Green Committee Minutes 2007 11-26-07 APPROVED
United City of Yorkville Environmental Ad-Hoe Committee Meeting
Third Meeting—November 26, 2007
The meeting was called to order at 7:02 pm..
Present:
Valerie Burd, Mayor
Jill Fleishman, Chair
Anne Engelhardt, Member
Marta Keane, Secretary
Travis Miller, Community Development Director
Alan Green, Member
Debbie Horaz, Member
Mariann Manthei, Member
Ralph Pfister, Member
Chuck Roberts, Member
Eric Fink, visitor
Matt Schury, The Record
Absent
Tony Graff, Member
Approval of Minutes—correct two members names spelling.
Alan Green motioned to approve the minutes with two spelling corrections, seconded by
Anne Engelhardt.. Passed unanimously
Travis Miller was introduced to provide a presentation on the City of Yorkville's existing
development ordinances. He also suggested learning materials we could utilize. These
and other resources might be useful guides for the Committee as we create beneficial
recommendations to the City,
Mr. Miller showed the committee a copy of the Mayors Caucus of the Chicagoland
Region that is also available online. A PDF file will be e-mailed to everyone and six
hardeopies will be placed in the reference area, The Mayors Caucus of the Chicagoland
Region is a workbook of environmental actions in broad terms to help plant the seeds of
environmental ideas. Mayor Burd stated that this workbook has been adopted by the City
of Yorkville. The Mayor requested that when this committee has a recommendation, that
the committee should come to a City Council meeting and make a presentation to the
City Council, requesting that the City adopt. Mayor Burd stated that she doesn't want to
be a member of the committee as much as she wants the committee to independently
make recommendations to the City Council.. She suggested that we consider the sod
issue as a first item. Ms. Fleishman explained that this has not been an issue discussed by
the committee so far. Currently, the city code requires sod, but it requires hundreds of
gallons of water. Much of the water ends up on the street, drains to streams or the river
and is lost.
Ms. Horaz noted that Yorkville does not currently offer a separate meter for outside
watering, Some municipalities that do, offer the water at a lower cost since it recognizes
the lack of sewer services required. This topic may be discussed at a future meeting.
Mr. Miller showed the committee a map, depicting developments that have received
some approvals, surrounding municipalities, roads, and waterways. He explained that
many resources that the staff can provide to the committee. The Comprehensive Plan was
last updated in 2005. It is now being considered for an update in 2008. Ms. Engelhardt
requested a map that shows the current parks and open spaces. The map is in the process
of being updated. The GIS group is meeting in December to show all natural resources,
such as watershed areas, elevations, soils, floodplains or floodways, The City of
Yorkville hired an engineering firm,using development contributions, to perform a study
of the 100-year flood areas that have been adopted by the City but not by FEMA.
The Planning Commission meets the third Thursday of the month, 5:30pm— 7:30pm.
There will be a chapter on natural resources, infrastructure such as roads, storm sewer,
etc. The December 20°i meeting will cover natural resources.
Bill Detmer will be our city staff liaison. Bill has been compiling the resource area with
City documents that may be of interest.
Mr. Miller passed each member a copy of the Water Conservation Regulations, ordinance
# 2004-20. This includes sod watering requirements and fines. Ms. Engelhardt asked if
any sod farms in the area would be upset if we removed the requirement for sod, Ms.
Fleishman asked if the City's disallowing of sod would effect existing developments still
being built. Mr. Miller responded that this may be subject to a case by case basis.
Homeowners Association may still be able to require sod. It was noted that there is far
more area to be developed that this will effect and impact water use far into the future.
Ms. Horaz stated that the meshed roll of seed often does better than sod when it comes to
holding existing soil in place and surviving.
Ms. Manthei suggested that a speaker be available to associations to convince them not to
put in sod. Ms. Engelhardt agreed and wondered if there was funding for this educational
project.
Mr. Miller spoke of landscape design ordinance that was stated a year ago as a first step
toward a tree canopy ordinance. This could impact a development at the intersection of
Rt. 34 and Rt. 47 where a mall was torn down several years ago. There is opportunity to
incorporate alternatives to impervious surfaces and a green canopy. This development
could come before the City Council as early as .January, 2008. It was suggested that they
use permeable pavers, but they are very expensive- if there is support from the
committee it might be done. It was stated that the Conservation Foundation suggested
there is funding for green design elements. There needs to be people from this committee
at the City Council tomorrow night supporting green planning for this development.
Ms. Keane made a motion that the Enviommental Committee support and encourage the
concept of using green design elements in the countryside center, seconded by Ralph.
Tabled until Mr. Miller returns with the design.
While waiting for Mr. Miller to return, the Committee moved on to the next agenda item.
NAME OF COMMITTTEE: Many suggestions were made, including YCE—Yorkville
Committee of the Environment, YES —Yorkville Environmental Society, ENVY—
Environmental N Volunteers of Yorkville, ENVOY—Environmentally Networked
Volunteers of Yorkville,YEARN for a cleaner environment—Yorkville
Environmentalists And R.ecyclers Network, AWARE All Citizens working for
Awareness & Responsible Care for our Environment and Yorkville Green Committee
(YGC). The majority voted for Yorkville Green Committee
Mr. Miller returned and shared a copy of the Countryside Center plan that will be
presented at tomorrow night's City Council meeting. All those present discussed green
elements that might be included in the design—the discussion included Bioswales for
stormwater management, cisterns, deep rooted prairie plants, gray water use, gutter
systems that retain water for reuse, wind breaks, bike racks, allow room for recycling
containers, light pollution restricted, insulation. Then it was suggested that they build to
LEED Gold Standard. This allows the builder to choose what environmental elements
make financial and design sense while assuring the committee and the City that the
development meets high environmental design standards.
Ms. Keane amended the motion to be presented at the City Council meeting to state, The
Yorkville Green Committee applauds the efforts of the developer to incorporate green
design elements into the new Countryside Center. We respectfully ask that the developer
design this project to reach the Gold LEED standard to be an outstanding example to all
future developments and to showcase the benefits of sustainable development design. The
Yorkville Green Committee believes that utilizing LEED standards will attract the caliber
of businesses desired by the citizens of Yorkville and encourage both environmental
sustainability and optimal profitability. The Committee approved this statement
unanimously. Anne Engelhardt will read the statement at tomorrow night's meeting.
MISSION STATEMENT: Several suggestions were read and verbally discussed. A
preliminary mission statement was agreed upon unanimously:
To advise the City Council of the United City of Yorkville, Illinois on ways to preserve
and enhance the community environment and ways to equip and encourage citizens and
businesses to participate in sustainable ecological practices.
NEXT MEETING Monday, January 28, 2008
Items to be Discussed:
Canopy Ordinances
Basins
Meeting Adjourned 9:OOpm