City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone. Welcome to the regular city council Monday, February 2nd. Clerk, please call the role. Alderwoman Baney here. Alderman Glad here. Alerty here. Alderwoman Bassie. Oh, here. Sorry. It's okay. Alderman Davis here. Alderman Cook here. Alderoman Miller here. Please stand for the pledge. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

At this time, open up for public comment. Is there anyone here for public comment? This is items that are not on the agenda this evening. I see none. Moving on to consent agenda items 5A through 5C. Looking for a motion to approve as presented. Alder Bainy. I'll make the motion to approve as presented. Thank you. Second. Alman Dhy. I'll second the motion. Thank you. Discussion on these items by city council. Clerk, please call the role. Alwoman Bainy, yes. Alman Dhy, yes. Alderman Glad, yes. Alwoman Bassie, yes. Alman Davis, yes. Alman Cook, yes. Alwoman Miller,

yes. Thank you, council. Next item on the agenda is 6A Parkland Middle School CUP and final plan. Motion to pass an ordinance granting a conditional use permit and final plan approval for a planned unit development to accommodate the existing uh school and for the construction of a recreational field at 1802 North RI uh Ringwood Road at Parkland Middle School. Uh Director Pal, you want to go ahead and you probably just say the same thing I just said, but

Right. Yeah, you just said it all. So, uh, petitioners district 15 tonight. They're, uh, in front of you for a requesting a conditional use, uh, permit for the approval of a plan unit development to accommodate the existing school as well as a new track facility, uh, in the rear of the facility. Uh, they're also looking, uh, requesting a waiver of the $950 application fee, um, which would be included in the motion if if, uh, city council agrees to that. So, uh, any questions? The petitioners are here this evening. Uh, thank you. All right. So, at this time, looking for um motion to approve 6A as presented. Alder Miller,

I'll make the motion to approve 6A to pass a con a conditional use permit and final plan approval for a planned unit development to accommodate the existing school for construction of a recreational field at 1802 North River, Ringwood Road, Parkland Middle School. Thank you. Second without waiver in the field. with waving. So with waving the fee. I'm looking for a second. Holdman Dory. I'll make a second to that motion. Thank you. Discussion by city council. Alman Cook.

Yeah, I disapprove of waving the fee. That's, you know, we're government entities here. Pay your fair share. Thank you. Although Chris passing, hi. Could you come up here, please? You hit the middle button over there on that mic. Okay. Thank you, sir.

Hi. Thanks for coming. Um, first of all, I'm very happy to see that there is no amplification sound, no outdoor lights, and bleachers are as far away from the homes as possible. I'm also happy to see that the staff has included maintaining the existing trees, the tree line, and adding additional shade trees as an approved condition. I am um concerned about the potential flooding though. Will you commit to performing full due diligence for potential flooding before you begin construction? I believe they've already done as part of the storm water study.

Yeah, I can answer that. So th this project like like any other has to go through a full storm water review. Um their uh district 15's uh design engineers have submitted to the city of Mckenry. We have uh submitted those to our review consultants who have responded back. Um they are providing detention at this site which uh currently does not have. Um I think you're going to see uh some drastic drainage improvements on the site compared to what you have today. So

Okay. Thank you. And then I have two more questions. Um, outdoor walking tracks can provide residents a free community third space and outside walking is beneficial for both your health and your mental health, physical and mental. Will you allow public use of the track in non-school hours and events? And if it is under discussion, when can we expect an answer? It's still under discussion. I know McCracken does not allow for after hours activity for you to walk on it for the communities, but um we've had had discussions for both tracks at MMS and and at Parkland. Okay. Do you have any idea when you'll be done with your discussions? I don't.

Okay. If and when you are, could you um keep all of us posted, please? Absolutely. Thank you. And then I have one more that I'll wait till the end. Okay. Alderman Glenn, go ahead. Yeah. I also have uh a lot of concerns about the uh drainage in that area. I was out there back uh 20 plus years ago when we had the 100-year storms and I saw the rapids that were coming through back there and uh this detention pond is there uh for the area that you're developing. And so you create a detention for that additional non-periperous uh property, right? that that you're creating more drainage on.

Correct. For the track for the impervious track. What about what about all the drainage that Parkland created in the first place? Let me give you a little history. Okay.

Sure. Uh back in 1968, the city took and uh annexed Lakeland Park. And in 1970, uh the state came in, fixed the whole drainage way, engineered it uh for the uh the city claiming that uh paving 120 at the a couple years earlier had caused the drainage uh problems. Uh they gave it to the city to maintain and uh it has the first couple years weren't too bad but it kept flooding. Uh there at that time uh Parkland was built in 72 I believe and that was two years after the city got the uh the re-engineering on this and there was no detention at that time and same with the other subdivisions over there. So, it's a very touchy area as far as the amount of water that comes through there. And I can tell you right now from what I saw back 20 plus years ago. There's a lot more water that comes in behind Parkland than anywhere else through that whole whole system. And uh it's a very touchy area right there. I always thought that uh there would have been some kind of uh deal between the city and the school over the last 20 years somewhere that we would have created a a much larger detention pond over there rather than seeing a track. Granted, it's nice uh those that have kids that are going there think it's great that they're going to see the track and everything else. And if they live in Lakeland Park or in that area and once the kids are out of school, needless, they're going to say, uh, you know, what were they thinking? uh because now everything else is flooding and uh flooding is a a major problem and uh um I'll be honest with you I I find it difficult to support this only because of the fact that number one I didn't see the engineering it wasn't sent to us granted I ask that uh sometimes that we over uh

uh indulge the council with uh a lot of extra paperwork that doesn't need to be uh in the agenda packet, but uh I would have thought that uh I know staff knows that I have talked about this for 20 plus years as far as the drainage and and the concerns back there and I would have thought that the engineering would have been sent to us uh to to review better than just the pictures because the picture shows fine as far as your property, but then if you look at the um the homes that are just east of there on Sunset, there's there's no elevations over there at all. you know, it shows the elevations between your property and the drainage ditch and that's it. And be honest with you, I I really have concerns with the drainage there. And I I can't promote this uh uh tonight without that. And as far as the $950, you know, uh I'm an old-timer. Nickels and dimes add up to dollars. And uh uh when uh I saw back in April 9th uh uh when this the school took an allocated $70 million that they had saved up of our tax dollars to do all these projects and the city doesn't have that kind of money. Why would we take and you know release you from the $950? It's not a huge amount of money but it is a principle on that and uh it's where I stand. Thank you. Any other questions, comments?

Any other questions, comments? Aldo Miller. So, I support the waving of the $950. District 15 has been a good business partner with the city of Mckenry. Uh, we work with them frequently, often. We rely on them. Parks and Rec uses them. We, as citizens use them. Um, I I think it's the right thing to do because we are in partnership with District 15. So, um, we are both community advocates. We're both government entities and uh I think it's the right thing to do. So I do support the project. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Miller. All Bassie.

Um I also support it. But I do have another question while you're here. Um and I hope I can digress for a second, so stop me if this is not allowed. Um I wanted to talk to you about the future development and how it will affect the schools. I'm hearing a lot of concerns from residents about whether or not the schools can accommodate all the new growth the city is proposing, particularly the 600 new single family homes that are going to be built in Legend Lakes.

Great question. I can answer that real quick. So, our enrollment has been declining over the past 10 years. So, our class size is around 20 students per classroom. So, in our high water mark, we were about, you know, 7,000 I'd say five six thousand students. We're currently around 3,900. So, we do have the space, the capacity for um new developments to happen. There's always opportunities for us to rebound, to redistrict, to um shift students around if we have to. So, we do have the capacity in our building to absorb more students if they come. Okay. And that was my question. At what point are we going to have is it going to be um an issue with the schools? You've answered my question. It's more of an issue with programming than than capacity. Oh, really?

Right. So we have bilingual special ed classrooms that are either low population or low enrollment versus our our general classroom. So but we do have no space to increase class sizes to absorb um a new development. Okay, great. Thank you so much. Thank you. Any other questions, comments by council? If we were to pass this and we don't get, you know, you say you're going to give us this uh engineering about the level of uh the flow of water and everything else like that. We pass it tonight. What's to make you not even give us anything to Ross? You want to you know,

right? That's on me. you they they can I will not issue a permit until our consulting engineers have blessed this project. It's that's just the way that's the way the system is set up. You I there no absolutely no permits will be issued until the final engineering is approved and I think the district has demonstrated in the past that this is our first project that we've come forward. They will not be able to put a shovel in the ground right

until I sign off on. I have a I have a problem with uh people long sunset. You know, I mean uh I've known the flood and everything else like that. So, you know, I lived there all my life, so I know kind of sort of what Glav is talking about. And I just worry about it. Do you have to go along everybody on Long Sunset and said, "Hey, you better get flood insurance." I I I'm just saying.

No. So, I do I do want to let the council know that there was a public hearing on this project and not one resident showed up and each one of them was notified by mail. So, you know, I if there were concerns of flooding back there, I would hope that those residents would have come to that public hearing and said, "Hey, look, I have concerns, but I didn't have anybody in the audience." Now, that doesn't mean we're not going to look out for them. Obviously, we're going to as a city staff, we're going to look out for these individual and these residents. But, um, you know, what you see on paper here, we we did redesign this. Uh, they they shifted the track a little bit further east and then included the detention, I'm sorry, to the west and included the detention to the east. Uh, keep in mind they cannot shed any water off of their property any quicker than is right now. So this detention is going to hold the water and then release it at the same rate or less than what it currently is released into that stream. So at the end of the day, it should decrease the flooding issues back there just like we did with the Authentics project. We had all those flooding issues with the the Authentics uh apartment complex and we have none now. So, you know, I trust the engineers that uh that we have on staff and that we consult with to to make sure this is done right. Just looking out for the

I hear you for everybody, you know, because I know how it floods down in there when it gets really bad. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions, comments? Thank you, Jeeoff. Appreciate it. Thank you. Open up for public comment regarding this item. Anyone would like to make a public comment. See none. Clerk, please call the role. Alderwoman Miller, yes. Alman Dhy, yes. Alderwoman Bainy, yes. Yes. Alman Glab, no. Alwoman Bassie, yes. Alman Davis, yes. Alman Cook, does that mean we're waving the 950 bucks?

Yes. Thank you, Alman Clark. All right. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you very much. Have a good night. Next item on the agenda is 6B. Assembly use at 1501 South Illinois Route 31. passed an ordinance uh granting a conditional use permit to allow an assembly use at the property located at 1501 South Illinois Route 31. Director Pali.

Sure. So, this is the former Bulldogs restaurant. Um the petitioner is looking to turn this into a banquet facility. Um the assembly use of a banquet facility does require a conditional use permit. Um so, uh the idea is to hold banquetss at this facility. Uh and um with council's approval. Thank you, Ross. I I they they are they have already obtained a liquor license for this property. So, that's already been approved. All right. I am looking for a motion to approve 6B as presented. Alderman Glenn.

Yeah. I'll make that motion to pass an ordinance granting a conditional use permit to allow an assembly use at the property located at 1501 South Illinois 31. Sounds good. Thank you. Second, Alden Bassy, I'll second that. Thank you. Discussion by city council on this item. Al I just want to say that I'm a little excited. I think uh for what I see that they're talking about doing, uh it's an entity that we needed more of in Mckenry and I think it'll really be an asset to us. Thank you, Alman Cook. Do they have any ties to uh the Hampton? No, but we did get link them together and they're communicating to help each other out if that's what you're asking.

Right. That's what I'm asking. You know, you have everybody parties up. Okay. Communicated and they're both very happy to work together. Thank you. Any other questions, comments? Any public comment regarding this item? Trish, please call the role. Alman Glab, yes. Alwoman Bassie, yes. Alwoman Bainy, yes. Alman Dhy, yes. Alman Davis, yes. Alman Cook, yes. Alwoman Miller, yes.

Thank you, council. Uh discussion item is regarding the distinguished uh citizens memorial plaza alternative to the former uh honorary street signs program. Bill Hopson, you want to go ahead and present this? I'll do my best. Thank you. Um it it they do go hand in hand and so um it's it's not necessarily discussion about one or the other. I think uh you know we it started with the honorary street sign program which began for us in 2005 and uh you know I don't anybody else jump in if you have the details on that I wasn't as intricately involved with the honorary street signs um however that program progressed and it changed uh we amended the policy in 2016 as we saw a lot of requests uh we would exceed where there was three we were capped at three per year typically and we would regularly see more than that and so then there was uh on your shoulders it seemed like um some onus of all right how how can we pick these three and all right then the next two will take up the next year's amount of honorary street signs um so that was one issue with it as as long I guess the other issue was they started the signs started to kind of proliferate our downtown and a number of other areas and when they started stacking on top of each other what you'd almost see is some of the the wind load would create on those street signs would bend them over occasionally and so there becomes some there became some maintenance issues with them as well. And so for one one reason or another, we decided to suspend that program I think in 2022 or 23. I'm not positive on that. Um 22. Yeah. Um and so we did suspend that program, but we kept obviously we want we wanted to recognize these distinguished citizens, these people that deserve that are very deserving of some recognition from our community, the history of our community. And so at one point we did have we had a discussion or a brief discussion of what that could look like um and in the form of a plaza um some sort of memorial wall um recognition wall. I don't want to say

necessarily memorial because they don't have to be uh pass away at that point but one the location that we decided upon was Green Street Park. It was a a park that was right downtown. It's green space that kind of breaks kind of breaks up the monotony of the buildings. Um it's pedestrian friendly. It has some history attached to it already. It has the Sullivan uh the Sullivan clock that was donated that we uh as a parks department refurbished and and placed there as well as the oldest business in McHenry County right next to it. Um and it it could use a facelift. And so, you know, that was an area that we said this might be something we want to take a look into. At that point, we were also in the middle of uh the redesign of Miller Point Park and had we were kind of working with Hitchcock Design. they had agreed to provide us with a couple of options just yeah we'll we'll do this for you for free so there was no charge to put those concepts together so at least I could put something in front of you uh as a group back in 2024 I think is when we had that discussion with these actual concept plans attached in some in some budget to go along with each one um that was sent out in April of 2024 those two con two concept plans and unfortunately it's kind of been shelved since then um I think we still have some questions hanging out there of how do we want to recognize some of these citizens. I don't know we've gotten a couple requests um that have come through at at occasion. I don't know how many we we still get, but I think even some of you have asked that question of what's what's happening with this program or how can we recognize citizens that are deserving of such. Um, and so that's that I decid we had talked about it and decided to put this back on a discussion item to see if this carries any weight, if it's something we'd like to see or maybe it's a different program that you'd like to see us explore or look into. Um, this was just one option that we never really kind of put a bow on to talk about. Yes, we're going to either do this or we're going to abandon this. Um, and so that's the purpose of tonight's discussion is to see thoughts.

Um, again, there's no formal design on this. This was just two quick free renderings that they put together for us to kind of get us started. Um, I guess with that, I would be happy to answer any questions or if anybody else has anything to add to that. All right. Nope. All right. All right. Open it up for city council comments. Aldwin Benny,

I wasn't I don't remember seeing that in a city packet before, but I absolutely love the idea and recently had someone come to me looking for some way to recognize a very deserving um citizen that has passed. I would have never thought of Green Street Park. Like I immediately went to some other areas and I think that that is such a great spot. It's it's just such a pretty peaceful quiet, you know, location there that there's never any reason to actually visit. And I think that um I think the whole plan was really well thought out and a and a great decision to use that space and I would love to discuss it further.

I think the idea again, you know, when you looked at the plan was really to try to use and enhance some landscaping there. So when you take that walk through the park, you do escape a little bit. Obviously, it's a busy intersection. Um but to create a little bit of that escape as you kind of walk through that park and take a look at the people that that are that that our community is built on. Yeah. And there's only so many streets. So, we have to do something. All the ambassy.

Um, I actually have issues with this um for three reasons. The first reason is the cost. We are replacing a program that costs about $250 per sign for 37 signs uh with a park that is estimated to cost the city anywhere from 150 to $275,000 depending on which one we choose. Um, while it is TIFF eligible as of April fiscal year, we the TIFF owe the general fund $200,000. So, I don't think that we should be doing new projects until we've reimbursed. That's number one. Number two is the location. Um, the Green Street Park is in excellent condition. And I was actually there yesterday and I walked around it. Yes, it doesn't really look nice because it's the winter, but um I've walked by there many times and it always looks good. The paving looks great. So, I think that there are many other parks throughout the city that need significant funding that this money could be better used for. And one example is actually the Lakeland Park Community Center, which I was at a couple of days ago and um it looks sad. Looks kind of terrible.

Have you been inside of it? We completely remodeled the inside of it. Well, the outside looks like there's critters on that could potentially be in there, but I would like to see the inside. Be happy to do that for you.

I will take you up on that. Thank you. Third reason, um I think there are better alternatives. The honorary street signs are often located in streets that are um notable to the honore. For example, Bjorkman's is um right by Ace Hardware. And because moving these signs to a centralized location, it would lessen their significance. The 37 signs um should remain where they are and if they fall, they fall. Um, while I do not agree while I do agree with the previous council's decision to discontinue the honorary street sign program, um, a new expensive display I don't think is the right alternative. So, I have an idea. Um, Mckenry has an Arbor Day Arbor Day tree donation program that allows residents to donate $400 for a tree to be planted and a memorial brick to be installed in a public park. This is a nocost alternative for the city that um that cannot that can replace the honorary streets in substitute. Um, and this would also beautify any park that they choose. Now, I know that Veterans Parks has those because I've seen them

and right by the mulch, it's very, very nice. And I think that would be a better alternative. It's kind of a win-win for the parks. They're more beautiful. Um, the residents, it will be their tree. And then, of course, clean air. No, it's a very popular program and it's one that we totally and completely embrace. Obviously, as a parks department and even as a city, we love that when we're at Tree City USA and to have the the amount of trees that have been donated, not just on parks, but on this property as well, there's quite a few. And so, um it's it was never intended to be a replacement for that program. Um I do again I love I love that program and it's been a great program. The idea with the you know, again, it was bringing a concept forward for you for discussion. Um but then also the idea of the expiration, there was some problem um with the expiration, the 10-year limit on these signs will come down after 10 years. Well, a sign or a wall or a memorial would be in perpetuity. So that that could be there forever. Um again, whether it's the program amends or however that happens, I just want to give you some some rebuttal or some background on on

why we went the way we did or at least the presentation. I would like to just make one comment with the Arbor Day tree donation. Could you add maples to the list? They are not on the list to be donated. Russ, talk to Mike. That that program is managed through our public works department. All right. Just a request for maples. I know that there's certain species of maple that we specifically do not allow because they're very um invasive and spread very easily. So, that's one of the reasons is it becomes difficult to manage. Um but I can get a list if there's any that are approved from our arborists. Thanks. Sorry, Although Miller,

there was a maple planted on my behalf last year. So, they they do maples. Um, I wanted to just revisit this. I remember this being part of the conversation when we first started talking about what do we do with this program? And although these concepts are very pretty, um I I'm concerned about the destination. Um the the whole point of this concept is to recognize individuals who have been outstanding citizens. And I don't know that this park, now that we've developed other parks, is the destination for that recognition. So, I love the and I'm not going to micro this, but I love the little windy thing that we all came up with and I love the inclusion of the fire globes because that's the continuity of what we've already created. But in my head, when I saw concept A, I saw it on the next phase of the Riverwalk as it goes up the creek.

Sure. um that in in my eyes we want it to be a destination so that people can ask why are these people on this wall and there is a plaque that says these are instrumental to our community members. I I don't know that they'll get the why on that corner. So love the concept. I would like to see it included in the next phase of the Riverwalk down by the beautiful amphitheater just south of the lagoon that we're all just meandering with our whatever in our hands and right next to the historic bridge. Yes, next to the historic bridge.

Or maybe part of the historic bridge. I don't know. Um I I just don't think this corner is the right spot and this corner serves its purpose. You know, this is a nice break spot when you're walking from Green Street to Pearl Street or Green Street to Riverside or it's a it's a it's a pause point. It'll be a great trolley stop. Um, yeah,

your point was is and I'm sorry if I interrupt that. your point is exactly why we considered it because it's that pause point to stop and kind of reflect on and so that that was what you just said is one of the reasons why it was selected at least as as a conceptual again this is presented only as a conceptual if it changes or move it someplace else or if it's not this program at all that's okay and I think discussion has been great so thank you

so if I can just finish um of the two concepts I my preference is A I think B is way too rigid and blocky and doesn't represent us well. We don't have a blocky straight street anywhere. Um, everything we have is crooked and winding, including the river. So, if I had to just conceptually say which one is be fitting, I like concept A with the windiness versus concept B. I liked A as well. And then the, you know, landscape architects, they like to present something completely different and opposing to that, which is good. It gives us a variety of what we're looking at there.

Awesome.

I also like concept A. Um I don't have a problem with the location you had selected. However, I do like Alderman Miller suggestion about the Riverwalk and tying it in there, especially as we are trying to honor the citizens that had an impact. That's the oldest part of town, you know, with the mill down there and all that. Um, I also think moving all of the signs that are spread around give those individuals better recognition. Um, right now, yeah, sure, I know York Yorkman's, I know Frretz in front of St. Pats, but I think if our goal is to honor citizens, I think a central location is far better than spread out all over the city, you know. So, anyway, I would definitely like to continue the discussion, but I love what you've done.

Thank you. I'll move on.

Yeah. This is kind of a rerun of the discussion we had several years back. I mean, uh, it was decided way back then that we were going to take the signs and find a central location for it. But, uh, unless we're going to take and buy the old state bank and uh, tear it down and build a parking lot over there, uh, I don't see very much put traffic over there and, uh, people that are going to be reasoned by aren't going to see it. So, uh, the location I think is, uh, you know, where it would sound ideal if we had the a huge parking area over there, maybe that would work. But, uh, other than that, now I don't think that that that's a the best spot for it. Um, in concept, when you look at the pictures, yeah, you know, it it looks great there. But, uh, um, one thing that comes to mind is, uh, you know, it's history. I forget who brought it up. The history of the Mckenry, you know, people in Mckenry. Well, uh, what I've always looked at is his landmark school. Have we talked to Papovich in a long time? Uh, what's, you know, I always thought that he was going to create something for the public and maybe we can have some kind of a joint effort and add that in over there considering we're looking at the Riverwalk further down over there. Uh, and I'm not saying necessarily does it have to be on the inside of the building, but even if it's pictured on the outside of the building, but it would tie in two entities, the people of the history and one of the oldest buildings in in the city and uh and as well as tying into the uh Riverwalk. But as far as spending that money right now, I mean, we're $200,000 that we owe the general fund from the Riverwalk. Let's be careful of how we're spending our money. I mean, you know, uh I take and I uh make almost all my purchases on my freedom card at Chase

and I have a, you know, my bank accounts over there as far as savings and everything else and I charge up using the card almost all the time and I pay it off several times a month and I never get it to where I keep owing money on what I've spent. And I think that's what we need to do. We we can't be taking and until that money comes in from the property taxes to pay into the the tip. We really shouldn't be spending it. You know, we don't spend it knowing that, oh, sooner or later we're going to be able to pay it real soon when when that that money starts coming in. Let's let's take and see what we can't uh do as far as uh you know, unless there is exceptions to uh a great opportunity. And by that I mean as far as return and everything else, let's be careful of where we're spending our tip money at this time. Uh doesn't mean in the future that we don't want to do something like this. I think this would be great, but let's let's catch up with the tip first. Uh you know, to where we're in a positive mode all through the year and not to where we wind up dropping in a negative until we get reimbursed with property taxes. So that's my thoughts on it. And it would take it would take a little bit of time to design it if if we wanted to pursue this further. This isn't we're not saying expend all this money right now as I certainly understand where you're at. It was just that discussion and if we want to take this further, we can explore additional design. It wouldn't be built within the next if you said right now build it within the next year would still take us time to design it and bid it and the whole process and so it wouldn't be within the next year that we'd have this up and going.

But has anybody even talked to uh Mr. Papovich as far as uh you know maybe we need to to get with Mr. Papovich and uh you know see see uh his thoughts on where he's going with that building. Uh I honestly don't know. I know he has some visions of of what he wants to do, but you know it's one thing to have visions and it's knowing how to get there. And although he's a great business person, uh not necessarily this is his expertise and maybe the city could help him out on that, uh whether it be fundraisers to get things going over there or whatever, but I really think that uh that type of a concept would be great over there.

Yeah. And it would I'd be willing to support uh you know, of course, after you look at it as far as what we're talking about, but maybe a joint effort between us and him uh you know, to again enhance that area. Thank you. By

just want to add, well, first of all, thank you, um, Alderwoman Miller. I think that is a great idea to do it on the Riverwalk. Um, but I do want to mention that that Green Street park, I live there, so I see it daily. I will bet you 80% of the time that I'm at that intersection, there are people crossing there. So, it is definitely a major thorough way from town to Veterans Park to the some of the other businesses that are the other side. So, there is definitely a lot of traffic and a lot of people that walk that route. Um, but one of the benefits I think in putting it on the next phase of the Riverwalk might be pushing out, you know, the expense for a couple of years. But putting it on private property, well, a great idea because it's landmark. I would be completely opposed to ever working with anybody. He could sell that property and the next owner, you know, gets to do what they're going to do as well. So, but I I really like the idea of the Riverwalk and putting it out a little bit, but keeping it into the discussion with a future plan. And that that certainly makes a lot of sense just especially because I think whatever we wind up doing here I think not only are we recognizing citizens but I think we should recognize our own history as part of that walkth through of you know we talk about people that want to be recognized but we have a history as a community as well that I think could also be highlighted in some sort of walk as well and I think that was somewhat displayed in in uh one of the concepts as well but I do think that's important. We don't ever want to forget that. So tying that in whether that's here or whether that's in that section of the of the Riverwalk because you see our history, you see landmark, you see the bridge, um the oldest part of the town, the old mill that there certainly that is that's always been the historic section of the riverwalk. Just wanted to add that. Alderman Cook,

I would like it uh Alderman Miller, good idea. Uh I want it as public as possible. people where they have to come and go and they're constantly looking at it. To me, that's be the highest honor. You know, put it in the most public place you can. So, if they're walking up and down Green Street, I don't care if there's a plaque on every sidewalk, you know, they're walking up and down it. To me, that's the highest honor when people can walk right by it and, oh wow, you know, this and this and this. Uh, Alderman Miller's not too bad on that idea with the Riverwalk. I mean, if we could put plaques all along the riverwalk as people are walking toward the point and everything else that I'd be fine with that. Just a suggestion. Any other comments, questions? Alone.

Um, many other fundraiser community events that I have personally sponsored include the selling of bricks. And I know that the Vixen has sold bricks. I know that the school system has sold bricks. Um, I think that's something that again as we look for non- tax revenue to fund projects, um, we do have members of this community that are willing to write checks in order to make things happen. And those little things like a brick with their name carved in it means a lot to those folks. So, as we continue to look for alternate revenue streams for some of our fun projects, um I do want to bring bricks back to the table because the this walk part is going to be brick. It's not going to be concrete. It's not going to be paved. It's going to be pavers just because of the topography and the soil suitability. So, wouldn't it be cool if that whole space was sold bricks with community supporters? Just food for thought.

So, so I know we've talked about these bricks, Bill. And uh I know like Fort McHenry, yeah, the bricks are I mean, they they do break go away and there I mean, I'm guessing there's some issues with some of them. They're

it's a challenging program. um whether you know whether you just have one offering or you come back and offer more there's and nothing that's in that's insurmountable I think the one thing I would want to be careful with a with a brick program um is limiting it to a section but then also I don't want to intermingle our honorary street sign and maybe this other there's a portion that's maybe in the walk and a wall that of recognition of people that have been submitted and decided upon by and approved by city council to be on this wall versus a walk um so I just want to make we're on the same page when we go start talking about concepts.

When we did the Springfield Park, the realtor's park in Springfield, we did sponsor bricks as a ribbon around the perimeter. Um, and it was identified as the sponsors circle. Uh, and we had the recognized individuals obviously elevated. So, I get your point and we did that for exactly that reason that having parties and tents and events, we didn't want people's bricks getting broken and then we had to replace them. So, we put them in the perimeter, which was the least likely place for them to get cracked. Yeah. So, I just food for thought

looking for additional revenue. There's this awesome community concert that happens every summer and maybe they would want to take this project up sometime in the next 5 10 years. No, no pressure. Now, now we have you buying lots of things.

That stress will kill me. Um, but I do want to mention like I think Mckenry is different than any other community. I'm going to be honest. like you know um since being mayor going to different people um all around the community even homeowners and saying hey we want to raise money to do this or that um whether it's the ice rink or whether it's it doesn't matter what it has been we always come up with the money and I think this is just another project that would be easy to raise that kind of money honestly like I bet you with all of our relationships here in this room we could raise a couple hundred thousand in a week I mean that's just how fast and how people give in Mckenry. Um, and I I think that that's, you know, gives us some time. I think the Riverwalk side is awesome. Um, Landmark, we'll see what all goes into play with that. Okay. Um, I I would love to have the, uh, bottom half of Landmark along the river um, be given to the city to where we have that property. So, maybe that's, you know, then it wouldn't be on private property. Uh, but I think there's a lot of incorporation of this on that side. And I love the idea. Um, I I think that'd be awesome. Um, but once again, I think we could help raise that that money too um ahead of time, get it get it ready to go so when when we do get development down there or the Riverwalk going, we do we're ready to go. So, um, I'll talk to staff, Bill and I will get together with Suzanne and we can kind of go over some other options and maybe would they help kind of give some ideas of what it would look like downtown? Do you think they would give us just one

Hitchcock? I I mean we have a really good relationship with them and that's I mean that was the nice thing honestly when you have this type of relationship for them to put these two together it's two years ago now but for them to do that for us for free um they've just been a good partner obviously we we utilize them most recently for the parks master plan as well so I I wouldn't hesitate to reach out to them and ask for a favor council's okay with that I I I would like to at least get one kind of have that visual um some people are visual people so and then at that point we can decide the next steps and maybe reach out to some donors that normally give all the time that would want to participate and at least have an idea of where we're at. So, just to be clear, you want me to reach out to them in terms of some concept with the Riverwalk? Okay.

Yeah. I I think does everyone agree? I mean, does the majority agree the Riverwalk? There's some there's I mean, we can certainly as Especially as you come off that bridge, there's going to be some plaza right there. Yeah, something whether that whether it transitions into whatever that phase winds up looking like because we have to be able to acquire the land from the current landmark owner um and even from the current old city hall owner. We don't have any easements through there at all at this point um or ID do but

as the plan exists at least conceptually we do have a couple different options and and Hitchcock did one of those options in 2017. So, for them to be able to grab that and amend it and make some plaza, I'm pretty confident that I could at least put something as an option in front of you uh in the future to continue the discussion. Let's do that. One minute. Go ahead.

Can Can you ask them when they're doing this to take the snapshot of the old bridge? That's an open girder, open bottom bridge. So, if we turn it into a pedestrian bridge, we're going to have to close that off anyway. Somehow we're gonna have to mold some steel into there, weld some crossarss. It would be very cool if we could integrate that into that. That's going to be a very photographed area. Um, it will be, you know, prom, weddings, engagement, baby pictures. It would be cool to call it whatever we want to call it, the Pearl Street Historical Memorial Bridge. But I think that could be a kind of neat concept to integrate that in the bridge because we're going to have to modify that bridge anyway.

We want to make sure that we remember the TC Industries and the Berry family are preserved that are the ones that donated they're the ones that donated it back to us as well. And so that was part of an agreement with them just um when we put this back in that there'll be some signage that thanks the Berry family for doing that. Perfect. But so there's already some we've already talked about that in some form or fashion and so that would be something like it's about recognition and you know that that bridge for those of us who know that bridge um it'll be cool to see it back in play

even even if I think even if you don't know the bridge um you know there's a there's an art piece to it um something that when you put some decorative lighting on it it draws people off 120 off of 31 and like what's that down there? Um, you know, and a big a big part of that phase in general is going and just like every other phase of the Riverwalk has been we've done an excellent job of working with development. And so as you start to partner those two any project together, what is a what does a development look like and how can the Riverwalk supplement whatever that project is, whether that's you on the savings bank side, whether that's landmark side, how can we do the best that we can supplement and work with any developers that are or land owners that are currently there. I think we have a an excellent track record of that.

Awesome. We'll go back to the drawing board and come up with some other ideas. Thanks, Bill. Thank you all for your appreciate it. All right. Um before I move on, you ladies have any you have public comment board. Awesome. Welcome. You picked the wrong meeting. There's not much going on this one. I I would agree with that. I would you get Yeah, you you get to be really in it, you know. I get it. I get it.

That's awesome. That That's great. So, all right. I just want to make sure before we move on. Oh, boy. Well, thank you for coming. Um, all right. Uh, any other staff reports this evening? None. Uh, I have nothing this evening. Any council comments? All right. Uh, so at this point, I'm going to ask the Oh, ambassador. Go ahead. I I just have a city council comment. Yeah, go ahead. Yours.

Okay. Um, even though we did not receive the OSLA grant, the city did allocate $600,000 in the developer donation parks fund um budget for Cold Springs Park. Um that is in fact enough money to restore the park as a natural park with walking trails but not having all the added the playground and the fitness area um which was not what was originally intended for the park. Cold Springs has been um ignored long enough and we now have the money and I would just like to ask you uh will you bring Cold Springs Park to the city for a vote to city council uh for a vote to um so funding can be approved and a long overdue restoration can begin. Well, I just recent I recently attended the IP conference uh last week and there was a significant discussion on grant and what's coming up for the next year. And so I think that is a point of discussion that we need to talk about what direction we'd like to see with that. Um the OSLAD grant will have another offering the same terms um as they've had this year that that program will be in effect again next year. And so if we chose there was a I know that there was a heavy submittal this year and so it was a more competitive market um and so we could either choose to resubmit um or we could amend that plan and take it forward in some other form or fashion and I could put that um without any matching dollars uh on as on for council to decide. So I think it is a future discussion item. Um so I appreciate you bringing that up but yeah I just had that conversation uh last Friday with the IDNR and their grant manager and kind of what had happened. So, still waiting to see um how we scored uh that was that's not available to us and how we maybe how we scored against other people or where where or maybe some shortfalls might have happened with that plan. I know we went through a lot to get to that plan in terms of public engagement and things

that they had expected to see. Um and so that would be the my only caution of what we start taking out. Um but that's the the the long and short I guess of an answer on Cold Springs Park. So the long and the short is you're going to wait and for the score you're going to potentially reapply next year or I mean I'm just like abing c or um come to council and for a discussion as to what the next plan is going to be because we did allocate $600,000 yes we did for this park. So if we did strip it down, we could pay for it right away, right,

for less than the 600,000. So I guess I'm asking in terms of resolution, are you waiting for a discussion until you get the score? Are you waiting to decide if you want to do it next year?

I would like to see how we scored. Um because that, you know, if our if we scored well and it was just a competitive market, then I think we should try to leverage if we can get $600,000 free for additional improvements to that park, we should wait and resubmit. I think that's the better. If we didn't score well and maybe we need to maybe we do need to pair that down and bring something forward that's just a modified plan uh that includes only paths that tie in the neighborhoods. um you know as referenced in our parks master plan that neighborhood connectivity and the improvement there and then maybe some restoration of the wetlands or things that we had talked about uh as part of that plan and so first yes I would like to see how we scored and how we did overall comparatively against others um the money the money obviously is there

um and in an ideal world I would prefer to try to resubmit um to leverage a free free $600,000 um on a on a program that or a park and a program that I think is deserving of that. It's a it's a good natural use of that park. Okay. So, let me ask you, h how long is it going to take until you get the score? And um is this something that we're just going to continually reapplying, reapplying, and kick the can down? Well, I mean, that decision is in is essentially in your hands as as a council to say, "This is what we want to do. you're the one that sets that direction. Um I provide recommendations. Okay.

Um but ultimately you as the voting body will tell me this is what we want to do with that particular park. Um so it why don't we why don't we find out what the score is and then we'll bring it back for a discussion. Okay. When do we expect the score? Yeah. I just I was just going to add that. I don't anticipate that until March. They said they're doing all their agreements right now. Uh early March is when they would be able to then provide us more details on scores. Okay. Let's just bring it back after we get more information. And we should have just added a zipline. Maybe we would have got it. I don't know. Well, the one one of them got they had a zipline in and there's

there was only two there was only two projects in Mckenry County that were awarded any OLED money. Um the bulk of that money went to Cook County and I think some in DuPage as well, but uh there was one project in Huntley and one project in Alangquin uh that were each funded.

Alder Miller. Um, Cole Springs is obviously in my ward. I I have conversations with the people who were at our meetings. Um, their their greatest concerns were parking, security, and access. And I think with parking, security, and access, we can eat up $600, $600,000 really quick. So, I think it is important that we're all in on this project if we're doing the project. So, if it's waiting another 11 months to see if we can get not free $600, but awarded a matching grant. Um, I I think I love the idea. We have already allocated the money, but $600,000 is only going to put parking lots out there. It's not going to do a whole lot in park restoration. And you can't have a beautiful park that nobody can get to. And right now, it's very limited in access. So that was the residents three top concerns, parking, security, and access. So we have to keep their thoughts in mind as well. Thank you.

Great. Thank you. Yeah, Glenn.

Yeah, I'd like to chime in on this, and that's the fact that uh that park has been neglected uh since I was an alderman over there when we re redistricted and next to nothing has been done. If nothing else, if we're going to wait for grant monies and and all that, that's fine and dandy, but we still could start working on the basics, and that's cleaning it up. I mean, let's get the the fallen trees out of there. Let's get, you know, some of the brush and and stuff that needs to go go. Let's get to the basics. The basics has got to be done one way or the other. So, why don't we get started on that this summer and uh you know, start spending small amounts of money to get the basics done. It's going to be done whether or not we get the the grants or not. We're going to do the grandiose or or we're just going to do the basics, but let's get the basics done. I mean, it's got to be done anyway. So, why don't we uh start at least moving forward on that? Just like when we do a road program, you know? I mean, we take and we we do uh the year before we do all the uh curb and uh uh intersections with the uh handicap and and whatnot. Uh preparing for it. Well, we could be preparing the the park for that. Let's get the basics done. Let's get it cleaned up.

We and we've done that. I I mean, we've we go in there regularly. Uh we've also partnered with the land conservancy to uh do a restoration effort there as well. So, to to say it's been completely neglected is not truly accurate. We have a we have a nice established grass walking path, uh a nice parking lot off of Depal. Well, I know we we've got the walking paths, but you look on both sides of the walking paths and you see down trees and everything else and and and all that stuff should get cleaned up. I can remember when I was the alderman over there and again, it was a long time before we we did the redistricting. Uh it was a new new subdivision and and all you saw is prairie grass across the whole thing and everything has just been totally uh filled in and whatnot. And I just think to some extent uh there's a lot of cleanup that needs to be done and uh maybe we we start on that uh before uh we start waiting you know for a year or two for for the grants

staff and I we'll have that conversation. Thank you. Alman Bassie, can you um in the spring start a controlled burn to clean up most of that because there are a lot of dead trees in there. uh we would either contract or we'd reach out to the IDNR when we partner with any of our our controlled burns. Um we just need to be really careful with that. You know, we most of the control burn we do is over at the Wheeler Fen and it's much more

I guess controllable um when you have kind of homes around all sides of that park and a lot of and you do have a lot of woods and it's not just an open prairie. The the f is more prairie and it's manageable through a fire um just by burning that grass and controlling that. I'm with with some of the trees down and the underbrush that's happening there. I would just have some concerns. I would want to reach out to an expert before I can commit to one way or another of our management of that property. And I understand that because the safety of our residents is the most important thing. So, would it be easier to physically get cranes in to remove it all all the dead trees? Just a thought and I'll stop.

All right. Any other comments, questions? Okay. So, at this time, I'm going to ask the public to go ahead and exit the room. Sorry. You can come back in if you're really excited. You want to come back in. It's about five minutes. Thank you very much for Yeah. No, that's great. Now, go have a drink. Thank you for coming. Take care. All right. At this time, uh, we're going to go into executive session for the setting of a price for sale or lease of the property owned by the public body by ILCS120-2C6. I need a motion to go into executive session. Alder Miller, so moved. Second. Alderman Dhy.

I'll make a mo second. Thank you, Trish. Call the RO. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. All right. No.