Board of Trustees - Regular Meeting

Can we have a roll call? Trusty here. Trusty Sana here. Trusty Yak here. Trusty Donnersburgger. Hi. Trusty Zetka here. And President Prom Gazis here. Thank you. Can we stand for the pledge of allegiance? I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all

like to thank everybody for being here tonight. Um Amy Joe Whittenberg is out of out of town so u you have me tonight. Uh so appreciate your indulgence with uh the process. Um we're going to move things around a little bit because why wouldn't we? Uh we have uh we're swearing in our our newest officer, Robert Topps III. Uh so we're going to start with that chief. A few words. I got it. Okay, I want to uh welcome officer Robert Tops the third to uh Indian Head Park. Robert is a lateral transfer from Forest Park. He's working out wonderfully. He's in the FTO program right now. Um he's a proud graduate of Meritis High School, which somebody's got to be. Anyway, he's also a u a proud graduate of Townsen University where he played football. He's a great addition to our team and we're glad to have him and his backup. If Robert say a few words and uh if the family wants to come up and get photos after. Uh how you doing guys? I'm Robert Tops. I'm happy to be here. I'm very grateful. I love the community and everybody a part of the community as well. You guys make me feel very welcome. Even the simple waves when we drive past the community. So that goes a long way and I'm glad to serve you guys and hopefully for a very long time.

Thanks Robert. [Applause] Uh so my girlfriend, my baby Harper, she's uh right here. She was born July 22nd, so she's still pretty fresh. This is Robert Topps I in my arms. Then dad Robert Topps Jr. My mother, Lata Tops, and then my sister, Ariel Tops are all here. For a photo, please get you in the family first. Chief, let's swear.

Robert, let's swear you in first and then we'll do the the official. You can always Roberts, Robertly swear do solemnly swear that I support the Constitution of the United States that I support the Constitution of the United States constitution of the state of Illinois the Constitution of the State of Illinois. Code of ordinances of the village of Indian and the code of ordinances of the village of Indian Headart. I will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties. I will faithfully and discharge of the office of police officer to the best of my ability.

of the office of a police officer to the best and safeguard lives and property. Protect the innocent against deception. Protect the innocent against deception. The weak against oppression or intimidation. The weak against oppression or intimidation. And the peaceful against violence or disorder. And the peaceful against violence or disorder. I will I will conduct myself with integrity, courage, and accountability. I will conduct myself with integrity, courage, and accountability. Recognizing the badge of my office as a symbol of public trust. Recognizing the badge of my office as a symbol of public trust. I take this obligation freely.

I take this obligation freely without any reservation or purpose of

without any mental reservation or purpose of [Applause] Take a picture. Ready? One, two, three.

Does this let me know? [Music] Thank you.

Uh next we'd like to move on to our public hearing regarding the proposed triangle area business district and business district plan. So without further delay, we have uh the presenters here from SB Freriedman. It's Andrew Glazner and Caitlyn Johnson.

Thank you. Feeling better. There we go. All right, I'll start over. My name is Andrew Glazner. I'm a project manager at SP Freeman Development Adviserss. I'm here with Caitlyn Johnson this evening, my colleague. Um, what we'll do today is give a presentation summarizing the work we've done on behalf of the village regarding the proposed triangle area business district. I'll talk through the work we've done to identify the eligibility factors present in this area, talk through some important elements of the redevelopment plan that we have filed with the village clerk. Um, and then give some highle overview on next steps and really where the process goes um after the public hearing. Just a little bit of background on us. We do work for a Chicago based consultancy. We work on a number of uh different service areas. We think about economic development, community development, development finance, uh structuring public private partnerships. A lot of the work that feeds into and is related to the use of districts like bids, BDS to support development within different communities. At a high level, a business district is a special taxing district. It um provides the opportunity to adopt a 1% sales tax, I should say up to 1% sales tax in addition to a hotel tax um within a targeted area. For the business district that we are discussing today, we are just considering a 1% sales tax rate. Um the revenues from that business district sales tax can only be used

within the business district. um and it is in effect for 23 years. In order to adopt a business district and implement and impose the 1% sales tax, you have to go through an eligibility process to determine whether or not the area qualifies as an area that can be designated as a BD. Um to do that, you have to find the presence of a blighting factor. You have to be able to um based on that show that there is an adverse effect to the area as a result of that blight. And then there are a handful of additional tests that you also have to satisfy. I'll walk through each of those tests and the work that we've done to determine whether or not this area passes those eligibility thresholds. Um at a high level, the bid BD process starts with the eligibility study. Then you move through uh the process of drafting a plan, summarizing the goals, uh highlighting the budget, determining potential eligible costs. Those are all within that plan document that again has been filed um with you all. After that, you go through public approval process. That's where we are today. This public hearing is a crucial part of that public approval process. From here, um, if a BD is approved, then the state department of revenue, um, imposes the tax, businesses start collecting that tax, and then, long story short, those tax revenues go through the state and come back to the village and are therefore available to support development activities within the BD. Not all sales are subject to a BD tax. uh the handful that are um it's not an exhaustive list but representative food and beverages that are consumed on site or are prepared for media consumption are eligible s um in addition to those alcohol sales, general merchandise, sporting goods, vehicle, boat repair parts are all subject to a BD tax. Um an

example of sales that are not would include groceries, prescription drugs, medicines, medical appliances, or any personal property that's registered with the state already. So depending on the businesses within your business district, um if those do generate BD sales tax eligible revenues that can benefit your BD, uh if your areas comprise of businesses that are not subject to the BD tax, um that can limit revenues. But important to highlight that there is a distinction here to be made about businesses that support or can produce higher BD revenues. So the business district that we were discussing is regarding the triangle area between Wolf Road, Juliet Road, and 294. It's a handful of parcels, 12 parcels. It's a mix of commercial and residential properties as well as several vacant properties. As we began assessing this area and how it uh satisfies eligibility criteria, we again were thinking through initially uh which of the five blighting factors are present within this area. Again, just one needs to be present, but the list that are applicable here are the deterioration of site improvements, defective, non-existent um or inadequate street layout, improper subdivision or obsolete platting of parcels, unsanitary, unsafe conditions, and also the existence of conditions that generally um adversely affect life, property u related to fire. After that, you have to prove that those one of those five present factors has an adverse effect on the area. It could constitute an economic underutilization of the area. It could uh provide or present a economic or social liability. It could perhaps present a menace public health, safety, welfare, or otherwise impede the provision of housing accommodations. Through our work, we did find that that three blighting factors are present. That's deterioration of site improvements, inadequate street layout,

and improper subdivision and obviously platting of parcels. Cumulatively those blighting factors did um constitute an economic underutilization of the area. I will walk through um the data that we reviewed includes parcel level data from Cook County. We looked at um we came visited drove around the area did field work looking at existing conditions of properties and buildings. We received engineering information from the village and the village's consultant. We received traffic collision data, looked at historic property values in those trends. We also received building permit information to understand recent private investment in the area. All of those data points together helped us understand again the presence of different eligibility factors. The first one is inadequate street layout. This was found to be present in affecting all of the parcels within the proposed business district. Um I mentioned we received an engineering memo from the village and additional information from the village's engineering consultant. Um that did highlight as well the traffic collision data that Wolf Road Juliet intersection is one of the more dangerous intersections in the village. Um one contributing factor uh that was identified is that the traffic volume on Wolf Road is currently higher than what the road is designed to accommodate and that that is a contributing factor to crashes. Um, in addition to Wolf Road, Vine Street is constructed to um certain standards at its northern end, but those standards are not present at the southern end of the road. It narrows um and that can also not is not built or designed to really facilitate two-way traffic um or other traffic that would exist perhaps after redevelopment. So based on the presence of those two roads um and conditions that exist today, we found inadequate street layout to be applicable to all parcels within the study area.

Second is the presence of deterioration of site improvements. Uh again as we conducted our field work in July, we documented the presence of deterioration. What we saw most notably was cracked or crumbling parking lots, cracked roads, in some cases peeling uh building sighting. This was found to be present on seven of 12 parcels and based on the map you can see that it is meaningfully present and reasonably distributed throughout the area. The third factor we identified was improper subdivision or obsolete platting of parcels. This was found present on six of the 12 parcels in the study area. You can see a handful of parcels are irregularly shaped and sized and cannot accommodate really a modern development footprint. Uh, additionally, uh, one other parcel has both a commercial structure and a separate residential structure and that parcel appears to just have never been subdivided to sort of reflect those two different uses. Uh, so generally we saw that throughout the area. Uh, this factor was also present and meaningfully distributed. As I mentioned earlier, the combination of those three factors we found to uh, contribute to the economic underutilization of the area. We did look at property values and historic trends in property values for the entire area. In three of the last five years, property values have actually decreased. Um, and then based on a benchmark identified in the state law, we looked at the consumer price index growth over that same 5-year period. And again, the property values in the study area have not grown as fast as CPI. So relative to that benchmark, again, this area could be considered to be economically underutilized. Beyond property values, we also looked at the data present in the building permit information we received. The uh since 2021, there's been, I believe, eight permits issued in this area that collectively represent about $200,000 worth of investment. Most of those

improvements are related to interior or exterior building improvements um or commercial signages. Um but no new development, no significant redevelopment given the vacancy of most of the parcels, eight out of the 12 parcels in the area and the long-standing nature of that vacancy. Um the lack of any new development or redevelopment uh again and the limited nature of private investment through building permits uh again exhibits economic underutilization within the area. Beyond the finding of eligibility factors and the uh determining the effect of those factors, there are four additional tests I mentioned earlier. The first is the lack of growth from private investment. The previous two slides really summarize a lot of the same data points that substantiate this idea that due to the decline in EAV, the relative lack of growth compared to CPI, no new construction, limited renovation, and again the long-term vacancy of several parcels. uh we determined that there has been a lack of growth in the area from private investment. Second, and building off that point is that but for the designation of a special district including a business district, it's unlikely that any substantial redevelopment or reinvestment uh will occur. We found that to be true. Uh the third factor is the contiguity of parcels. Just simply understanding if all the parcels have a common border and are connected, they are. Uh and then lastly reading the comprehensive plan of the village from 2015 and making sure that there are no um that this this district would align with the goals stated within that plan um be consistent with the land uses identified for this area. Speaking of goals specific to this proposed business district, the goal is to um address the factors that make this area eligible to become a business district. The BD would be a mechanism to

support redevelopment and reinvestment in the area. Uh continue to improve upon the district and make it a commercially vibrant area that supports the village overall and enhances quality of life. Um specifically again attracting new development that uh support and enhance the village tax base in the instance it's necessary being able to support additional public infrastructure improvements to again attract or support new development and all that new development being a significant source of additional private investment that benefits the village overall are are three of the key objectives. One element of the redevelopment plan that um wanted to highlight on is the budget. Um the budget is largely illustrative. The one number I do want to draw your attention to is the bottom line number, the total business district costs. State statute requires that an upper limit on expenditures be identified and set within the plan for the business district overall. So the bottom line number here, $12 million, is that upper limit of expenditures that um can be satisfied through the business district. Um the line items that are broken out individually are representative of potential eligible costs. The numbers associated with those costs are again illustrative based on what we typically see. What common costs might be more expensive than others, but those are not an obligation or an authorization or a requirement to spend those individual amounts on those specific costs. Again, the purpose of this budget table is to provide that bottom line number, that $12 million, which is the cap on expenditures of BD revenues within the business district. We got to that number by assuming a aggressive and optimistic redevelopment scenario. If you consider and again this is for the sake of projecting that cap. If you considered a total redevelopment

of the area with a modern retail center and assumed it um behaved as a modern retail center, the sales that that would generate and then you apply that 1% sales tax revenue. Um that is how you get to that $12 million number. So it's a projection based on a very high growth uh substantial redevelopment scenario. The goal is to set that cap to be high so that the business district can operate in a way where the revenues can be invested. If the business district does very well and the revenues generated exceed the cap, you can amend the plan, change the budget and have authorization to continue spending whatever excess revenue was generated. But in order to avoid more paperwork and administrative hassle, uh we tend to think about how we can set the budget appropriately the first time so that there's no need to come back and revisit the plan and amend it um again based on the high revenue growth scenario. So

Andrew, could you speak to how the period of that $12 million?

Sure. So that is reflective of the entire 23y year period of the business district. So um in the way that we estimated that figure, we're assuming redevelopment occurs in the first year of the business district. And so for the remaining 22 years, um it's a very high revenue district that generates a lot of business district sales tax revenues. And so the long-term collection of those revenues is how you get to the approximately $12 million. Um, again, that's to set the cap at a number that allows you room to uh utilize the business district revenues that are generated over that 23-year period. um thinking about next steps and moving forward. Um after the public hearing, uh the Department of Revenue requires that the ordinance approving the district and the list of addresses and the redevelopment plan be submitted by the end of this month, September, for in order for the BD taxes to be imposed starting January 1st, 2026. uh meeting that end of September deadline and therefore having the taxes imposed January 1st, 2026 just maximizes the revenue period um that that this district will be active for. There's a separate spring deadline um but to maximize the 23-year period starting January 1st is really the ideal target to hit. Um which is why the public hearing is today and therefore plenty of time to meet that end of September deadline to submit the necessary documents. So with that, happy to answer any questions.

When uh last you uh were talking, you were we were talking about a tiff district. How does that relate to what we're looking at right here?

Sure. So the tiff district would be a separate district. Um it's a separate source of revenue. It generates revenues based on property taxes. Here the business district again applies to sales that occur from this area that are eligible to the uh for the BD tax. So, um, anybody that goes and purchases food at restaurants, that's going to be subject to that 1% sales tax rate, that's where the revenues come from for the BD. The TIF is a separate district that we would designate. Um, we're working towards a a three-month period from now to work through that TIFF designation process, but that would operate based on property taxes independent of the sales taxes. And this $12 million is uh accumulated through the increase in the 1% sales tax,

right? So the additional 1% that is captured based on existing sales and future sales um over the years based on some development. So what we did do was think about the redevelopment potential of the area. Um again a really high growth high development situation that would maximize revenue potential. Not saying that that is what will happen but thinking about again for setting a cap on spending and that being reflective of a very high growth optimistic scenario. So the village would need to keep uh separate uh accounts for this u particular category. I I believe that BD taxes are put into a separate account um once they're returned from the department of revenue.

And how is that how is that spent according to this chart here? This $12 million. Yeah. So these are if you look at just the left side these are a list of eligible cost categories. The development plan lists additional eligible cost categories. Those are defined by state. I'll just stay with this. So so uh how how do how do we spend $12 million? Sure you can. Over 23 years in these categories that you have identified. Yeah.

Wait. I think it's as the 12 million if I understand it correctly is aspirational. Yes. So, we don't have the 12 million that would be if it were to be redeveloped and we did get $12 million worth of tax over that 23-year period, we would deposit it in a triangle area business district allocation fund to support redevelopment, debt service, infrastructure, etc. But is that correct? Yeah, that 12 million is would be is aspirational. It would be accured over time if not a upfront um

Yeah. So, so you're you're putting money into this account and then uh you we've identified that this is how we're going to spend it, but this would require separate uh action on the part of the board to actually disperse funds out for these particular categories going into that 23 years. I I do believe that to spend the funds within that allocation fund, you would as you normally would perhaps choose to spend geo geo money um have to make a decision of what projects are important, meet village goals um and the typical procedure to release those funds from that account and to support actual activity. So as money goes into the account in order to get it out though the board is going to take specific action uh probably against some of these categories.

Correct. You agree with that? That is correct. Board would need to vote to disperse those and authorized individual and again this is a high number and this is over a 23-year period. Uh do you do you have a forecast on a year-by-year basis getting to that uh 12 million? We we do have um yes we we projected this annually and so the sum is 12 million. Can we can we can we see that then a chart for with 23 years that the sum of which at the bottom of the 23 years is the 12 million is that something that can be provided it can be it's very high level I understand

I I I don't know that I guess Mr. Can I be recognized? Just Anthony, go ahead. Just to be clear, you keep heading this $12 million from my understanding is we bulldoze that entire triangle district and really build something modern that could generate that. That $12 million is fictitious. Yes. Just to set the cap. So to look for a forecast at $12 million, we're not we're never going to be there. So it would be a fictitious forecast that really doesn't exist. Yeah. But you've got a proper forecast. Okay. What what about uh what based on the businesses that are there today? That's a separate conversation.

What what would that look like? So you'd have two charts. This is based on the businesses that are there today and then this would then the second chart would be based on uh construction as you're indicating. Yeah. You you we would just want to look at what All right, gentlemen. Um I think Charlie, we could all draw a pie chart 23 years or you know up and to the right to get 12 million off of a 4% return. I don't know how additive that would necessarily be. Uh again, it is aspirational based on what could be, not what is. I think to your point, maybe it's uh

what is it based on the businesses today where we want to look at that as to right if if if none of this happened uh then the whole the whole idea of it's not going to produce anywhere near 12 million. Right. I think I think the bottom line in in that is that that's the whole point of creating a business district. If it were to remain the same without creating a business district, it would take much more than 23 years to earn to bring in $12 million on any 1% increase in sales tax. No, I'm just trying to get a sense is based on today's businesses, that 1% tax, if we pass it today, it would be less than $1,000. Would be what? less than a thousand dollars

over 23 years. No, a year. Okay. At this point, uh before the board hijacks the board meeting, um would it be appropriate to open it up for some public comments? Um unless are you done? That's the end of our presentation that way. Okay. So, we'd like to open it up for public comments now. I know some of you are here in regards to this public hearing. So this is uh your chance to speak, ask questions of the board, ask questions of the presenters uh or staff. Mr. President, Prom, when the public speaks, may I be recognized after for questions? Absolutely.

Charlie, go ahead.

I I have a question. So, um, the business district that you're proposing is on parcels that are privately owned. That's understood, right? So, the owner of the majority of what right now brings revenue in retail. Uh, what if he doesn't want to sell? What if he doesn't want to improve? Can he refuse the uh help of the board on monetary help to develop better the place? Um if he doesn't refuse and receives the money, accepts the money to be able to redevelop better, um his EAB will go up. So if he sees that as a possibility and does not want to inherit that kind of EAB increase or property tax increase, can he refuse?

So I'll say at a district level, revenues are generated and those revenues can be spent in the district as the board sees fit. um you th that's that's your right to choose which projects are eligible, suitable, ideal for funding. Um if it's new development on a vacant parcel today, if it's providing assistance for building rehab for all properties, properties that are most in need, um that's a village board decision. But the question is, can the owner of the property refuse to help and keep the blighted

buildings? So knowing the owner, he would he could perfectly defeat the purpose of the new tax. And now for one year, two years, three years, people are paying the higher tax. The account is going up and he can refuse because he doesn't want to pay more property taxes. Can that happen? That's a worst case scenario, but I I think between the board and the economic development committee, our members have been reaching out and trying to establish relationships with the businesses who are there as well as the owner. Um, and I I encourage you um to jump in and take a chance because something needs to be done up there.

No, I'm not saying that we shouldn't be doing something. I am establishing a scenario where possibly that's the worst case. Well, there there's also more than one business owner in the district. So, theoretically, if somebody was obstinate in terms of getting something done, so what do we do? Leave more money for other owners. Mr. Mr. Chair, can I interject? Thank you very much.

Absolutely. So yes, there is there is issues with it being property owners if they're not looking develop. And I have had in my my economic development experience um the same issues coming up of what if the the owners of the properties do not want to improve them or boards being reticent to provide funds to owners who they did not feel were taking care of their property. So why would you take on their own improvements? Correct. There are a number of options and strategies that the village can use to both incentivize and incentivize, let's put it that way, them to improve the property or be more collaborative with the village. Some of that is by funds, but otherwise the other part of it is is part of my other hat, which is code enforcement. Those can be looked at as well. Um, and as Andrew was very tactfully walking around the subject, the village can also look at acquiring property even through eminent domain. I know it's a word we don't like using. We don't like using it, but that is also a strategy that it that is open to the board at a certain point if they were so to choose. Now, it's not usually the first strategy because it's very long. It's very expensive and nobody comes out with, you know, happy at the end of it. But that is a strategy that does exist. The the reason why I'm asking is because the majority of the people that are here are business owners and they are dealing with the fact that they don't own the the the properties. The property is not being there's a reason why it looks the way it looks. It's because the owner has not done anything

to develop it short of we almost uh you know we had to start finding him uh just to do a wall. So this is this is why I'm asking like I want reassurance that when this business owners start taxing the clients the 1% on the chance that that money will be then reinvested so the place can keep looking better and better and better through the years and therefore acquiring more clients and more clients that there is recourse should the owner refuse to help or refuse to develop the area because I don't think we're raising that place.

I I will I will say that up to now the village has only had a stick to approach the issue with. Having a carrot allows it to have a a second hand of options. Okay. Now, if someone wants to come up now that they heard that, would you uh allow them to come up? Public comments. Again, Matt Ropsy, owner of the Oak Pantry in Delhi. So from what I understand, we're trying to collect the tax now and 23 years later we tear it down and we build a new one. No. So if if I may, Andre, go ahead.

Uh, no. It Well, it is it is collected as normally for sales tax. So every single year there'll be money inside of it. So every year there will be there'll be funds to to address issues.

Correct. um the the exact strategy is something that the village will have to develop um at that point. So it's not like we are the village is necessarily saying that we're instantly going to you know buy everything in there and tear it all down. the the the hypothetical that is given to get that $12 million assumes that assumes that the second January 1st hit you know you you almost video games drop a brand new you know a very small Oakbrook center on top of it and suddenly it starts producing money which isn't a realistic option so um the strategy of how to improve get everything improved is something that's going to collaborative strategy both between the village and the business owners and the property owners in in there

how long before what are we planning how long before the project would start 23 years later.

No, you can do it as the as the we you can use funds and start projects. So essentially once we get these economic incentives uh strategies mechanisms the business district start collecting that tax and if in the future there is a possibility of a tiff district and start collecting that those funds as well. the village will be looking at using at leveraging those monies as soon as possible because if we leverage if we leverage the the monies earlier on in that 23 years we will have more revenues on later on right if you start making more money now you'll have more money 23 years from now so it is not something we're going to wait on 10 15 years or anything like that the village will essentially probably starting January you know 8th that we will start looking at how to improve the area more than we like with a specific strategy economic strategy that we have with the funds.

I still I I don't think we understand. So just let me put it plainly because you're speaking the same economic development language. We're not racing we're not taking the place down and redeveloping it. We are going to establish a plan to use the money to maybe fix it to maybe facelift it to maybe bring or be able to bring more businesses to the area to landscape to whatever it is that the board as the money accumulates can decide to help make it better, make the place better. And it's not 23 years from now. It's whenever we have enough as soon as possible. I thought that you guys were talking the demolition whole thing.

No, that would be like if we were to build a completely new one, it would be $12 million. But we're not building a new one. Trying to raise taxes to facelift, then I see no reason why the owner would have a problem with that. Well, I mean, especially we're putting the money. I think it's also important to point out that we don't have to wait till the the account builds up. Some of the eligible costs include financing costs. So, but that's not we're not at the point today to to talk about exactly what tools we're going to use to do exactly what right now. We just need to approve the the plan. I'm I'm up for it. Whatever you guys need from us, we're up for it. Thank you.

Question.

More public comments. Come on up. I'm uh Joti Alapra. We are the owners of that vacant lot. So we would like to know uh yeah so is it something that you're trying to develop or as a whole in the whole area as it is and uh kind of we are also open to this kind of thing but you know obviously we we would like to know what how the village can help us too. So yeah, if if there is any suggestions, I'm not really sure what's going on right now because it seems like there's some tax issues or something, but are you trying to develop for the whole thing like a together structure or individually or how does this work? Are you going to break down some things that are already there or how does this work? So

So I think Andre, you might be able to address this better than anybody here, but she's talking about the whole area being addressed. And what I believe will happen before we do that is there's going to be a lot of planning going into it and then public hearings. Can you fill in the rest?

Correct. Yeah, that so we are not looking just when most people I think part of it is that we forget staff and and the village that when people refer to the triangle they think of just Indian head plaza and we're not just talking about the plaza. We're talking about the entirety of that that 8 acres that is up there. And so we are going to look at strategies on how to make that entire area much more successful. So there are some vacant properties up there. Is there way is there businesses or or other uses in there, you know, mixed uses maybe that would make everybody more successful if we were to, you know, add some more uh mixeduse properties like the IHP condos where they have the condos up top and then the businesses on the bottom. Would that would that make that much more successful not just for you know that property owner but also you know would they get more pizza you know would they would they go at the restaurants more would they would they do all these types of things and as we make that as we look at that area and we look at the strategies and we look at those at those meetings we're going to have those meetings with the communities we're going to look at say okay what do you want this to look like um you know what businesses do we want there businesses do we not want there and we'll be working with um you know both the staff and you know a poss possibly outside consultants who do this for a living to say okay now we know what we want what's actually viable with the expertise in here. So um some of you may remember that in 2018 the village put together a planned unit development for the triangle. It wasn't really a planned unit development. It's more of just a a kind of visioning plan. And so we would see something similar to that of saying okay what can we do here to make this area more vibrant? You know make it someplace we want to go make it someplace we're proud of. of of the community while also making the community maybe a little bit more um you know revenue at the same time as well. So that's what we're looking for is to as I say is you know it's called blighted. We're looking to reinvigorate it. That's what we're looking to do. We're going to make that we want to make it the best possible use it can for the village and the residents and even the not residents because they pay taxes too

in sales tax. And it's not going to happen overnight. This is just the first step in a very long journey that the village is going to take to improve that uh parcel of land over there and we're all going to do it together.

Correct. And like I said, and the other thing too is that um you know, hopefully we we start in doing this and hopefully this makes it so that any property owner who you know might have been over there that is looking to has a vacant property or might be looking to you know sell their property um if they see this it might if they want to sell it for commercial or use or redevelopment or development that it is um they're able to fetch a higher price for it because now the developer whoever looking for it knows that the village has some ability to you make make some um uh assistance for them so that hopefully it makes those parcels much more attractive. Um and you know, as I say, hopefully it makes those parcels a little bit more uh expensive, you know, and and so if they do develop, any property owners do develop uh and sell their property, develop, maybe they'll make some more money off of it. Um because we're not against that, you know, people making money either.

Thank you, Andre. Um yeah, I have a Charlie. Yeah, back to the back to the tiff. If if uh we go forward with a tiff three, four months down the road, would not this overlay this particular chart showing the 12 million. So, you're getting different types of revenue, but you're going to get additional revenue that would uh be used or could uh incent uh additional development. Correct. They'll if a TIFF is also adopted with the PD, two separate revenue sources and those have similar eligible cost categories, they can both be used for similar types of improvements to incentivize new development.

And that might likely be a greater number u than this $12 million over that period of time. You haven't done your numbers yet, but uh uh because because that anticipates the actual development of the undeveloped land and costs,

correct? Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Um, any further public comments? Come on up. I'm Guy Blondo. My wife and I have owned a jewelry store down the street for three or four decades. I guarantee you right now, if you raise our property taxes, I'll leave. Okay.

Uh we've conflated a lot of issues here from a tiff to a business development district to sales tax, grocery tax, etc. Um Gavin, can you give us a 92 synopsis of those three areas? because it appears as though we've confused our constituents and probably our board as well.

I didn't even hear that. Andre 90 seconds. Go. Okay. Thanks.

So, this is a bit we're talking about the business district and the business district only applies to sales taxes which it provides as revenue. So, we are not looking at the tiff district tonight. If we look at a further tiff district that would the tiff districts use property taxes that the increment that is raised you know as your as your property value goes up year to year that's where the increment is but that is something that's looking at in the future. Can they play off each other? Yes. Yorktown Mall the redevelopment is an example of that. But right now I want to say we want to focus on we're only focusing on sales taxes not services because the state of Illinois does not does not tax services just sales. I do want to point out one one distinction about even though I don't want to be talking about tiff at all tonight. Um it does not represent a property tax increase. The property taxes do not increase unless there's a lot of development and the property value goes up, but that's down the road. in the the difference is that as property taxes go up, they're frozen and the difference between where they were frozen and where they go up to is put into a tiff fund which is then used for redevelopment. So it's not a a property tax increase by itself.

Come on up. I have a question. Uh my husband and I are the owners of Studio Suites. So our business primarily wouldn't be able to apply that 1% tax. We we rent to hair stylists. We rent to, you know, a service. So would we still be eligible? What service those funds once they're acquired and once they're it's service? Andress, if you are doing a project that the board deems would be a benefit to the business and or any future tiff district. Yes. Thank you. You're welcome.

Any other questions? Any other comments from the board? Without objection, we're gonna one more. Come on up. Well, nobody can hear you online, unfortunately. If you don't, and I think we need a microphone. Oh god, I don't want that.

It's like the Bill Daheside. I don't want to lose any more customers because of the sales tax. 11% is too much. and some of our things that we sell a lot of money way too much for us.

Thank you. Um, if there's not any objection, we'd like to close the public hearing and move on to items E, F, and G of new business before we get into the consent agenda since it is Mr. President Prom, I move approval of the consent agenda. Um without without objection we would like to move new business items E F and G before the consent agenda. Why? As it is related to the business

Mr. President prom I move approval uh to consider the ordinance 2025-14 which approves a business district plan. That's what we can do. I second and Oh, you want all of them together? I'm sorry. Sure. Also consideration of ordinance 2025-15 which establishes the triangle area business district and G also and the consideration of ordinance 202516 imposing a business district retailers occupation tax and service occupation tax of 1%. I second. Do we have a second? Anthony Anthonyo second

discussion I think we've had enough I think so. Uh Andre's roll call vote. There's no vote. As to all three ordinances, 2025 14, 2025, and 202516. Aren't we just talking about them this week and then next time we vote on them? No. Uh we have September 30th. Oh, so we're voting on them tonight. Vote on them tonight. Mr. Mr. Chair, would you like me to do that roll call for all three ordinances because it's a tax? Yep. Okay. So, this would be for the roll call for E, F, and G. Correct. Trusty. Hi. Trusty Sana.

I. Trusty Ek. I. Trusty Donnersburgger. Hi. Trusteska. I. Would the president prom vote on it or as trustee? I motion carries. 60.

Uh we're going to go back to the cons without if there's no objection, we will go back to the consent agenda. Mr. President, I make I move to approve the consent agenda. Consent agenda. I second. I believe Anthonyo second. Any questions? Any questions? Any conversation? Charlie? Uh, my only objection is the length of the minutes, but uh we discussed that at length last time, so uh I will defer uh a separate consideration for that.

Thank you, Trusty Charlie. You're welcome. Trusty Gavin Ges. Uh roll call vote to approve the consent agenda. Please okay. Trusty Iako I. Trusty Sana I. Trusty E I. Trusty Donnersburgger I. Trustes Zetka I. And as trustee Jim Gazis I. Motion carries 60. And as we've changed everything up today, we still have H and I. There will be no village president's report because I am not the village president. Uh can we have a financial report?

We would like a financial report, Kevin. All right. For the month ending August, we missed H and I. Yeah, we haven't done the other ordinances. We'll go there next, but this is usually part of the consent. I just have to read the financial summary into the record. You have to read the financial for the month ending August 2025. Cash on hand was 3,161,8527. Actually, it started there in July. All payments in August were $483,22123.

Total revenues for August were $354,92.83 83 with an ending bank balance at August 31st, 2025 of 3,31,95687. Thank you. Thank you, Gavin. That wasn't on my sheet, but next time I'll know. It's in the consent. It's the third item in the consent. Uh we can move on to items H and I of new business. Mr. President Prom move approval of ordinance 2025-17 which grants a zoning variation to allow the conversion of an enclosed garage space into a family room at 147 Cascade Drive.

I second. Andreas, can you catch us up on this or Gavin would ever like to?

Okay. This is a uh zoning variation as they said to allow the conversion of a closed garage space into a family room. This was done through our um the ADA requirements. It is an ADAF fair housing um request. So it's a reasonable accommodation request which means it's a little different but um as we did with uh the Allison's a few months ago, February now I think um so we look so the the same the same tests that we normally look at special uses look at for variations do not apply on it really. Um what we're looking at on this one is that the tests for a reasonable accommodation for are you're looking at it to make sure is can that person uh if if the person cannot use or enjoy their home to the same substantially amount that a person who doesn't have these issues they don't they cannot do that then the reasonable accommodation would is that's the test for it does get is does get the test for that. Sorry, got a little uh got a little confusing there. Um what's unique is that every reasonable accommodation is unique, right? There isn't a standard there. There's not it's not a very hard it's not like a hard test so much as we do with like a normal variation with like these 13 things. They're all all unique. So, um we did a public hearing at the uh plan commission on uh July, I believe. Um either way, we had a public hearing on it. We went through the petitioner was there um with with their attorney as well and uh the plan commission in reviewing it asked the petitioner the questions. The petitioner also stated what his um stated what the conditions were. I also note the petitioner has a uh state um disabled I'm going to say it's wrong. It's we call them handicap placers but that's not what they're not the term

anymore and I forget exactly what they are. I apologize, but he had one of those which is takes a significant amount of paperwork to to get um same as Mr. Allison when we did the test p previously with him. So, uh additionally, he did send us he did send us information from his doctor.

Um and the doctor had suggested that the family room was part of the reasonable accommodation. That was part of it. Um however, he we did not put that in the packet for the plan commission because the petitioner wanted to speak on itself. He didn't want that paperwork to become part of public record which that privacy that he asked for we provided for him. So it went to the plan commission. Uh it was they approved the drafting of the ordinance because we do them in two steps now. They basically direct me to draft an ordinance and then I draft it and they come back and vote on it. So they get they look at it twice. We had the public hearing. After the public hearing, they directed me to draft the ordinance and uh on September 2nd last week, the or they went before the ordinance again and it was approved uh for a positive recommendation to the board uh for this issue.

Thank you. Thank you, Andreas. So, the planning and zoning commission gave us a positive recommendation for this some questions ordinance. Questions discussion? Yes. uh included in the ordinance. Uh it indicates that uh when he conveys the property to another that he's got to return the uh extra room back to a garage. Uh if he passes uh and he conveys that to a relative, uh does that or does that portion of the ordinance still apply? In other words, he he would no longer be in title

as as part of our ordinances for reasonable accommodations. as when you go through the reasonable accommodation process. Once the person who has a reasonable accommodation is no longer living there or resides there more than 50% of the time, then the reasonable accommodation is uh variation no longer is in effect. Okay. And I understand that there's several uh residents that live there. How many cars do they have that you're aware of? Uh that I believe last I've checked u when they came through and he and he paid his vehicle stickers. He has four vehicles. Wow.

Okay. And uh my understanding is that they've actually started a construction on this uh quite a while ago and the village uh uh suggested that he stop construction until we go through this process. Is that correct? Prior to my time here in December of 2023, um the gentleman did was we they were Aacia alerted that the village that the person had done work without a permit. Um and so the village placed a stop work order as we would do with anything else due to a lot of legal entanglements um going through it. It was not this issue wasn't resolved uh for AACA giving its approval until spring of this year. I understand acacia uh board has not approved that um

as part of is that is that correct from my my understanding is you mean the the garage or or anything else of the project. I'm sorry the conversion the conversion well acacia doesn't control that interior conversion on it but they they have not they have not commented uh on on uh on doing this work. Is that correct? I don't exactly what you mean by commented on doing the work. Trustee, can you clarify? Have they Have they approved this uh recommendation as part of the settlement with the gentleman? No, no, that's a yes or no question. Yes. You're saying the you're saying the quesa board has has approved this uh change as part of the legal settlement? Yes.

Thank you. Thank you, Andre. Thank you, Charlie. Um yeah, sorry. Why not? Why not, Danielle? I I got some questions. Um, so I was at the planning and zoning meeting where the petitioner spoke at and I remember there was a lot of back and forth conversation. Um, can you refresh my memory on if we had residents that came in and spoke out for or against this? There there was public comment generally there there's public comment against it and there was public comment for it to to clarify most of the the public comment and there wasn't wasn't heavenly in either direction. It wasn't we didn't have like a packed house right

to clarify but um there were a few residents more that were against it um due to the the nature of it you know their concerns about changing the nature of acacia and whether or not everyone would be able to get garages. We explained to them that wasn't the issue. There was also at least one gentleman um who spoke out for it as needing accommodation of it who he happened to incidentally be there because he wanted to talk about fences. So

yeah, I think I recall that. Okay. And then could you also refresh my memory on um I believe the petitioner was asked if the work had already started and I believe the comment that I heard from either the petitioner or the petitioner's legal representation was they started on it because quote which could be wrong uh other establishments in that area have done the same thing and they thought that they could do it without a permit. Is that how this came about? Uh I believe you're conflating two things on it. I might be. Uh so they their statement was that they started work without the permit because they were told that they didn't need a permit. Okay.

Um but that was from Acacia and I believe that they misunderstood that Aacia said that they didn't need a permit from them. Okay. And not from the village. Um the other issue you were saying is that the petitioner's attorney did make a comment about other conversions in acacia of garage units. Um but when asked there was no further information provided on it. Okay. Okay. I have nothing else at this point but thank you. Any other discussion? Roll call vote please. Founders. Trusty Aino. I. Trusty Seldana. I. Trusty Yak.

No. Trusty Donnersburgger. Hi. Trustes Vetka. No. Trust and acting as trust. Trusty Gazis. I motion carries 42. Mr. Press and prom move approval of ordinance 2025-18 amending article 2 of chapter 38 which is the tree preser preservation. I'll second that. Any comment on this or discussion?

So this is um this is a comprehensive update to the village's tree preservation regulations. Uh this update brings our ordinance in line with current best practices in urban forestry, improves clarity and strengthens enforcement. We worked with uh the uh Morton Arboritum staff to develop this uh ordinance and we also uh have been discussing it with the tree and landscaping uh committee and Joe Coons is here to talk about to answer any of your questions about tree preservation and what this uh Joe what else do we need to know about this if anything.

Uh it pretty much is self-explanatory if you read through it. Uh I will give a an update in my report on what this means going forward with our grant program for our uh tree planting. But uh we needed to have this ordinance done in order to proceed with that procedure. Uh so having this done uh assures us that we'll be able to do the grant and move forward with our tree planting program for the fall and spring. Thanks Joe. Other questions, comments? U roll call vote, please. Andre,

Trusty, I. Trusty Donnersburgger. Trusty E. I. Trusty Sana. I. Trusty Inaco. I. Jim Gaz is acting as trustee. I motion.

Let's move on to old business. No old business. Public comments. Last chance. We've lost most of the public. Okay, the mic is all yours if you'd like it. Um, we'll go to U trustee reports. Trusty, no report. Thank you. Trusty Donnersburgger, no report.

Trusty Ek like to remind uh folks we're going to start the budget process uh Monday uh April 29th at 4:15. The public is available for that. Uh Gavin, I'm going to stop by next week and uh hopefully we can uh work on a agenda for for budget because we've got a lot of things to cover. Yes, sir. And I believe you meant September. I did I say September 29th? You said April. Oh, well, we can we can meet again on April. Oh, September 29th for the Thank you for the clarification. For the April budget. Um Trustee Salana, no report. Trustee Ayanako, no report. Village treasurer, anything to add? No, sir. Village attorney,

nothing to report. Thanks for your help today. My pleasure. Village administrator,

just a few things real quick. Um, property tax delay. Um, the status of the second installment of the 2024 Cook County property tax bills. As of now, those bills are significantly delayed uh due to ongoing issues with technology at the county and the three independently elected officials in charge of those uh calculating taxes, sending out tax bills um and assessing uh property values. At a meeting earlier this week, the county president uh presented and said she was hopeful the bills will be sent out by October 1st and be due November 1st. She seemed hesitant about that.

So what what does that mean? What does that mean for us, Kevin? Um what it means for us is that well for property tax uh payers it they're in limbo right now. They don't know how much the How much are we talking about for the second installment? 500,000. Well, whatever is remaining there for our

I would say at least six, seven00 million.

Yeah. Yeah. Between 500 and a million. Um it's you know they what the bills will be for the taxpayers is you know depends on all of the um exemptions and all of the um appeals that go through because all of that shows up in the second installment. Uh so there's uncertainty for taxpayers, there's uncertainty for us because uh we won't receive our our tax payments on time. We do have enough money to uh bridge the gap so to speak to we will not need a bond and the county is has created a program of zero interest um loan program for bridge. But to qualify for that first off you have to have a B rating or lower. Uh second off you have to have uh less than four months of cash on hand. And we've got more so and we have a higher rating. Thankfully, so we are not eligible for that program, but I don't anticipate needing uh anything like that.

Thank you, Gavin. Department Joe public works

um just to go a little further with the uh tree grant update. Um I recently met with Aiden through the Morton Arboritum. do a quarterly uh report uh with them to let them know what the progress is on our uh uh tree planting program. Um so I updated them that we had our 25 spots picked out for the fall planting. Um we have contacted several nurseries and it looks like we're going to go with Spring Grove Nursery. Um I sent them a list of the 25 trees that we would like to plant this fall and most of them are available. uh some of them might be pushed to the spring planting. So, they gave us some uh alternate trees to put in. I'm in discussions with them at the moment to see if uh what we can get, but we will be planting 25 trees this fall. Uh they're getting me the pricing on the trees, uh help with installation and stuff like that. This is going to kind of give me a real good gauge as to where we're going to be because it's the matching grant. We spent 25,000, they give us 25. So, we have to spend $50,000 basically to get that 25 back. And this fall planting will give me a real good idea what what we're going to spend and make up for on the spring planting. Uh so, uh we got a species list uh going with the nursery and the plan is to plant in late October uh the the 25 trees. Um another update is the pump house roof. Uh they are coming out to do the pump house roof this Monday. Uh it should only take a day or two, I would imagine. It's a smaller building. Uh so they're they're going to meet me out there Monday. Uh we met with Strand Engineering uh this week. Was it this week or last week? Last week. And uh they're finishing up the design phase on the chlorine room for the pump house as well. Um that should be done uh will be

done before the end of the budget year. Um the mechanics lift we put in has been getting some use uh already. Uh we ordered a drum of oil to save uh on costs instead of buying uh per vehicle amounts of oil. So that'll save us money in the long run. But uh Bobb's been working with the PD to schedule all the uh the police vehicles to uh do oil changes and preventative maintenance. He already has done a couple of them on the undercover cars. He did a a squad today. Um, but we're uh in full uh mechanic mode, if you will. Uh getting uh getting everything done on that. Um Brian met with the uh committee for the garden plots this week and uh my understanding is they want to add eight garden plots this uh uh next year for uh uh planting. So, uh, I'm sure there'll be more meetings on that as we go along, but we'll do whatever we need to as for public works to get that, uh, moving forward. Uh, internally, we've been doing some storm repairs, uh, primarily in the Ashbrook subdivision. I don't know what Charlie's doing over there, but we have to fix all the storms. I'm just kidding, Charlie. So, we've been doing some repairs on there. Um, and then lastly, uh, uh, some of the staff members next week will be doing a tour with MWRD, uh, at their plant in Cal SAG, I think it is. I don't know. It's on the list, but uh, several of us will be going to that uh, tour. So, that's my report.

Thank you, Jill. Chief Chief Walsh,

thank you. Uh, I know I spoke about the 12-h hour shifts before, but the last period we had zero for overtime. Normally, it's about 30,000 uh a period. We're still going to have to pay for mainly holidays, court, and uh task force call outs. Uh, seldom will it be to replace officers on the street. So, thank you for your support. We're getting to where we want to be. And uh it's it's a big deal. It's uh Commander Gardner said it's never been like this in 20 years. So, it's definitely going in the right direction. Uh, I met with police and fire commission and they uh they interviewed a lateral officer. So, we have two on a lateral list. Also, they gave me permission to contract with Sternard and Associates only if needed. So, in case we had to throw another police test, that way we don't have to convene and have another meeting or emergency meeting to do so. But right now, we're where we need to be. But, it's just for the future if we do need to to do a test. Uh Flock cameras is going to meet with Commander Gardner tomorrow at 7 a.m. They're going to go to Sack Geio Park and they're going to go to Blackhawk Park to look for site locations where they're going to put the polls in because we've been going back and forth with them a little bit on that. Also, I believe that Wilshshire Green is meeting possibly tonight to talk about the permissions and I'll find out. I don't know if it was tonight or tomorrow night, but to talk about giving permission so we can put the still camera in their on their pole for uh Blackhawk Park 7-Eleven. Hopefully, we'll have an answer for us tomorrow for permissions to uh use the light pole there to put our our uh camera there at the 7-Eleven in that in that area so that we can monitor all the activity that goes around in that that particular area. AIS, our uh our tech IT people are going to repurpose four tablets that we had

for QuickTit for uh our that was our tickets. We don't use them anymore. They're going to repurpose them so that we can get flock cameras in each squad car so we can see it as live as well. It's it's the otherwise we'd have to get phones for every officer. This these we have these. They're going to repurpose them and it'll work out better. They're bigger tablets so they can see what's going on. Um, suspicious autos. I've been getting a lot of uh emails about suspicious autos. Uh, I I just want to um let everybody know and if you talk to people, please have them call 911. I get the I I might not get the email right away, there's suspic a suspicious auto in a certain area that shouldn't be there and by the time I get it and I call the commander, the commander calls who's ever working, the car is going to be gone. So, please call 911 and follow up with an email, but call 911 first. That's all I have.

If you prefer a 911 than the non-emergency, you want them to Well, it's suspicious auto. It's not supposed to be there. I would call 911. It's not emergency. They'll they'll ask. Just Just What's the current headcount of our full-timers besides yourself? We have 11, not counting Commander Gardner and myself. So, 13. We have one that's kind of on extended medical that we can't replace just yet. Um, no need for close session. I guess we're looking for a motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjurnn. I second. Non debatable. Danielle on the second meeting adjourned.