Plan Commission - Regular Meeting

We're now called to order the land use and economic development committee here in the council chambers on May 20 26 at 3 30 p.m.

Roll call Councilwoman Ibarra here Councilman Mudron here Councilman Cardenas here All right next we're gonna start out can I get a motion for an approval of the minutes so moved second second

All in favor? Aye. So moved, minutes approved. Next, we're going to open it up to citizens to be heard on agenda items. Do we have any citizens that would like to speak on an agenda item? Going once, going twice. Next we'll start out with agenda items. TMP 9723, an award of professional services agreement for the study and designation of the downtown special service area SSA to S.B. Friedman Development Advisors in the amount of $54,260. We'll open it.

Good afternoon, committee members. My name is Paulina Martinez, Economic Development Director.

Your mic's not on. Test it.

Good afternoon, Paulina Martinez, economic development director. Yes, so today we bring to you an award of professional services agreement for the study and designation of the downtown special service area. And before we get into the nitty gritty, I did want to give you some background about the SSA and city center partnership, which is the organization that manages the SSA on behalf of the city of Joliet. So this SSA was established in 1996. It was set for 10 years. So it was set to expire in 2006. It was extended an additional 10 years. After that, in 2016, it was extended again for another 10 years, but this time the boundaries were enlarged to encompass Cass and Collins, as well as the South Chicago-McDonough Corridor. This was done through Ordinance 17551, and it's set to expire in December of 2026. The current levy is 95 cents per $100 of the equalized assessed value. We have an average collection of around $520,000. And the purpose of this SSA and the renewal of the SSA was to fund economic development activities and programs, capital improvements, as well as enhance maintenance and beautification to ensure the ongoing vitality of the area. Oh, sorry. So I just wanted to share with you that this SSA is almost one square mile or 639 acres, which is almost as big as the Joliet Technology Center site. Yes. So that Joliet Technology Center is almost 800 acres. This is almost 650 acres. So it's pretty massive. It's a pretty massive area. And we have 1100 parcels within that special service area. These are the original boundaries of the SSA prior to 2016. As you can see, it was really the core of the downtown. On the north boundary, it was Columbia Street, west boundary, the Des Plaines River, south boundary, Washington Street, and the east boundary was the railroad tracks. So after 2016, this is what the boundary looks like compared to the original boundaries. It basically a little more than doubled. North boundary is Woodroof Road. West boundary continues to be the river. South boundary is Fifth Avenue. And the east boundary is Foss Avenue. So it's past the Cass Street Bridge. So how is it currently operated? So it is managed by the Joliet City Center Partnership, which is an organization that was founded in the 1980s. So it does precede the SSA. The organization was founded with the principle of working on the revitalization of downtown Joliet. We do have a memorandum of understanding between the city and city center partnership that outlines the responsibilities of each organization. That MOU was established in 2017 through resolution number 7150. And CCP's current role includes doing marketing for the SSA, facilitating a minimum of 10 events per year, doing business recruitment and retention, and other economic development activities, including a grant administration, core area strategic planning, as well as policy recommendations. From the city, they currently get $400,000 a year, plus $100,000, which goes directly to fund the grants that they give out for facade improvement and site improvements as well. Sorry, do you have any questions? Oh, no, I'm sorry. They do have two staff members, Executive Director Emmanuel Lopez, who is here today. And they just hired Jessica Aguirre, who is on a part-time basis as the event and marketing coordinator to replace Vicky Sanchez, who was the person who had that role previously.

Okay, go back one second. So the $400,000 goes to all of their operating expenses?

Correct.

Which would include rent, doesn't include rent?

Rent. Rent, yeah. Yes, my understanding is that you do utilize that. Yes, that includes the rent, yes. Salaries as well, correct.

Sure, okay.

So because it has to be renewed by the end of the year, we wanted to make sure that we were taking advantage of the best possible public financing mechanism out there, right, to maximize the collection that we have and maximize the goals of the city. So on March 12, my colleague Emily McGuire put together an RFP and released it. to commission a study for the feasibility of a special service area or a business district, whatever suits better. So the proposed scope of work included the formation of a steering committee of members who are already in the SSA, an inventory of properties, boundary refinement, research and recommendations, public financing mechanism research and recommendations, a public hearing, which would be required by law, the creation of maps of the proposed area, and assistance with the creation of a final designation process and documents, right? So with the boundary refinement concept is just to, I mean, you saw the map, this is a huge area, so we just wanna make sure that it's right-sized. And what I mean by that is not making it smaller, right, but defining whether it needs to be broken down in different pieces to have their own pot of money and make sure that we are paying attention to priority areas like the entrance of Collins Street and the entrance to South Chicago Street, which are entrances to our city and need some TLC in those areas, right? So we just want a consultant to help us think through this and help us determine what is the best course of action.

I have a question. So if that were to happen and they were to get broken up, would this be managed by the same one executive director, or are you talking three different, or what would make the difference of where it's at now and if it got broken up?

I mean, the idea would be that CCP continues to manage this, right? But this is not what this RFP is asking for, right? We're not looking to replace CCP, but we are looking to make sure that we understand the level of staffing that we need given the size of the area and the needs of the city.

question on an earlier slide did I read that correctly that the income coming in is around half a million dollars within 520 or some number 520 that's not going to change unless we increase the size of the area correct

Yes, and that is why we want to do this study, right? Because we want to determine whether a special service area is the best public financing mechanism, but there are other options, right? There is a business district which imposes an extra sales tax against certain products, non-essential products, right? Chips or sodas things like that and we want to figure out whether that would maybe give us a bigger a bigger number a bigger collection, correct, right also Figuring out how to shift priorities, right? Like maybe some programming that we currently are asking CCP to conduct maybe is Not needed anymore. And so we want to maximize that we want to refine that Okay Any other questions on that one?

Not yet.

All right. So this is a graphic representation of this. Essentially, we got one submission from S.B. Friedman, development advisors. The city has worked with them for countless projects, and they are very trusted in this field. The quote is for $54,260, excluding expenses like surveying, public notices, and all of that, which is pretty standard. They're breaking out this project in three different phases. The first phase would be the visioning and the boundary definition. They would create a steering committee. They would do some mapping. They would start running some tax model scenarios. Phase two is the planning phase. So they would be drafting a needs assessment survey that would go out to the public. They would refine their tax model scenarios. and we'll continue to meet with the steering committee and phase three would be the public notice and the designation process and materials needed to make a decision of whether we continue with an SSA or whether it's another public financing mechanism. The idea is not to get rid of this period. The idea is to make sure that we're maximizing our resources available.

Can you go back one slide again? So the date at the top is 2025, right? The 6th is just extra.

The date at the top is 2020, March 31st, 2025?

That was a typo. I apologize. Oh, that's okay. 2026. Okay. All right. Okay. Go ahead, I'm sorry.

Yeah, no, this is just a visual representation of the process that I just talked to you about, the different phases that the consultant is laying out for us, right? So right here, time is of essence, right? We would have to start, if the council approves and you're okay with it, right away in June to have everything wrapped up by December before the SSA expires.

And then... in the bid from uh sb freeman this time frame they can work in yes they they are aware of our of our timeline correct it was outlined in the rfp okay i don't want to interrupt if you have more to say no that was it where's the where's the money come from then the 54 000 we have in our budget someplace from the ssa reserves

So the special service area funding, we have some reserves and it would be coming from there.

And in the SSA rules type of thing, we're allowed to spend that money on this type of expense?

Yes, professional services, correct.

Do we have, I know we have other incentive programs. Is this our only SSA?

For this purpose, yes. There are other special service areas that are used for public works. And that's how they traditionally started. SSAs were really meant for public infrastructure. And they have evolved in the state of Illinois to also be flexible to do some marketing and attraction and retention of business areas. but a necessary like this is the only one that we have in the city of Juliet.

And everything else is a TIF district, I take it? Sorry? Everything else is a TIF district for the most part?

Yes, we do have TIF districts, correct. The TIF districts are not as flexible in what you can spend with that funding. So this is the financing mechanism that gives us the most flexibility to do all the programming that the city-centered partnership does.

So I have a look so I guess that when you explain that if we get the. The goal would be for them to tell us that they should be broken up, you know you mentioned a Chicago Street, you know entrance or college reading about the downtown area with the way we originally it was. I guess I get an understanding like currently it's all included right so right this current board of the CCP themselves decide how and where they spend that money right or invest the money in.

It's up to the board at this point, yes, correct. But in fairness, the study could come back and say, like, hey, no, just continue how you are, right?

But I guess my question would be if they come back and say, no, break it up into three, does that then tell them that they have to use that money for that area only and this money for that area only? Yeah, it would. Does that limit if, let's just say they say break it up into three, but Chicago Street's only generating $20,000, are they now limited to only be able to get $20,000 because they can't bring money from...

that that would be a possibility right and obviously the city council would have to be on board with that plan CCP board would have to be on board with that plan no pun intended but yes it would have to be those those would just be recommendations right like we're not bound to take all the recommendations from the study but it would give us a pretty good idea of how to maximize our resources better correct but yes to answer your question yes

And then I guess once the recommendations come, our goal is not only potentially the, again, like saying the boundaries, establishing the boundaries, but potentially either growing it or finding different ways to generate more revenue from it, if there is possibilities.

Correct.

So based on asking to do this, I assume you, we, city staff feel there's a better way to handle what we're doing, that we're looking into doing this, or do we have a gut feeling that this is what we should be doing and want to be rubber stamped by S.B. Freeman, or why are we going out just not making a change if we think a change should be made?

So this has been 10 years since we've made any adjustments to, I mean, since we've had this MOU, right? Every so often I think is needed to take a look at what we're doing, how can we be doing it better? My professional opinion is that we, I mean, we just invested $20 million into a city square. We should be investing into our downtown. I think one and a half people to manage that whole area is really tough. And if we could leverage more resources to give CCP more staffing, I think that would help move the needle forward. And this is not unusual to do a feasibility study whenever you are renewing an SSA or a business district. It's pretty standard in many communities around Illinois.

Any other questions? Motion to approve.

So moved.

I'll second that motion. All in favor?

Aye.

All right. Thank you.

Next, we move on to the last question.

Next we have tmp 9, 8, 9, 9, a resolution approving amendment number 2 to incentive agreement property tax abatement for some of the titles and whether the Joliet Inc at 1, 18 Jackson Street.

Yes. So this is just an amendment to make sure that the tax years that they will be receiving their property tax abatement, the original agreement is for five years, that are correct. So as you know, this was approved in 2019. Unfortunately, because of the pandemic, the project was delayed. So then there was an amendment done that said that they would be receiving a property tax abatement from 2024 through 2028. The project did not open until November 2024, so the first tax year that they receive an abatement for was tax year 2025. So that would mean that we'd be cutting them a year short of the property tax amendment, but for this amendment. So this would make it from 2025 through 2029, which would make them hold for the five-year property tax abatement that we initially agreed to.

So what was the change that we approved just a couple months ago for them?

So that was not a change. That was just a resolution stating that they have done everything that they were required to to receive their property tax abatement as required by the county.

Okay. Any other questions?

We need a motion to approve.

So moved.

I'll second that motion.

All in favor?

Aye.

All right. Motion moved. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we move on to new or old business. Not for final action or recommendation.

I was just gonna talk about the same thing I always talk about and I'm never gonna stop I want a grocery store in district 5 I have been saying this for many years it's nobody's fault really we've been through several economic development directors and heads of department but I want a grocery store desperately and in the south-southeast part of District 5. I lived in Ingalls Park myself for five years, and I drove to other municipalities to get groceries because it was easier than going through town, hitting a bridge that was up or a bridge that was down or a bridge that didn't work or getting on 80 and taking my life into my own hands Or, you know, I had a train in Ingalls Park. It was such a disaster. It was just easier to go to New Lenox or Lockport. But we are probably missing capturing those tax dollars by not having a grocery store on the south or southeast side of District 5. I also completely debunk the theory that there is not enough rooftops because we have thousands of people every single day. go up and down 53 that's a market that could be captured for sure in proximity so I want a grocery store in district 5 and I'm just gonna keep saying it thank you thank you chairman that

That's it for me.

All right. Then we'll open it up to public comment. Would anybody like to make any public comment? Anybody here? Nope. Anybody? Seeing none, we'll give the motion to adjourn.

So moved. Second.

All in favor? Aye. Meeting adjourned.