to present highlights of the 24th Annual Great Lakes and Lower Cities Initiative meeting that was held in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. And this is the 24th year that I have presented this. And please excuse me if I speak fast. I want to be... cognizant of the time allotted. As the Mayor said, the Great Lakes St. Lawrence City's initiative is a bi-national consortium of mayors and representatives of the United States Great Lakes and Canada's St. Lawrence River Basin regarding sustainability, ecology, and water management. It's formed by Mayors Richard Daley and Toronto Mayor David Miller in 2003. There are now 430 member cities. In 2003, there were only 90. And they've been involved with the White House and Canadian Parliament. And last year, we gave 335 articles and interviews. And several years ago, I was honored to present the city of Highland Park to be considered for the annual Wege Award for small city sustainability, and Highland Park won, and is the only city in Illinois that has won this. And Mayor, I was very pleased to see how the new sustainability initiatives have been enacted in this city. And finally, Mayor Daley once said, if you want something done, you ask a mayor. And I'm sure Mayor Roderan, you can concur with that. I am in a volunteer non-compensated position, which is unique as I'm the only member who has been involved since 2003 at every meeting because I'm not an elected official. And I'm amazed at the progress and achievements, which you'll see now. The theme this year was Fresh Coast Economic Corridor, scientific and research presentations, as well as legislative actions. Water and energy efficiency. We talked about household leaks of water. One out of 10 homes leak water. And in terms of energy, 30% of the energy is used to heat water, but 80% of the energy is wasted in water down the drain. So there are processes to try to recover that energy. protect waterways from invasive species and decontaminating ballast water in boats, transforming harmful algal blooms. And what they use here is CRISPR. You might remember CRISPR is the gene splicing process with metagenomic assessment. And then also placing water pearls in manhole covers and to decrease the bacteria. We're covering runoff, sewers, overflows, and leaks. The process of this is unbelievable on the hydrants, the mains, the service connections, and valve assessment. It used to be years ago that when a valve was stuck, you would have to replace the valve, and that would be very costly. And now they use pneumatic vibrations. And the company that does this is in Waukegan, Emmy Simpson. And they take care of much of Canada, the United States. And I spoke with them and spoke with Keith Miller, our utilities superintendent, who works with Emmy Simpson in this regard. And I invited Keith to be here, but he's on a golf tournament right now. PFAS, per and polyfluoroalkyl substances, what we call forever chemicals, cause diseases, including cancer. And I was very pleased that the mayor in her recent newsletter talked about this in the newsletter. In 1940s, 14,000 synthetic chemicals were made to make products resistance to water, grease, and stains in cosmetics and cookware and carpets. And they have a carbon flooring bond, which is hard to disrupt. And 98% of Americans have measurable blood levels. 158 million Americans are exposed in water. And the treatment of this is using wood from trees, electro-oxidation, and ion exchange to break this bond. And that's well above my pay grade. microplastics and microfiber emissions. Again, Mayor, thank you for including this in your newsletter. It's estimated that all of us sitting here have a credit card of plastic inside of us, not just in your wallet or your purse. And we talked about water refill stations, so to throw your bottles not in the water, but to use water refill stations. And then in Canada, they have special washing machine filters They're rather expensive, but they decrease microfiber emissions. And I was honored to be able to speak with the person who developed this device and also wrote the paper. there was very respectful collaboration with indigenous people in the First Nations, sustaining Turtle Island. Now, the First Nations refer to North America, especially Canada, as Turtle Island because of the creation story that the continent was formed on the back of a giant turtle. And we had talks from one of the chiefs there, another chief, and then a declaration signing ceremony in Canada, for Canada and the United States. On the left is the new chair of the Great Lakes St. Lawrence City Initiative, Mayor Kevalier Johnson, who's mayor of Milwaukee and the protege of Ambassador and former Mayor Tom Barrett. And he is the new chair and he's just a great person and very smart and very nice. On the left is Mayor John Dickert, who has presented here, and he was the president and CEO of the Great Lakes St. Lawrence City Initiative some years ago. Next to the mayor is Her Worship Catherine Verrier-Roulin, who is the mayor of Quebec City in Quebec, Canada, and next year we will be having our meeting there. And there she's presenting now. Every other year, I have a surgical meeting at Mackinac Island in Michigan. So I've been there many times, and somehow, at the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Initiative meeting, the current chair, Ryan Sorenson from Cheboygan and the CEO, John Altenburg said, found out about this and said, could you talk to the mayor of Mackinac Island to get them to join the organization? And in a month when Carol Sue and I go up for the meeting, we have a meeting. But the reason I bring this up and mayor, I think you'd be very interested in this. Mayor Dowd, I can't wait to meet her, is the longest-serving mayor in the United States, 51 terms since 1975. Mayor Rohde, maybe you want to strive for that. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. And finally, if I may, Mayor, I'd like to recognize several guests whom I invited. As I was on the city's lakefront commission for over 30 years and its chairman, dealing with some of the same issues of the Great Lake St. Lawrence City's initiative, I worked with three remarkable people. Dr. Charles Shabika and his son, John Shabika, the area's premier consulting firm on shoreline stabilization, beach preservation and revetment design and fellow physician, Dr. Tom Sultan, who also worked together on the lakefront commission and was their chair. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Dr. Mark.

Mayor Kevalier-Johnson gave these to me to give to you and the council. Oh, beautiful. May I approach?

Actually, if you could just share it with Erin, that would be so appreciated. And you can keep the bed. Well, there you go. Keep it out of the water.

Thank you.

Thank you so much. And wonderful to see Shabik Elder and Junior and Dr. Sultan. Thank you all for joining us this evening. Wonderful to see you as well. So thank you. Thank you.

Council Member Ross. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to thank Dr. Mark for your clean water advocacy. It's amazing to hear about. And I also want to try to put you in touch with somebody I recently learned about at University of Chicago who's working on a really viable way to remove PFAS from water. And so I will do that via an email. But I'm just so impressed and thankful that you're doing the work that you are.

Thank you for your commitment. Much appreciated. Thank you. Continuing on, is there any business from the council? No. Nope, okay. Business from city staff, City Manager Newkirk.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. Just a few reports on behalf of staff. First, Bean Bar is an experienced full-service restaurateur seeking to establish at 565 Roger Williams in the Ravinia Business District. As certainly the council knows, the site has been vacant for many years and due to significant investment that's necessary for the property, the business is seeking additional funding beyond our food and beverage grant and the exterior improvement grant. We are suggesting consideration of using the exterior improvement grant funds, which are currently a matching grant of $20,000 per year. Businesses are currently able to take advantage of that program every year, but we're recommending pooling five years worth of funds and allowing them to take advantage of $100,000, given that they are investing approximately $1.5 million into the property. If supported by the council, they would be ineligible for taking advantage of subsequent exterior improvement grants for the five years following.

And this is an entity that's been vacant for over a decade, former dry cleaners.

Yes, yes, as indicated. Yeah, it's been vacant for a long time. Significant investment is needed. We presented a similar concept for a different restaurant at this area, and there was majority support to move forward. So I emailed this information to the city council. I did not have any concerns. So assuming that there's support, what we would do is work with them on an agreement and then have it on the next city council for formal consideration. So here you can see on the screen the current exterior of the building and then the conceptual exterior plan proposed for the property and then the next um is just a an example of the patio area in terms of build out so again approximately 1.5 million dollars investment in the property we think would be a great addition to that district to the community overall um and unless there are concerns we'll move forward accordingly as noted thank you okay The next thing is we are also, we've been working with Lucid Motors to welcome them to Highland Park. They are looking at occupying the space at 1200 Old Skokie Road in the Briargate Business District. So we're excited about welcoming them to our community. We have a current... program that we make available to businesses. It's our sales tax rebate program. This is a long established program that's been very successful in attracting and retaining some of our largest employers, as well as those businesses that are producing the greatest amount of sales tax revenue. This program is for new businesses making a minimum capital investment of $250,000 and generating a minimum of $1 million in sales tax annually. We've been working with Lucid. We have their application for the sales tax rebate. And one condition for the program is that businesses cannot begin construction until their sales tax rebate program has been approved by the council. Given the fact that they are on an expedited plan, they'd like to get open as soon as possible. We recommend allowing them to start construction with the understanding that we are working with them on the sales tax rebate program. And again, that agreement is planned to be presented at the next meeting for formal consideration. So unless there are any concerns, they will start construction, but know that that sales tax rebate is coming and it's very much needed given their investment in the property as well.

Okay. Thank you.

Okay. And then just a couple of highlights on the omnibus agenda. We have 11 items on omnibus for your consideration. All have detailed staff reports. Item six through 10 are construction projects. And so we do have on our website information where all the city's infrastructure investment projects are identified. So individuals can get an overview of what is planned, where, when, contact information for each project. So similar to these projects that are on for formal consideration, we'll update the website accordingly. We'll continue to communicate heavily with the general public as well as impacted properties in that immediate area and happy to answer questions that the public or anyone may have at any time about these projects or anything else.

And I think it's important to note those are infrastructure construction projects. And I just want to give a shout out to Public Works. Amazing job gaining state grant money, millions of dollars. And so we benefit, but we're not paying the full freight for these major, major projects. So I just want to give a shout out to Ron Bannon and his crew. Excellent work in getting those grants. Really appreciate it. Thank you. Did you want to ask your question about four?

What we have in the omnibus today with regard to Bean Bar is their food and beverage grant. It's not talking about the exterior grant, which is what you mentioned. And I just want to be on the record that this is an aberration. Our grant program, as you said correctly, is for $20,000 per year for five years. And the fact that we're doing it, we are not creating a condition proceeding. We're not saying this is a precedent that we're going to go forward with. This is a very special situation. It's someone who's met our criteria on so many other levels for the interior portion and will be doing so much exterior work. that that's why we wanna make this very, very unusual request and what we did with RBG, CBG, thank you, was truly an aberration too and one that we actually were very lucky that it didn't go forward because it would have been a mistake. So this is very different and we feel much more comfortable about acknowledging and taking your advice on this, so thank you.

Thank you.

Did you have something you wanted to say? Yes, also on four, but my question was, I saw in the packet, it said that we're working through lease negotiations still with Beanbar. Is that correct? So just the agreement, the agreement. So you'll let us know if there's any changes before this would become come on the next agenda, the exterior improvement grant.

Absolutely. We're working on the agreement that is going to come before you at the next council meeting for formal consideration. Okay.

Okay. Thank you.

And it is subject to them occupying that space. Yeah. Okay. Thank you.

Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you, city manager. Assistant to the city manager, Pelvitska, would you please introduce the next item on our agenda business from the public?

Thank you, Mayor. The next item on the agenda is business from the public. This is an opportunity for members of the public to address the city council on a topic that is within the council's purview and jurisdiction, but is not listed in another location on the agenda. If you would like to speak about a matter that is listed on the agenda, we ask that you wait until that agenda item is called and we will give you an opportunity to speak then. If your matter is on the omnibus consent agenda, please let us know if you would like us to remove that matter from the consolidated list so that you can speak about it. Please be aware that business from the public is not intended to be a forum for open dialogue or engagement with members of the City Council. Rather, it is intended as an opportunity to make comments to the City Council. Please do not expect a response from anyone tonight. If appropriate, we may direct the city manager or other city staff to respond to questions or issues raised at a later date. All comments should be directed to the City Council. All speakers will be limited to three minutes. We request that the public not applaud or make other comments after any speaker. We ask that everyone be respectful, civil, and non-repetitive.

Great, thank you. Are there any members of the public who wish to be heard tonight on an item? Not on tonight's agenda. Seeing none, we'll continue on with our omnibus agenda. As mentioned, items one through 11 have been grouped together for omnibus consideration. I'm seeking a motion to approve items one through 11.

I have a question about 11, but I don't think it needs polling, and I might be happy to make a motion.

What is your question about 11?

My question about item 11 has to do with a minor amendment to 925 Deerfield Road And what's being added is patio grading, 8 by 10 patios.

So I'm wondering if there's anyone here from development. You don't know that there is. But I do know from the packet, if your question is concerning the addition of impervious surface, that there were no concerns about stormwater management impact.

that was my question both about stormwater management and the ratio of green to patio considering there were no patios when we approved this development and now every single unit has an eight by ten patio and it is an impervious surface service right so i don't know if you can answer that city manager or someone from staff community development or development

I think, Mayor, you had stated it correctly that staff have no concern with regard to the additional impervious from the code perspective.

From code, stormwater, and green versus impervious? Yes. Okay.

And there would be an engineering plan that would be approved by our staff.

Do we know what the ratio is now of impervious to green for these town homes?

My understanding is it is within code. And so there are specifics regarding how much there can be in a site. And this does not take them over that ratio.

Okay, it's just for it to be on consent agenda and that not being what we approved. That's why I wanted to make sure we at least ask those questions. Sure, that's fine.

And I think it's important to recognize this was considered insignificant. So that's why I was on it. Yeah, that's fine. Okay. With that, I'm still seeking a motion to approve items one through 11. So moved. Second. Any comments or questions on one through 11? Any for the public? Hearing none, will the clerk please call the vote?

Council Member Senter? Aye. Council Member Bruckman? Aye. Council Member Ross? Aye. Council Member Tapia? Aye. Aye.

Council Member Littler? Aye. Mayor Rotering? Aye. Six ayes, no nays. Items 1 through 11 have been approved. Items A, B, and C under subheading Other Business 12, Corporation Council, can we consider these? in omnibus fashion?

Absolutely, Mayor.

Okay, so I'll read those out loud and see if there are any comments or questions regarding these. A is a resolution approving a plat of subdivision 1660 and 1700 Old Deerfield Road. B is an ordinance amending a special use permit for a planned development and the inclusionary housing plan, again, 1660 and 1700 Old Deerfield Road. And C is a resolution approving a first amendment to the development agreement between the City of Highland Park and HDC MIHP Venture LLC. We've read the copious packets that are related to these three issues, but certainly open to any comments or questions from the council and also from the public. Council Member Littlewood and then Council Member Ross.

So I did have a couple of questions and I don't know whether someone from the development or staff wants to respond but I just wanted to run a couple of things by you. We noticed that you took it down or in the inclusionary housing they all went from two and three bedrooms to all three bedrooms and I was just wondering at the reasoning behind it. I mean the square footage appears to be the same, so it's not changing anything, but from an inclusionary housing perspective, I was wondering what your rationale was.

Mayor, may I respond just to the inclusionary portion and then defer to the applicant? Sure. So in our code, the code calls for inclusionary housing to mirror essentially the types of dwelling units that are being provided at market rate. And so the bedroom mix is the type of unit. And so they've converted all of the market rate to three bedroom and thus the inclusionary were changed to three bedroom as well. Now there's marketing reasons why they're doing that, but I'm saying from a code perspective, that's also tethered. That's tethered. And the Housing Commission did vote six to O to recommend.

And then from a marketing perspective?

Yes, hello, my name is Zachary Kennitzer. I am the Planning and Entitlements Manager for MI Homes that's on this project working with Habitat and our joint venture. I just wanted to say that, yeah, the reason that we moved from two to three bedrooms is marketing purposes. There's a lot more demand for three bedroom units. And I think one of the things that is really interesting about the affordable housing piece is that there's actually more demand as well for three bedroom units as opposed to two bedroom units. So that's also a big part of why we decided to make the change.

Great. Thank you. And I, for one, am thrilled to hear it because we know how much of a challenge it is for so many of our families. So thank you for making that adjustment. That's great.

I had another question, and that had to do with, oh, this is actually from A, but it has to do with why were the lights removed along the woodland path? So I don't know if you have a response for that.

yeah happy to respond to that as well so um so first of all um the woodland path is in a conservation easement and when we were reviewing the plans one of the things that we you know believe in that in the sale to a um or the transition to a for sale environment um that the path lights would a removal of those would kind of lessen the amount of light and allow some darker skies right in the conservation easement. The second piece was is that a lot of the public parks in the area typically are dawn to dusk operating and having additional path lights could invite other people that are using the facilities at inappropriate times. And the third thing is is that putting those path lights in there in a conservation easement ultimately requires us to disturb some of the ground to put those in. So as opposed to putting in those lights and creating some of those other potential negative externalities, we decided to remove the lights and leave it more natural in state.

Great, okay, thank you, that makes a lot of sense as long as it's safe, but you know, from a PATH perspective, I'm always asking that. Okay, and my last point, and I'm sorry, but my last point was I had at previous meetings spoken quite a bit about the buffer between Blue Grass, one of the businesses, and the development, and I think the development has turned out to be a really lovely, lovely thing, and yet I have spent past five years, whether it was on PDC or on this council or as liaison, working on buffers and working on transitions between developments and businesses and making sure that there was adequate space. And frankly, from a policy perspective, the two and a half feet, which we did not change, really flies in the face of everything we've worked on in terms of building more of a five foot, very gentle kind of a, way of doing it. And so I just wanna actually commend the property owner for working with Blue Grass, the tenant, and I guess with developer. They are putting up some lovely lattice fencing. They're putting up some things that instead of having trees and bushes to block, having a car two feet from a table on a patio that's an outdoor restaurant. It's one of our oldest establishments in the city of Highland Park and having that right there And even if it was there to date, you're putting up a beautiful residential area. And to complement that, I wanted to see the kind of graceful transition to our business, to a restaurant, to a parking lot. And so I'm really glad that the owner has stepped up and done it in a way that's still attractive and that still acts as a buffer since we didn't have the space to do it from a land perspective. So I want to commend you on all working together and getting that done. But please understand that for us in Highland Park, that's a really big piece of making a new residential development feel like home.

So, thank you. Council Member Ross?

Thank you. I do want to share Council Member Liddauer's appreciate, I agree, thanks for the collaboration with Bluegrass Restaurant and that property owner, both for the lattice work surrounding the patio, apparently, and the landscaping as well. It it's really nice to have that collaboration. And so that seems to have resolved fairly well. And I assume you'll continue that great collaboration with the restaurant, which as I've said at two other council meetings, the one property, the one business that didn't get much of an accommodation until that. you know, any, you know, buffer. So this is really nice. I want to speak to the signage. You have a, you know, facing roughly the police station, you have a 16 foot by nine foot sign. And I do realize, you know, they went in front of PDC, there were two 16 by nine foot signs. You did reduce it to one. It's just that it's a massive, massive sign. And I apologize for saying this. I mean, no disrespect. It's just ugly simply by virtue of its immense scale. And this is not a highway, that street. I mean, I understand it on a highway. And in my opinion, it's a visual detriment to the area. And I frankly don't even think it helps your project because it, and forgive me for saying this, but it a little bit kind of cheapens the look of it. And so I wanted to ask if it's possible to do, reduce that sign to eight by eight feet, which is still extremely large and it's certainly, And I just believe it helps everyone involved, including your project. And it's a sign of goodwill to the neighborhood that you are now part of. So that is my question of you, of your team. And is there a way to make that happen?

Councilwoman Ross, thank you for those very insightful comments. Appreciate your thought and the time that you took to explain that. I think we would be willing to remove or reduce the size of the 16 by nine sign to an eight by eight. But one of the things that is really important to us is that, and beneficial to the community, is those signage really help us market the community and get us people that drive by that may not know necessarily about it and drive people to the site in order to transact homes at a faster pace. So as part of the marketing part of this, the idea is that we want to try to move through this community as quickly as possible to minimize impact on the community long term. ideally right we want to be selling four five six these homes a month and with that that actually puts us at a timeline that would extend past the three years that council has currently worked with us on so you know in lieu of us taking down the size of that sign right i think one of the things that we would like to do is be able to keep both of those eight by eight signs up for a couple of years and then um take one of those signs down specifically on ridge road to minimize the long-term impact of those residents and leaving the one up at the entrance until we are able to close our last house. Would that be amenable to the council?

So you're saying there would be two eight by eight?

Yeah, two eight by eights.

I mean, it's certainly a big improvement. Yeah. And I asked my colleagues if that is, I mean, that would be a big improvement and I think a benefit, you know, to the neighborhood. And I truly, truly believe it's a benefit to you as well. It's sort of a better look for the whole thing. Thank you for that. Yeah, absolutely. And I really appreciate that. And I also want to ask what you will do and if you could describe it and what the city will require in terms of mitigating the dust from construction on such a huge site. I assume it's in standard contract that the construction company will you know, clear this site on a regular basis, maybe daily basis, and, you know, what kind of, languages there around keeping the site clean and not having dust and construction debris migrating to businesses or residences?

Yeah, absolutely. So at MI Homes, one of the things that we like to tout about ourselves is that we are very clean and green. It's something that we really, we don't just aspire to, we try to execute every day. And as part of that process, we do use best-in-class vendors to actually go through and use water on the streets in order to keep dust down, regular street sweeping. We want our site to look the best, not just because we want to be the best, but because we want to make our customers feel like they are welcome at every single turn. So you can be assured that we will be using best practices to manage all dust, all construction debris, everything from concrete washout areas to maintaining the roads and street sweeping on a fairly regular basis. About once a week, if I recall correctly. Yep, once a week basis. And then dewatering the streets as well to keep down dust as needed. And our staff does inspections as well.

I was going to ask you, what kind of enforcement is there from the city in terms of just making sure it's part of the company?

Yeah, we review all construction projects. We respond to any concerns. We work collaboratively with the developers, but we do have the ability to issue citations if warranted.

Okay, thank you very much on both counts.

Great, thank you. Any other questions on items A, B, and C? No? Any from the public? No, so with that, I'm seeking a motion, yes?

If I may, two important floor amendments that we'd like to recommend. Okay. Okay. So staff have two recommended conditions. One's related to the platter resolution that the applicant revise sheet number three to remove the request to vacate document number 3495229. So what they do is they would supply a revised plan showing that. removed okay so that's all that's needed so it's just a condition of approval so before anything would get recorded that that would be made that revision um and then regarding the development agreement in uh section two um the definitions uh related to public improvements um city engineers ostotsky had indicated that she wanted some more clarity over the points that are made here are bold and underlined to be added that the sanitary and water mains on the property be identified here, and that exhibit be, you know, but excluding the new roads, stormwater, lighting, and sidewalks, curves, and gutters, and similar improvements on the property. So essentially what this does is it says we're, as a city, going to take, after they're completed and past inspection, the sanitary, sewer, and stormwater, and water mains, potable water mains, And then the rest of the improvements on the private property would be the privately maintained health.

Okay. Thank you. If I could ask for more detail on the first request, given that we haven't memorized what document number 349529 is.

So what I can say is that that document, there is background information that was unable to be provided in time for this approval, and thus we recommend not to vacate that until such time as the city's had time to review all of the details about that particular document.

Already existing isn't okay any questions from my council members people are comfortable with these amendments So it'd be approval of items a B C as amended Yeah.

I do have one other question. Sure. And I apologize to everybody regarding the signs and the request that the that or the offer that you would have both signs be eight by eight and which I appreciate. And you would have it up for the entire length of it, you know, until you sold. You're talking about phase one and phase two until you've sold. Was that originally part of the plan for was that originally part of the plan, the length of time those signs would be up?

THE ORIGINAL LENGTH OF TIME THAT WAS PLANNED IS THREE YEARS THAT WAS OKAY BY PLANNING AND ZONING THAT WAS OKAY OKAY SO YOU KNOW I DIDN'T WANT TO INADVERTENTLY HAVE IT UP LONGER THAN RIGHT YEAH RIGHT SO SO THAT THAT THANK YOU FOR CLARIFYING AND AND OUR REQUEST FOR FIVE YEARS IS REALLY JUST FOR THE ONE SIGN AT THE ENTRANCE RIGHT SO LEAVING THAT SIGN UP AT THE ENTRANCE AND REMOVING THE SIGN ALONG RICH ROAD AFTER THREE YEARS

OKAY.

UNTIL THE FINAL SALE, YEAH. LEAVING THE SIGN AT THE ENTRANCE UNTIL THE FINAL SALE. PARDON?

FINAL SALE OR THREE YEARS, WHICHEVER IS LESS OR WHAT?

FINAL SALE FOR THE SIGN AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE COMMUNITY. SO WE WOULD WANT TO LEAVE THAT EIGHT BY EIGHT SIGN UP UNTIL WE FINISH SELLING OUT THE COMMUNITY.

BUT THE ONE ON RIDGE?

WOULD COME DOWN AFTER THREE YEARS. I'M SORRY. WOULD COME DOWN AFTER THREE YEARS.

OKAY. SO AGAIN, I AM SEEKING A MOTION TO APPROVE ITEMS A, B, AND C AS AMENDED. SO MOVED.

SECOND.

ANY FURTHER DISCUSSION? HEARING NONE, WILL THE CLERK PLEASE CALL THE VOTE?

Council Member Senter. Aye. Council Member Bruckman. Aye. Council Member Ross. Aye. Council Member Tapia. Aye. Council Member Littler.

Aye. Mayor Rotering. Aye. Six ayes, no nays. Items A, B, and C, as amended, have been approved. We've already had closed session, so with that, I'm seeking a motion to adjourn. Second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Thanks, everybody.

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