Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

We do have a quorum and so we're on to public comment. Ray, is there any public comment? Uh, no. No, we haven't received any requests. Good. Okay. We're now on to the consent agenda which includes the minutes from our April 2nd meeting, financial reports, and the MCPC staff reports. Um, are there any items that need to come off the u consent agenda for further discussion? Hearing none, I would entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. So move. Thank you. Second. Second. Um, all those in favor signify by saying I. All those opposed same sign. We're now on to the regular items which are essentially consent agenda and we do not have any of those. So, we're now on to items for uh information and discussion. And leading it off is the commission group discussion on the housing coordinator um which um the CEO has uh graciously provided us with the grant. Uh Ray, I assume you'll give us the lowdown on whole concept. Yes. Uh as you all been aware uh since I did uh email the announcement uh we recently received uh announcement on the award uh by DCO department of commerce and economic opportunity and that's called economic development arm of the state government and we are one of 25 grantees under uh this grant program which made up of two subprograms if you will. points more relate to Main Street uh uh revitalization and the other is the implementation of the action plan under the previous program and as you recall uh you adopted the uh the housing recovery action plan uh March of last

year and so the grant that we have been awarded uh is for implementation of that plan. So we grateful for the state to allow us and the opportunity you know to to work on this and by uh saying us I meant really the whole region it's not just the MCPc uh as you all know housing is an issue that affects everybody you know whether it is uh the what we call the affordable housing sector or the market rate housing sector. Uh so the grant agreement is being uh drafted by staff of DCO. We've been having communications with them. Um hoping to get that in maybe June with couple months or something. And then in the meantime uh as you know the the grant uh would would fund like a a housing what we call housing coordinator position. It is a term position. uh it will go until uh April of 2027 and so it is something that we really looking forward to. is one of the uh recommendations in the grant that you adopted uh is to hire this person and also the grant is going to be supplemented by financial contributions uh by the city and the town uh so that we can as local match for the uh to meet the requirements of the uh grand application. If you recall uh um number of staff did work very hard especially Mark Adams who just happened on the screen too former staff uh of MCPC and so we we uh glad that you know you know

work out and we you know was one of the grantees and so while Lizio is working on the grant agreement um we are working on drafting a job description go to for the posting of the uh of the position and so uh Luke uh one of our staff members and I come working on that together now and then uh we'll um run it through the city and the town and then we'll we'll advertise the position because as you all know it would take time uh for any recruitment process and and that person um and depending you know who that person will be he or she you know depending if that person will be available right away or have you know few weeks of notice for her employer that kind of situations but we are hoping the all this will be settled by July I mean that's that's my hope finger cross your in terms of in terms of grant agreement will be executed and then uh the recruitment process will be done and we have a person uh in place and also in the meantime we're going to create to to form a implementation committee uh because that the housing coordinator will be working with this committee uh and from recent discussion with the uh county administrator the city managers of the city and the town. Uh it the committee will be will be a not a huge size uh probably seven eight people just for efficiency purposes. Uh but then there as you all

know housing is such a broad topic and though there are number of subject matter experts you know from different sectors and so those individuals organizations will be invited from time to time uh for the discussion as the top certain topic arrives uh as determined uh and requested by the implementation committee and the implementation committee is really uh the goal is to implement you the plan that you have talked and if you recall the number of recommendations uh included in that in that plan having said that we also recognize it's not just an MPC and it's not just a housing coordinator with that committee to make things happen the city and the town and the zoning power is the county right financing sources we cannot dictate Okay, this is where the housing department is going to you know uh the real community they know what you know what works I mean it really requires a lot of players and different layers of funding and uh factors to see a development takes place even sometimes after decision of a housing department is moved uh supply chain is interest rate um interest by the public sector developers um this is the only place in the whole country you know that look for housing development there are many cities out there looking for the same thing. So um everything takes time but really the the primary responsibility of that person is to staff and to work with that committee um to implement the plan and then we'll

be with the assistance and contributions input from the uh from the different experts on certain topics and so it's it's exciting uh because without that grant sometime we have to come up with some funding source some funding to to hire somebody and I to be honest I don't know it has to be attractive enough right I don't we may be able to raise some money but I don't know to the full amount that uh both the the state and the town combined now would be available so We are looking forward to that opportunity and also working with with uh that committee uh we'll be uh providing uh suggestions from the city, town, county uh for representatives and also maybe certain nonprofits will be invited uh to found that and we know two years or a little bit less you through April. because the grant it's not a long time to be honest. I mean you've seen Yeah. People know that's what the red flag mean. Yeah. What happens to the funding for this position after April of 2027? You know because look at it from both sides. You said this takes time. Okay. whatever you know these things are not it takes time and then from the person who's engaging in taking this position they know up front that the position is not funded why would they

make that commitment right right you know so so I wouldn't take the job you know but that's that's a challenge you Now, so what happens after April 2027? Are other, you know, uh, organizations, government, you know, funding going to be sought to keep the position in place? Two two questions both at [Music] once. First of all, I'm wondering what the organizational structure would be like. would this housing coordinator be reporting to which which entity because there has to be one they have to have an employer and someone can evaluate them and so on. And the second question would be do you are we foreseeing somebody who is a frontline worker doing intake or somebody who's basic basically doing administrative coordination of the whole issue of housing in the community. Yeah. Um I I'll answer your question first. What's going to happen after April uh 2027? I believe we cannot banking on just the the grant funding. Uh it has to be a continuous process that look for you know uh funding opportunities and it's and it has we have to keep looking for partners. Uh we know housing is not just something to be sought by the government and so employers you know universities high they the ones also feeling the pain you know for the employees and to recruit uh workers. Uh so definitely uh we'll be uh having

conversations with them once once workers start going and of course the county the government you hopefully will contribute because it's really a public service uh type issue and so I I believe this has to be an ongoing effort. You thought okay we satisfied with the money it's better than nothing to be honest uh but it buys time in a way. Yeah we have to be seeking that that funding source the funding source just doesn't happen overnight. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. And to answer Mr. the real uh questions the structure on paper we the grantee MCPC is the grantee so we are the ones who have to report back to the state you providing reports progressive uh reports and whatn not so on paper we have to be accountable to the [Music] state in reality uh that person um more answering to at least the way it's envisioned now. It's not set in the stone but that person will be answering to that committee uh and which made up of uh representatives from the local government and also maybe a few local representatives uh from some of the nonprofits related to housing and but there has to be some collaboration with the staff the MLPC staff and of course uh commission some feedback or whatever you uh we all work together because we're trying to solve the same thing. But for the dayto-day uh and in terms of responsibilities and accountabilities uh would be to to that implementation

um committee and so there might be some sort of bylaws or something to to draft needs to be drafted to to put it in more detail. uh but it's I see that person uh we see working with not just local governments you because on the policy side it's not just on on the what we call the working with the clients if you will uh that that uh case management type is a different it's more policy working the city and town funding maybe with with the economic development staff or the city and town and and county. Uh we're working with the developers are providing research uh and really working as part of the team to make housing happen and it can be uh uh market rate again and is the full spectrum and affordable housing on homelessness front. And so really trying to address uh all the different aspect but won't necessarily have the magic solution but because it always has to be team effort because housing really takes takes all different sectors and so um we'll be working more closely you know with the with the implementation committee of course staff like Luke in one housing I'm also part of that that global probably collaborate a lot with that person. Okay, that's what I was curious about. That answers that. It's kind of a higher level position. Yes. Than the I think coordinator position that existed in the last two years that that was under Mid Central. Correct. Was managed by Mid Central with funding from somewhere else. Correct. Yeah. The the current just for the purpose in case some commission members not aware that's what we is called the housing navigator position. Now there's some other cities

and counties out there also use that nature because depending on the localities it might mean different things but here in our region there's a a housing navigator position that has been funded uh partially by the city and partially by by the by the town that person is housed under uh that by funding but house uh in person under the MCCA and uh meet uh county uh central uh committee action and so it's it's a little bit that person's primary responsibilities or more on cut case management looking for houses talking with people who need housing especially more on the affordable housing side um and people don't have the income level and then uh that person work with uh landlords work with hotels uh to give hotel vouchers. Um so more on that level. But this position the housing coordinator is more on a high level uh policy um implementation. It will be all housing not particularly low income housing. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And Ray, I'm assuming that um with the job description that there will be a metric developed to indicate whether or not position has accomplished what we desire to be. So when we get to the point of 2027, um we've got a rationale and a reason for why this needs to get accepted or extended or if we find out that it's not ineffective that we look at a different direction. Yes, there in the uh in the talk description there'll be qualifications you work out criteria we use but to form a a uh a metric type

uh we plan to have some because I think it's relying heavily on on that adopted housing plan which I think has a really good layout of the the different tasks almost you know the different uh categories of things that that person needs to address or been working with our partners. So that will be a good metrics you know in terms of okay how many developers or has been contacted working with you know what housing programs how many different sites what research topics and what and looking at other uh communities of something of similar characteristics of our region that kind of thing. uh yeah that will in order to measure the accomplishment if you will but in terms of extension um if there's still money available although there's a a deadline of April 2027 uh there's a possibility if there's still money left over because um then we can apply for extension by the state and buy us a little bit more time but we yeah the fun we have to keep looking for funding opportunities. Yeah. And my concern centers around the whole issue that we create these positions, but I don't think we always create metrics to determine whether or not the position has really been successful or not. And so having kind of a a plan of what this person is tasked to do and then periodically following through to who who will do that. Well, that's next that would be next on my question is that it would seem to me to fall to MCP. Yeah, I think it it would make sense for MCPC uh to draft something and then run it by

the implementation committee of course uh and then you know definitely input from you all in the DB definitely will be welcome. Uh but yeah that would make sense because eventually is is to measure how successful and if we should continue that we will learn you know during that two-year period that hey there's certain aspects you know need to be adjusted you know because sometimes you never know until you try and and and this really the first one position that could coordinate so many represented organizations if you will. We are so we we all know there's so many organizations and groups out there working on housing, right? I mean the housing coalition there's like 30 40 members representing different groups. There's no one organization to coordinate all these efforts and for different reasons and some of them really valid because they have different funding missions and and restricted by certain parameters and whatever and uh but here's the opportunity to coordinate all this effort uh such as the the presentation you heard um not long ago on the continuum of care the homelessness this issue and so many counties not just McLean County are involved in that and how to coordinate and that just for homelessness let alone housing issue from from market rate to affordable there are too many issues um there are lot but I think the good news is there are lots of good individuals and

groups out there they really want to address have this uh housing issue uh addressed. So that's a very good start. Uh funding. Yeah. Um I'm sorry to interrupt. Um when you say coordinate, is does is this person have the authority to require these other organizations to be aligned with the with the housing plan that we adopted? or are they simply trying to get those organizations to collaborate in alignment with that plan? Uh that person I don't think has the authority to. Yeah. And by that's why the implementation committee by comprising of well usually the government has that the power right the authority and the power uh in enforcing so in that's why they said okay it has to meet the zoning requirements in order to put a certain type of development to build a consensus. Yeah that's the key there. Yes. Exactly. Well, so I'm looking back at my notes. So, we talked about the possible model for the implementation committee at last May's meeting. So, what has been the traction around developing that model, identifying who should be part of that committee and like forming that committee? What? Because like if I'm and correct me if I'm reading the action plan wrong, but it looks like hiring the housing cont coordinator is not an input into that committee forming and starting to meet. Right. Um in the plan implementation committee is one of the recommendations and and

then hiring or having a housing coordinate housing coordinator is other or another one of the recommendations right they kind separate and but they are related and so um when we after the plan adoption uh in uh Mr. Adams uh and I we were looking at at like two models and and then we we shared with uh the executive committee uh members and and then recently we had conversation with the city managers and the county administrator and also learning from the different groups and structure what would be more effective right um we have come to the conclusion that a large may not be as effective time wise and getting things moved along. it might make more sense to have more smaller call group but then have all different kind of a I want to say task force or committees uh but then they have subject matter experts right on maybe from the realtors from the uh major employers from uh you homelessness sector from the economic development council and looking at things from a different perspective and to be invited when the committee decides okay this week we would like to look at homelessness okay they will invite folks come from that so that's kind of the kind of modified uh version of the two models uh that that some of you have have have seen and and so that will be the model that

will be will be uh be uh taking taking uh shape and use. So so it's we have seen there are some other kind of structure models in the county and whatnot and it seems like from the administrators your data was more would be more effective to to especially the timing not the timing it's just time but we only handle this person for a short period of time. So what do they they got to you got to tell them exactly what we want them to do and we want them to be successful. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. You know, and I'm looking at the the plan here on my phone. I think this was before I jumped on board here, but you know, there's an implementation ma matrix as part of the plan and it's very detailed. It it outlines the task, who's going to do it, the timeline, when it should be done, who's going to fund it, you know. So I think you and then the um you know the plan itself has some pretty detailed steps of of what is the work that is to be done. I think prioritizing that work yeah certainly is important but I that might be the first task of that that group right um but I could see pretty easily the person that's in there can report on the productivity of of these things by following this example it's it's in there. Mark, you have a question. I maybe missed this. When is this committee going to be formed? Is there a date? By we by July. Uh when all the July 1, July 31 probably by for now I would say by July 31st. Uh because a lot of things have to to take place. uh the the grant agreement with the state uh and then the recruitment process uh which would take time uh to

find somebody who's willing to take uh a term position we've seen in say the committee not yeah the implementation committee I know what you mean I know uh the so yeah by the end of of April and that's trying to be uh pessimistic end of April oh not April but July July but we start Yeah. Uh so that's we're giving about about 3 months time on usual. And so the city will have representatives, the town will have you'll probably be a rep. The real you mentioned maybe some others and so have these other organizations that we might want to have reps already on board to try to get some money. Uh not yet. uh because we just having conversation with the state and so now we we know roughly uh when the funding will be in place all the paperwork uh a lot of times that's number one and so we'll be having conversations with the with the uh those representatives but I mean the committee can be formed any I mean you don't need they don't ne necessarily it's helpful have funding, right? But they can be form be informed even before the grants officially been doing out dollars. Oh yeah. Oh yeah, definitely. Uh that's why we're hoping this concurrently because otherwise we have a committee but no staff and so all this have to happen is how we see it. uh uh yeah I mean the committee can be formed even before the DCO send just the paperwork to sign uh we definitely hope that will be the case just just on the whole p for the broad picture all these you know hetro well I think like points out the matrix

like I think one of the biggest things that needs to be connected is I don't think there'll be any push back from EDC or the the city that they need to be involved, but who is going to be responsible for implementing which items that were recommended in the action plan. I think that's where you're going to have some discussion and uh and things to start hashing out now. Can totally agree or start I think that the we have a great opportunity here. We just want to make sure we leverage it um as much as possible to get the most out of it in this short time frame um so that we can be positioned after, you know, we'd have one year of of the person being in the position before we probably have to even look at height, you know, looking for new funding sources for for after that. So, yeah. Yeah. Carl, did you have something? Yeah, just real quick. I think I'm excited for the prospects from this. I guess at some point, even if it was in a casual manner, I'd be very curious to see what the organizational chart looks like and what the committee structure would look like and the job description. I'd just like to just peek at that. Um I I would suggest just for having worked with DCEO before I think the committee since you're the funee or the grant you're the holder of the grant you want to I would suggest the committee structure be a little skewed towards planning committee since it's your name on the grant and and you're you really are the experts in the community. So, I would kind of suggest that, but I would defer. I certainly wouldn't be a backseat driver, but I would be curious to see some of those, even if it was just done casually. Nothing formal, nothing no big project or anything like that. Okay. Thanks. Thanks. Only because there's a lot to get done in the next months. Yeah. Definitely. Yeah. Thanks. Yeah.

Questions for Ray? Yeah. We hoping we've seen uh from my former jobs there like people you know those term positions uh even temporary but professional type level type positions I've seen those field not easy to be honest there might be full-time mom you know they took maternity leaves and got kids grow up uh three years they want to back to the workforce I've seen like people like that or people uh relocated you know they don't mind and then maybe the the market is so bad they don't mind even have a term position like right now you know as you know there layoffs and vaccinations with federal government there might be people who with heart you know looking for opportunities like that uh so we we'll see I mean perhaps if somebody is is so tight somebody can leave our area. Uh at least we not know everything but then because somewhat lot of the aspect the housing aspects and some connections that definitely will help to move things along uh to be able to work with the the city town county folks and other other stakeholders uh in in the area definitely will help if there's an existing relationship already established. Um um yeah so we actually uh we really have a draft job description we're trying to to put some final touch uh touches on and then we'll we'll we'll share with the local governments and then we'll put it on yeah impact yeah I think it'd be good to see some stability on that group too because we're all involved boards and commissions and committees come and go and everything like that. So

I think going on to this they may need to maybe have an expectation that person commit themselves to two years that make sense otherwise he's playing musical I like being a county I like the local knowledge somebody that's already familiar with landscape the other thing too right that I would recommend is that uh we keep this on our um uh agenda for getting monthly reports or updates in terms of what this person is doing, maybe inviting this person um here to the commission to report out to us to kind of keep us uh in the loop and know what's happening with it. Yeah. So, yeah, definitely. I mean, it has to be a really close relationship because number one, our names on on the grants. Number two, um you look at different issues from a different perspective and that's an asset to be honest. I mean you represent different organizations, private sector, public sector and whatnot. And um and it's not one person solution. It's not one committee. Uh look at our housing and urban development the US department housing development and urban development. They survey the the CDBG community run program 50th anniversary last year. I believe the housing per issue still exists despite all this federal funding or different program. Uh and you all know you all read news about housing issues in other city you travel you know you know all this. Uh so how do we it's a challenge for us how do we solve this all these competitions for the same amount of money maybe not same amount hopefully there's some people

willing to donate uh but housing developers do they hit the money big money right and and so there are lots of factors we know it's not easy if it's that easy we won't be even be looking at at the implementation of the of the plan. And so we know it's going to be challenging. It's it's up to to rise up to overcome those challenges. And we cannot do it. Staff cannot do it by ourselves. Uh we need your help. Other questions for Ray about to stop? If not, can we move on to the regional housing initiatives update? Luke. Uh good afternoon everyone. Uh I have the regional housing initiative updates for the month of May. Under local updates, uh MCRPC facilitated the April housing staff meeting April 24th and be hosting the May housing staff committee meeting on May 22nd. We've also submitted the fourth quarter report to the town and we will be submitting the fourth quarter report to the city sometime maybe this week or next week. that we're also working on the 2024 2025 annual report. Uh for the consolidated plan, public comment period for the town's um consolidated plan ended April 21st. They didn't receive any public comment and their council approved the plan on same night. Both the city and the town's waiting allocation numbers from HUD before they can proceed. Moving on to other updates, uh MCRPC attended the unhoused task force meeting on April 22nd. So that was hosted by the center of human services. Uh a lot of um housing um agencies and um local government attended that. Uh we were divided into breakout rooms to discuss the multiple barriers related to homelessness. And then last week um we attended a public forum hosted by Home Sweet Home Industries um regarding the

shelter village. So they're calling the project of the bridge and that's located at the corner of uh Maine. Main Street had opened. So, I'm not sure if you guys were there or not, but um the project received a lot of public support from the public. However, some of the negative comments include like concerns about the location and whether Hung Sweet Home can manage the project properly. Other than that, most of the comments were positive. So, those are the uh the updates that I have. Have has um Home Sweet Home figured out how they're going to fund the maintenance of the bridge right now? Uh that's a good question because uh right now I believe uh uh Matt has has been looking for like funding. I think I'm not really sure if they've actually pulled in the like the 1 million for the annual um uh maintenance for it. I'm not really sure if they've actually gathered the the funding or not. Yeah. So, they're still seeking funding for maintenance, but they do have money to get the U process built because um they said if they get the approval, they can start construction as soon as like early June and then have it open in November. But the bridge project, according to a recent article in WDLT's source, it's going to have to be gone by the end of June because of a major sewage maintenance project that's happening right along Sugar Creek there. Oh, well, this is a different the the bridge that we're talking about is the one down here. Um, not the one Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, I'm talking about the bridge on Main Street, Cooper Creek. Yeah. And that dwell that encampment is going to have to be gone by the end of June according to what I just read. Yeah, they're going to have to be gone.

But the process that's over here by the I forgotten I called it that. Yeah. Is still underway. But you have other questions. Thank you. Thank you, Luke. Jennifer, the human services transportation plan, bus service. Yes. Um so this applies for us to five counties across central Illinois. We've talked about this a lot. Um so we will the next meeting of those two committees which we have meet jointly will be on June 16th in Pontiac. The June agenda, I don't think that came out right, um includes procedural and policy issues that we want to get especially the policy committee engaged with. Um and discussion of the joint committees for both action if if they think it's appropriate by the policy committee. Good news, we have received a contract from IDOT for next year's uh program. So we will be continuing our HSTP coordination efforts through fiscal 26 which takes it for another year. Um and all documents that have to go back and forms and stuff have been done and submitted back. So we should be in good shape there. Um, one of the things we're doing with the remainder of this year and Anthony is working on this quite a bit and others is intensifying uh what the state calls mobility management and they have a very specific protocol for this. The idea is to engage and advise the public about what their options are for a certain type of plant or a certain type of trip. Um, we haven't done this much because we have a small region and people were pretty tied to the service suppliers, mostly show bus from the the

rural areas. Um, but we just acquired a shiny new cell phone which we'll be using in this effort in part because on the website we're going to have the phone number. We're going to have contact people. It's all going to be much more sort of in your face than it's been up to now in the hopes that we can serve some function in terms of giving people access to resources they may not have known they had. Um and finally um our staff is participating in discussions with connect transit which as you know will be as of July one offering the rural service as well as the urban um and we are looking at you know ways to make it possible for them to do what needs to be done in that area in which they don't have much experience. Questions for Jennifer. With connect transit, how far out can they go? Can they cover the whole all of a territory or are they anchored more towards just the metro? Currently, they are restricted to an area um smaller than our uh metropolitan planning area for example goes a little bit past the incorporation boundaries of the tenant norm. Once this goes into effect, it will cover the whole county and that will be new. We'll have to see how that goes because it's not been their bail wick for all these years. So, we're we're trying to sort of nudge them into a a process that gives them the best possible coverage of the county. They also have to coordinate with the other surrounding counties in terms of getting people who have access to the oral services beyond their own counties. So, we're we're talking with them about that. We're giving sometime next week, I think, again, and trying to make sure that, you know, we have everyone firing in all cylinders because

we have no time left. This is shockingly late and it's going to take some real definitive effort to make sure it counts. Who's going to run dispatch for for connect? Are they going to run it internally? I hope so. the game. I I think the theory was that they have all the resources they need for this expansion of their service area and it's just a matter of ramping it up a couple of ways. We're figuring out how how they can use their existing resources and which are considerable in order to add this to their expertise. You're going to report on go safe. Yes, I am. It's why I'm still standing here. Um so as you all know we have at long last managed to start um our project from under the safe streets and roads for all program federal government. Um so the first project kickoff meeting with our project steering committee um was held on April 25th and it was really interesting because it's a very diverse group but and this is a very technical subject but they were really engaged. They had questions. They had suggestions. They had ideas. And I think it was I think the consultants were really hot. They were expecting to be it to be quieter and for them to have time to like, you know, whole group stuff. The uh the participants were all over it and thought of things that I hadn't thought of, which was a little embarrassing, but it went it went very well. So, that's an excellent start. Um there's been obviously we executed a contract with a consulting firm, which is blocker. Um and they've been doing some data retrieval. We've been doing some data retrieval. We hand over to them. Um lots of subjects under that. Um I've already talked about the kickoff meeting. Um and and one of the things that came up in that when we all looked

at the timeline for this, this project must be completed by September 10th of this year. So it's a very fast timeline and a very quick okay let's do this thing you know like 247. So we'll see how that goes. U I think the consultants are well equipped for this. Um the project meeting also generated considerable discussion that highlighted critical elements of the project you know sort of description that the consultants gave. So, as I said, a lot of back and forth and people coming up with issues um from their perspective that maybe might not have come out if we had not brought them to this meeting. Um so again, members of the PSC will meet for a true project team on May 12th. Uh so that's coming right up. Um and the topic of that meeting will be consideration of a vision zero commitment statement which is not only a factor for the vision zero program and we can talk about that someday but also for the federal program that's based. So that's a required element. We have to come up with a commitment in which basically all of the participating agencies, governments, whatever say, "Yeah, we really want to do this. We're going to do this." Um, you have our commitment. And that will be sort of the first stage in building the content of the updated plan. Questions for Jennifer? Just a a a thought I was having when you're talking about the connect transit and getting acclimated to MLAN county um unit five contracts with first student for our busing services. So we certainly uh do have some expertise in a larger portion of the county than than perhaps they have I think 183 some square miles or something. And they say that MLAN counties are unit five is like the size

of Tulsa Oklahoma in terms of the city. So anyway, uh there might be some potential, you know, collaborations or conversations that could occur with staff there to help ease that transition. I will certainly pass that along. And I think the challenge here is that uh connect has been operating at a very familiar template for a transit agency in the urban area with a handful of exceptions. They have started to branch out with the flex program and I've suggested to them and others have as well that that's kind of a model to use because it was an expansion of the area covered and it did have you know it was highly accessible free book if you needed it that way. Um but it followed different rules than the the standard urban service. what they're venturing into is very much not standard for an urban provider because county is 1100 and some square miles and all the rest of it stuff and it's a long way out to some of the areas of the county where there are communities that need service a lot of it from the plane counties people coming in to normal for resources healthare uh you know all kinds of things so I think a lot of the work that we do with our um special ed routes um and special routes would be very similar to this type of work and that could be there are some some rules from the Federal Transit Administration as to how this should be done and there are keys uh and that's you know obviously connect is well used to working with both ID do and the FTA but this is a slightly different slant on how that should be done and what again I suggested to them and others have as well that it's not so much like expanding their overall service. That's like expanding the mobility service. And every single vehicle on uh the rural routes has to be accessible. Um they

have a whole series of procedures to make sure that anyone whatever their condition and safely ride bus. So that's another sort of education aspect we're going to have. And if I may add to uh connect transit plans to public size the services uh soon. So uh the school districts not just unified but because there are other rural school districts in ML County. uh they will be that will be some of those entities that will be suggesting to them to make sure the rural areas with the public libraries and and school districts you know maybe the bus school bus companies and others uh maybe there's some nonprofits hospitals and whatnot and medical centers uh they you know uh adult daycare maybe and to to really uh I mean we work together uh we we don't expect like on day one be like turn key type uh but I think the county really is the the the grand te in this case uh they uh connects working with them also they trying to coordinate with shovas too I mean they they really try so it really collect has to be a collaborative effort to work together uh really the bene uh benefactor is really the residents who who need the service so um so we'll do our parts and to to get everybody on board to to really to make the transition as smooth as possible. But it's still going to take time, right? Maybe take few months and whatnot to get everything perfect. But but definitely they plan to to do a lot of marketing or publicity of the services. One of the disadvantages of this whole transition has been it took so long to work out the details of contracting and because there was delay in getting approval from the various

entities to uh confirm that um connect would be allowed to do it. Ordinarily we would have more time and you know sort of work into it kind of period in which they'd have a chance to try things out. We don't have that this time and so it is it's hard on everybody. Show bus will also be doing a kind of outreach to their riders out in the rural areas and say here's what's coming and we'll also include some phone numbers and then we will just see how it goes and hope for the best and you know put our hands up and say are you sure about this things seem to be welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Right. The veterans parkway quarter plan. Yes. Uh the next project three committee uh meeting is going to be this Friday in two days. Uh they will be the consultant. You will be uh engaging the committee members in looking at like segments of the roadway for different analysis and alternatives. Um and in the last uh month or so uh although there wasn't a meeting of the project steering committee in April but the consultant has been wrapping up on their a few reports on the public engagement report on the uh needs and uh opportunity report and also the existing conditions report. Um now noting that the public engagement is not done uh there will be different opportunities uh for the during the remainder of the planning process. Uh so it it's ongoing uh it's moving fast uh not fast too fast but then it's on schedule to what was envisioned you know for the entire planning process. So yeah we looking forward to to this month's meeting uh in two days but also just little heads up in June there will be couple of workshop

and more interactive stuff with the the uh members of the project stand committees. So, we'll keep you posted. You have questions for Ray about veterans. Okay. Strategic land use plan. Ray and Anthony. Yeah. Um, I'll do the part one and then Anthony is going to do the part two. We doing this together. The strategic land use plan. is kind of if if you will uh is kind of a uh outgrowth of the regional communist plan update that you might have heard us saying a little bit before uh the regional communist plan update uh is we've been doing a lot of behind the scene data collection analysis and during the which we started last year and during the process As we have learned from our local government partners in the city, town and county uh because the development pressure that they seem to have a more urgent need on the land use plan segment of the regional compens uh that maybe like some other localities and some other counties or or cities, some other regions to have a region cover what we call strategic IC land use plan done first to that would um cause all the divine pressure. I mean you look at the agendas for the city councils, town councils, they have divine proposals from the developers on housing development co commercial and next stations and other things. So the strategic land use plan is really trying to address uh the needs uh of land uses which relates to zoning. what the future

of the land uses should be where and how much that type of thing and that's in their comprehensive plans of the city town and county they already have future land use plans but there was some from some years ago now uh you know especially in the last five six years a lot of developments proposed have taken place and even uh some of them have been approved so and we anticipate you know there'll be more and So with the strategic land use plan is what been working on uh since last fall and with a lot of like information on trying to step number one is to look at the existing land use. You know what are existing land uses for the different parcels of the not just the city and the town but the rural areas or basically the entire county. uh and so we uh rely on data uh we sought data from the sessions offices and different off uh we've learned that they're not synced up with each other. So that's one of the large challenges the way that they uh uh assign codes for certain labels. So we had to really spend a lot of times and it was we almost the whole team effort but Thomas you know Jan and um really hard you know I f myself into it and then later on when other staff member join us uh it was time consuming but I think we got a good handle and also we've been working with the the planning directors uh of city town and and the county um trying to set some high what's of the expectations. So we have had a draft existing land use because we need more accurate data so that we can do what's next what's in the

future and so if we uh we know it's not going to be perfect uh because existing unless we walk every parcels in the county we won't be able to get it accurate but we're trying to uh rely on aerial uh areas uh we rely on uh local knowledge by the by the different departments of Satan County we rely on the assessor's office making sure there's some corrections revisions that needs to be made and trying to think of so we have created uh a draft existing land use map and also there's some uh further studies and research on on the implications and try to decide on different categories of land uses to what levels do we need from residential to commercial industrial transportation parks evacuation agriculture really different categories and so um we have done a we pretty much uh have the draft existing land use plan done uh and there will be some slides that you'll see uh uh that will be shown but just to give you a background our goal is to have this strategic land use plan done uh around uh July of this year um and then while we working concurrently on the update of the the broader the regional compassive claim update which we envision to be uh finished by next summer uh in two 2026. It's not unusual if you talk with your friends in other cities and towns it usually uh a two-year process at least and but we have started your last year. So we envision uh once the the land use plan is done uh that it helps to move things along but we have started on uh looking at different work elements what we call

work elements uh and so and then there will be like public engagement process and things like that for the regional counties plan but for the strategic language plan um I'll I'll uh have Anthony to explain okay um what's next what what's happening and so that'll give you some insights what what we all should expect and what you should envision uh in the in the next few months. So perpendicular. Yeah. Uh so like Ray said, uh the regional strategic language plan, there's a lot of acronyms, a lot of plans going around. So comprehensive plan is the plan for the county. Um this is one section of that plan that has a little bit more detail in the urban area because of that time gap stuff here. Um so if you want to go to the next slide like you said we got the raw data from land map from the county supervisor of assessments city of Bloomington township assessor and normal township assessor that data uh Thomas you want to go to the next slide was raw land use codes uh for every individual parcel which is from what we could get some of the most accurate data for parcel based data uh that we had access to. Uh so we took all of those different codes and categorized them into different spatial land uses that we can reflect on the map and then from that we created the first draft. Thomas you want to go to the next page of the existing land use map. Uh so this has a handful of categories agricultural uh commercial industrial public institutional natural uh recreation and open space residential and transportation. And so those were kind of the the generalized land uses that we wanted to capture as the what's actually on the ground right now so that we could kick off the act the I guess quote unquote more important Matt uh the future land use what we're anticipating the development to look like in the next 10 to 20 to 30 years. Uh Thomas go to

the next slide. This is a zoomed in uh aerial of the urban area uh of the existing map. And so we took these two maps and Thomas you want to go to the next slide when we created the future land use map. Uh so this as you can tell there's some differences. Um this is the projected land use development in the next you know however many years 10 to 30 years. Uh we got this information by like I said starting with the existing land use map and then reaching out to the city, town and county um to get their input to essentially assign future land uses to the areas that they saw or could potentially see the most development pressure. Um so one of the big things that jumps out right away is uh that purple area over by Ridian town of Normal uh assumed that there was going to be a lot of future development in that area. So, so pretty straightforward stuff like that. Uh, if we want to go to the next slide, Thomas, this is again a closer zoomed in uh perspective of the urban area. Um, it's pretty busy, but there's a lot of stuff that we need to capture here. So, the blue line is the ETJ, extr territorial jurisdiction for the uh town and city, and then everything outside of that is county jurisdiction other than the the local incorporated municipalities. And is that the two mile radius or mile and a half radius? Yeah, mile and a half. Yeah. Yep. So that's extra territorial extr territorial jurisdiction as of right. So they have the opportunity to annex property within that area. Uh and the county is required to notify them of any special use or subdivision developments within that area. So that's kind of their essentially their planning area, right? Do you know if all of that falls within the the outside area? We know where 87 is in the middle there, but is is that

all Unifi or you're catching into other school districts in the inside that blue circle? Um, I'm not too sure, but that's definitely a map that we can add to the actual draft plan document. It's kind of the uh school district and the overlay of that that ETJ All right. Uh so Thomas, you want to go to the next slide? So as the same time we started the future land use map, uh we started drafting the actual plan document itself. Um this document sets the context for the plan, gives a brief history of McLean County, uh and sets an existing conditions report. Um, the plan also includes definitions of the future land uses, definitions of the special planning areas, um, and acceptable uses for each one of those future land uses. Um, the last part of this plan contains again an implementation plan so that there's not just here's all this information, here's all this information and how we're going to use it to help guide the global municipalities to make smart decisions. Next slide, please. So the next steps that we have are further refinement of the future land use map itself. Uh we believe that the existing land use map is 99% locked in. Uh there's still availability to to edit if if that comes up. Uh yesterday I presented to the man county ZBA for just an initial input from somebody that's not necessarily part of the municipal uh government directly. Um, we got some good feedback from them, an emphasis on agricultural preservation, a uh a desire to see the actual changing statistics from here's what we have now existing, how much or more or less percentage of land usage is going to change. Um, so that's what we mean by the more

refinement of that future land use map. The draft plan document uh is missing a couple parts still. We wanted to get the main parts in so that we could send it out to the city, town, and county to get their initial feedback. So, we're going to start filling in the gaps there. And then from that point, uh we're planning on going to the city and town planning commissions in June, uh first week of June to get their initial comments as well. And at that point, we're hoping to have the entirety of the plan first draft completed. And then after that, we're hoping to put out a public comment period for the plan itself for around three or four weeks. Uh so it gives us a little bit of time to update that plan and then eventually get it adopted uh by the local municipalities. And this is the first step in terms of working on the ML County. Yeah, we have done some background research on the M County comp plan, but this is a major more pressing component of the comp. So the comp plan has a handful of different sections. Education, transportation, infrastructure, land use is one of the main sections for every comprehensive plan. So the way we kind of went about this was that the city and the town are are having having developing pressures and they need an updated land use plan. We have to do a land use plan for the comprehensive plan anyway. So let's do this. It'll be a piece of the pie that we can work on and finish and then eventually with some modification put it back in to its position in the comprehensive plan. Does the in the comprehens you said there's an education section in the comprehensive plan does that entail then based upon this land use expansion or propose where you want the new development to go what school district buildings would be needed or space. That's definitely something that we can look into for the comprehensive plan. It's a little comprehensive plan a little bit longer timeline allows for a little bit more in-depth research like

that and stuff. That's something that we can Yes. I mean, I look at that initial plan and you've got a lot out by the Carlock area and that's just not and Carlock right now has some cap capacity, but it not that kind of capacity, right? Um, so you know that's definitely and those are highs on that end town are are totally and Tom already has two portables. So, um, and Parkside has several portables. So planning for those things and and I think if if you know that so say that development comes into fruition, I think it might help the school district to to be able to say, "Yeah, you know, we anticipated that this was a need and we said that Unifi is going to start to need to look into more schools because in this area to to meet capacity." Um I think that would certainly help us in terms of um securing the the funding that we would need to Yeah, I think that's definely something we can definitely do in the comprehensive plan. In the regional strategic land use plan, uh it's a little bit more high level. So it'll be, you know, there's going to be a theoretical, you know, 15% increase in residential land uses, which could potentially uh result in, you know, a need for more school buildings. Yeah, I think we plan to on the education uh aspect we plan to reach out you know to the school districts and education is not just on the school district we recognize the higher ed also is part of that too definitely we don't want to create something or suggest something that contradicts you know what the school districts in plans and it's more than just land uses also we recognize there's some qualitative type um not just the expansion or or movement or or just buildings. Uh so definitely uh we'll have more conversations with the with the school district regional uh

office education and others uh within that and I'm sure you know 87 or in five you have some plans too right for the future and also with the the the recent you know approval of the additional funding sources and whatnot maybe your plan has you know need to be updated as well. We'll have about 10 portables. I think we're at now for next year. When you have portables, the state requires you to submit a plan to get rid of them because it's a temporary thing. And so, you have to file plans of how you're going to get rid of the portables and there's not space in other buildings um in in space where we need it. So, so those are certainly conversations that we have a lot. Yeah. Would there be some discussion of adding on to some of the schools? I think all options would have to be on the table. Yeah. Yeah. Kaising the the the demographics and and the age group distribution, the location. Um yeah, it's Yeah. uh we know it the education side the school districts is not as you know we we not claiming to be the expert you they want to lay up front you know because you have staff you know that specialize in in looking at yeah and what we've done with new developments that have um come on is we've declared them for for uh school attendance being open access areas um and giving them a a few schools of which this they can um choose to attend because we don't have capacity for all in those new developments, all of those students to enroll at a particular school. So, we have to kind of distribute it. Uh, and that could mean, you know, a student from, you know, down by Evans driving all the way up to Tanda, which they do anyway for junior high, but um, just could be longer commutes for some of our

younger kids. And then that applies to then the busing we still are required to transport from that far. Yeah, I was going to say someone from Evans might be going to a junior high elsewhere because and they'd have to get bust. Yeah. I mean, Tanda students go to Evans Junior. Anything else? Any questions for Anthony or Ray? Um, just one Ray Carl too. Um I would say just based on today's discussion and Ray your comments about like completion by next summer. I if everyone agrees like I think this should be added to the regular agenda of like you know what are the other segments of the comprehensive regional plan and how are those moving forward towards that? Uh I think Amy had a great example like input of tying them the different sections together. So just just yeah it I thought great update today. Thank you. You know we might consider the thought of put I appreciate all these dates. Just put the date next to the agenda item completion by or be nice to have a frame a time frame right there. Completion by such to be reminded. Yeah. It keeps us on task. [Music] Yeah, we definitely can do that because some are restricted by by uh grant agreement, some of our project resource and working with others is lost for a lot of times but working with the city and town staff that different issues scheduling things we definitely would put what what's the latest that we know of if there's any changes we definitely also would let you is there anything else that needs to come before the committ

today. If not, I'd entertain a motion to adjurnn. So, second. You got it. All those in favor signify by saying I signed city council. You guys safe.