Park Board Minutes 2006 07-27-06 UNITED CITY OF YORKVILLE
YORKVILLE PARKS.&RECREATION DEPARTMENT BOARD MEETING
Parks &Recreation Administrative Office Riverfront Building
Thursday,July 27,2006
MINUTES
CALL TO ORDER:
Meeting was called to order by Ken Koch at 7:05 p.m.
ROLL CALL:
Gary Golinski
GUESTSWITY OFFICIALS/STAFF:
Scott Sleezer, Superintendent of Parks
Sue Swithin, Superintendent of Recreation
Kelly Sedgwick, introduced as a new Park Board Member effective on August 8th
Richard Haness, Ocean Atlantic
Trevor Ryan, Marquette Land
Greg Stevens, Lannert Group
John Borneman, Kendall County Records
Dan Kramer,Westbury Development
Dan Cunningham,Kemper Sports Management
PUBLIC COMMENT:
None
PRESENTATION:
Westhaven Development(formerly Del Web)
Trevor Ryan, representing Marquette Land, reminded the board that the south portion was
previously designated for active adults serving two-thirds of the southern parcel. It was
approved as a PUD. Since that fine,the city has been working with some commercial users and
approached Westhaven to amend the size of the commercial property on the parcel. It was
previously a 30 acre area, but now it is over 100 acres along Route 47. The active adult
component then was expanded over the entire south parcel. The single family portion was taken
out. These changes have gone through the process and there is one more City Council meeting
to build on the amendments. As a result of the larger active adult area, a previously planned 15
acre combined school and park area went away.
Trevor Ryan presented a conceptual land plan for the northern portion that was included in the
annexation agreement and the previous PUD with the understanding that the development would
come back with a more refined plan and move forward. The piece talked of represents 161
acres. It is separated by a narrow strip of land and the Com Ed easement. East of the Baily
Meadows subdivision is an approved 5 acre park site. Two weeks ago a plan was shown to Dr.
Engler and Dave Mogle that showed a 15 acre piece adjacent to this parcel. Dr. Engler
— recommended that the site be flipped vertically because his board has had trouble with approving
school sites adjacent to Com Ed easements. This same size piece of land will still allow the
connection with existing park sites with the flexibility of designating what would be for the
school and parks. Mr. Ryan invited comments on the location, size, or things to consider as the
group moves forward.
Park Board President, Chris Rollins, arrived at this point in the meeting.
Scott Sleezer identified that there is an east to west road that will divide the north and south
grade school portion. He will talk to Travis Miller and email Dr. Engler regarding suggestions
on what should be done with this land in relation to the road.
The land cash would be for about 11 acres. The land amount requested for school and park sites
combined should be 15 acres and 5 —6 acres of this is wanted for a park site. Scott Sleezer stated
that Dr Engler will want all 15 acres for the school site. Dr. Engler, Travis Miller, Scott Sleezer,
and Dave Mogle will have to meet about a configuration that would work for everyone.
The density of the area will be 1.9 units per acre and 370 homes. With the road dividing the
school site, one section would be about 5 acres and the other would be about 10 acres. One
possibility mentioned was that the school site could be moved north to increase the school size.
The Council had said that the land cash dollars would go to a senior citizen program. The dollars
( would be earmarked for a senior citizen fund,not necessarily in that development. Perhaps a
senior center would be built or something else.
The trail corner access along the side of the development along Grove Road and Galena Road
would be a sidewalk. This is unchanged. The Rob Roy Creek will be handled by the
commercial footage. The commercial area will be completed by different developers. Ken Koch
expressed concern with the grade school site placed so close to the boundary line of Baseline
Road and not placed in a central location. It would not serve students to the north of it. Chris
Rollins and Sue Swithin said that is common in other districts. The original proposal of a 5-7
acre park site is needed adjacent to the given site for Bailey Meadows.
Westbury Village
Dan Kramer, from Lannert Group, gave some history of the land. East Village was a farm that
was annexed to the city years ago. Ocean Atlantic then bought this property. lielow Corneils
Road was annexed to the city originally for manufacturing for an industrial park and then it was
rezoned for residential. Ocean Atlantic bought this too, entitled through the city. Greg Stevens'
firm has been working on that. Three additional villages under contract with a golf course
development need to be annexed to the city and zoned as a planned unit development and need
concept plan approval. Through the Plan Commission on July 26`h, all three of these re nests
were obtained on an advisory basis. They will be going to the City Council on August 8` for a
public hearing on those three issues and want to get the approvals in place by the August 22"d
City Council meeting. There is fast tracking for the annexing and rezoning,but hard-line
planning will take some time.
Greg Stevens talked about the Westbury concept plan that needs approval. It includes a 160 acre
golf course. They met last week with Dave Mogle, Ken Koch, and representatives from Ocean
Atlantic to go over programming the parks along with the clubhouses of Westbury. East Village
has close to a 6 acre park. South Village has a 4 acre park located in the eastern section. The
golf course goes through the center of the site, with various neighbor clubhouses scattered
around and a central large community clubhouse. Park E and Park F have been approved for
East Village. El is now a neighborhood clubhouse. Clubhouses will be private with differing
amenities such as different types of pools or tot lots. Quarter mile radii were looked at with all
the clubhouses. They want to work with the park department to program the parks. The parks
will be designed to be cohesive to the homes and will have natural-looking materials, eco-
friendly with subtle colors and be rustic looking. A population count was done to establish the
ages of the kids and adults for each pod of the quarter mile radii to help program the clubhouses
and parks. The two bodies of water in the central area of the site could be used for recreation
such as fishing or small boating or wading.
The proposed land cash does not include the South and East villages, but the three new
expansion villages of Middle,North, and West Villages. Seven parks,ranging in size from 2—7
acres were included along with the Corn Ed easement of 129 acres that bisects east to west, and
the golf course of 160 acres, and the lakes/natural areas include the two bodies of water in the
middle section adding 44 acres. The GreenwayBike Trail of 2.9 acres would be outside of any
right of way or taking the place of any sidewalk.
The total land cash required by Yorkville is 67.6 acres according to the above calculations. The
development is asking for 100% credit of the parks for land,the Corn Ed easement may be
developed for recreation so asking for 10% credit,the golf course 15% credit because of the
Golf Academy being used by the schools or park and recreation department,the bodies of water
considered as part of parks asking 20% credit, and asking 100% credit for the 2.9 acres of trails
that they will develop.
ComEd will not act on anything until they see the final engineering plan proposed for the
development of the ComEd easement. An example plan of how to use the southern portion of
the easement included a tot lot, shelter, some baseball fields, soccer fields, and a naturalized area
that right now is agricultural field. It is 750 feet wide. By RonWestphal Chevrolet and Ogden
Falls in Oswego there is a trail easement. The developer may have to front money to Com Ed for
this to work.
Dan Kramer stated that in Oswego in the Southbury Development there is a main clubhouse built
by this company that includes pool, barbecue areas, computer rooms, and tot lots. It is off Wolf
Crossing and on the south side of the road.
Dan Cunningham from Kemper Sports Management stated the golf course will be open to the
public temporarily until the development matures. This could be in 5-10 years. Then the course
will gradually become a membership club in which the annual membership is only open to
Westbury residents. Yorkville golf teams could be offered to use the golf course. The Park
Board is concerned with the land cash used toward private facilities instead of public facilities.
The Yorkville high school golf team has a home course to use already. Richard Hanness from
Ocean Atlantic said that during the winter when there is no golfing, the course could be used for
sledding and cross-county skiing while protecting the greens. He said the course is a visual
amenity as well.
Chris Rollins wants to know who will control the park space. The biggest demand for park and
open spaces is for active recreation,not the visual amenity. The ComEd easement is a risk since
the final plan is needed and at that point ComEd could say no. In the past, ComEd has denied
the Parks and Recreation access to their land because of immediate maintenance needed and
security reasons with the towers. As partners with the developers,research would be needed to
go to ComEd together. It is reminded that ComEd owns the property.
It was brought up that the tot lots are difficult to manage. Richard Hannes said that those parks
would be built by the development,not the city. The city parks would be near by. The Board'
would rather have fewer, but larger parks,not 2 acre parks. The children's ages change and the
flexibility of the park is less flexible with small acreage. Yorkville's park plans commonly have
a playgroup and a passive area. Over time when the kids mature, active recreational space can
be developed near the playground. Chris urged the developers to talk with Laura Haake in
regards to park planning;because she strives to theme parks in order to make them uniquely
special even though the Westbury community does want the park9to have a consistent look. The
Board does not want cookie cutter parks and likes varying vegetation or special features. When
working on the park pavilions and structures,the staff and Scott Sleezer should be asked about
the maintenance of those structure designs. Scott wants some dollar figures for the parks and
reminded them that the city wants to build according to the city's park specifications. The
developers want to mesh the land contribution and then cover the additional costs and then they
can build them.
In the past for this area, drainage was'a concern. The regional retention area will be used and the ,
bottom part of East Village will hook into it. The rest will be self-contained. The Board was
hoping for water recreation with public access and manageable by Yorkville. Westbury has the
goal to stabilize the retention areas and provide paddle boats,kayaking or small motor boats.
The board would like parking and public access to these, but doesn't usually credit this type of
area. It is known that the creek trail quarter being high and dry is a definite requirement.
Dan Kramer stated that tiling around the whole development would 90% of the time provide
resources for irrigating during droughts and relief wells could be used to avoid using retention
areas. All of Bristol Township has a high water table close to the surface area. The city did
tests on the Nelson landfill. USGS came in with a grant and the water tested clean enough for
municipal wells so fine for irrigation of the golf course.
The Multi-Use Trail plan will have to be worked on with the commercial developers of the
northeast corner of Westbury. The Multi-Use Trail and the Regional Trail will have the same
design specs such as 10 feet wide.
Scott Sleezer brought up about the park in the more advanced area of Westbury South (G park
site). The 4 acre site of less than 100 feet wide is hard to program. About three-fourths of it is
— wooded area that includes non-premium trees like green ash and mulberry. It is flat so the
possibility of Frisbee golf or community gardens could be there.
The following approvals were given with Debbie Horaz on speakerphone. She was unable to
attend the meeting, because of being sick.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
The minutes from the July 13, 2006 Park and Recreation Board Meeting were approved on
motion by Ken Koch and seconded by Gary Golinski. The motion was unanimously approved.
BILLS REVIEW:
Cash Analysis &Bills List
Gary Golinski motioned to approve the cash analysis and bills list. The motion was seconded by
Ken Koch. Roll call vote: Chris Rollins—Yes, Ken Koch—Yes, Gary Golinski—Yes, and
Debbie Horaz—Yes. The motion was unanimously approved.
OLD BUSINESS:
Riverfront Park West Building Rehabilitation
There are two bids for the completion of the men's restrooms and the area that will have a wash
sink and countertop: Martin Plumbing- $5,885.00 and Normant Jay Keller Plumbing Co,Inc. -
$7,950.00. Ken Koch motioned to accept the lower bid of Martin Plumbing at the cost of
$5,885.00. Gary Golinski seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Chris Rollins—Yes,Ken Koch—
Yes, Gary Golinski- Yes, and Debbie Horaz—Yes. The motion was unanimously approved.
The estimates for the HVAC System to be installed in the Recreation Building, Riverfront Park
are from Northway Heating, Cooling, & Sheet Metal, Inc. at$6,950 and Bob Jackson& Sons
Heating& Cooling for$7,762.00. Gary Golinski motioned to recommend accepting Northway
Heating, Cooling, & Sheet Metal, Inc. at a cost of$6,950.00. Ken Koch seconded the motion.
Roll call vote: Chris Rollins—Yes, Ken Koch—Yes, Gary Golinski- Yes, and Debbie Horaz—
Yes. The motion was unanimously approved.
The following are estimates for the Drywall,Paint and Finishing work for the Recreation
Building, Riverfront Park: Russ Wilkinson bids $6,600.00 and William
A. Duguid bids $8,650.00. Ken Koch motioned to accept Russ Wilkinson at a cost of$6,600.00.
Gary Golinski seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Chris Rollins—Yes,Ken Koch—Yes, Gary
Golinski- Yes, and Debbie Horaz—Yes. The motion was unanimously approved.
Verne Henne is acting as the construction manager for remodeling of the Recreation Building at
the Riverfront. It is not required to have a second estimate for the electrical work for HVAC that
was recommended at the first stage of the project. Gary Golinski motioned to approve the
estimate from Henne Construction& Electric for a total of$7,200.00. Ken Koch seconded the
motion. Roll call vote: Chris Rollins—Yes, Ken Koch—Yes, Gary Golinski- Yes, and Debbie
Horaz—Yes. The motion was unanimously approved.
Post Office Rehabilitation
The estimate,number crunching portion of the interior is underway. Prices can be given to Art.
In 30 days, there will be a new update. Keys are available for the Park Board members to take a
look in the building.
NEW BUSINESS:
Department Visa Credit Caryl
The City Finance Department feels a specific card for the Parks and Recreation Department Staff
would help with the tracking process. The Board is asked to recommend the following
procedures for a Visa account: 1) Yorkville's Earthmover's Credit Union used, 2) Three Visa
cards locked up in the recreation safe, 3) $10,000 maximum limit, 4) Signature of eligible
employees on file, 5) $25 is need to open an account and will remain in account.
Gary Golinski verified the $10,000 limit would be for each month. Sue Swithin said the city
policy would be followed for purchases over$150. Dave Mogle would have to approve those
purchases.
Ken Koch motioned to approve the Visa Credit Card for the Parks and Recreation Department.
Gary Golinski seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Chris Rollins—Yes, Ken Koch- Yes, Gary
Golinski—Yes, and Debbie Horaz—Yes. The motion was unanimously approved.
REPORTS
The fall catalog is done. Sue Swithin reminded the Board that Heather Fiala and Tammy Smock
�. need to be recognized for their service. The consensus of the Board is that plaques should be
ordered and presented at the earliest date and coordinated with the Mayor. Chris Rollins
suggested that the plaques could be given to the women during Hometown Days. Sue Swithin
will order the plaques for both members. A schedule was passed around so the Board members
could sign up for working during the Hometown Days Festival.
ADDITIONAL BUSINESS
Response Letter on Temporary Boat Ramp Request
Gary Clark, the Director of Office of Water Resources, wrote a letter to David Mogle in response
to the request of state assistance to construct a temporary boat ramp upstream of the Yorkville
Dam. This would be near the permanent boat ramp proposed by the city and the plans also
included a temporary road and a trailer turn area. The costs for these requests were estimated at
$50,000. Mr. Clark wrote that due to limited funding for the dam modification project,
contractors should concentrate on the dam safety improvements only. Other reasons against this
proposal were the small time the facility would be used and the many permits required. The
request was turned down for the temporary boat ramp.
There is a meeting at City Hall for Staff on July 28th about Phrase 1 and 2 of the dam project.
Scott Sleezer, Dave Mogle, and Loren Wobig met two weeks ago. At that time, Scott Sleezer
encouraged the design of the boating launch to move forward so it might be put in Phase 2.
Westbury:
Scott Sleezer wanted to point out that within the southern park of Westbury,the
recommendations were not taken. A tree study was asked for and then had to be hunted down.
The location of the mentioned park was changed and an additional park on the other side was
wanted and that was not granted. The fast-tracking process is a concern, because the south park
plan is done. The developers are asking for$3.6 million, but have not fulfilled the given
promises so far with parks. With given park sizes and designs, the issue of the lack of soccer
space cannot be programmed. The developers recommended land cash, but for private amenities
such as small parks next to their clubhouses and golf course that will become private for
Westbury residents only.
Gary Golinski said that in his email he had mentioned a year long process that would update the
policies and procedures. This can be discussed more when Dave Mogle is present.
The Board is concerned that this community will be representing a large area. Scott Sleezer
figured with over 3,000 homes in Westbury times 3.75 equals about 12,000 people. There are
12,000 people in Yorkville currently. That would mean 10 ball fields are needed in that
development. The community bodies of water will not be deep lakes because the water table is
really high. You cannot dig deep because it keeps infiltrating the lake. The water gets warm
being shallow and effects the vegetation and fish. Instead of asking for land/cash, sometimes the
Parks and Recreation just agrees to maintain the area. Access would be needed around the entire
perimeter for maintenance and ideally for a trail. Scott Sleezer noted that the fire department
should be notified about gaining access to the water areas during emergencies and what the
department would need for that. This could be an issue of paddleboats were planned.
In regards to the possibility of the ComEd easement used for recreation, Chris Rollins likes the
idea of trying this so the city has leverage for future projects. However, credit to Westbury
should not be given for an easement not owned by them. Parks and Recreation could ask
ComEd on its own to have more flexible programming. Chris Rollins is not keen on 2 acre parks
for credit either.
The Board was reminded there was some question whether Grand Reserve did not construct the
homes they had promised and are concerned this could happen again. Travis Miller is working
on a standard list of materials that developers must use to build homes.
Del Web dropped from the original Westhaven development project. Del Web was going to
work together with the developers of Westbury. The City Council was counting on Del Web
because of their excellent track record and the company's product is well-known.
Scott Sleezer and Chris Rollins want Westbury Village to come back in a month for a progress
report. Scott Sleezer suggested that the Staff and the Board could come before future meetings
start and share given knowledge before a development presents and strategize certain issues
together.
Chris Rollins was the official spokesman of the DNR today. He announced that there is an
emergency ban on bringing in firewood to the state parks, conservation and preserve areas. This
is because of the emerald ash borer. The state parks will allow concessionaires to sell inspected
wood within the parks.
He attended a summit that Dick Durban held in which many organizations attended from the
state about this issue. A woman from Michigan working in a little municipality had the first case
of infection from an emerald ash borer. The infection spread so quickly that it eliminated the
budget. They were so busy cutting down infected trees that the budget was exhausted within a
month. Eventually the residents there had to cut down their own trees. Typically,the emerald
ash borer can travel about a half a mile a year to other trees. The state of Michigan has lost
millions of trees and has to use more water and has less shade.
The USDA is struggling with how they control firewood and knowing the source of the wood.
The Board brought up untreated mulch as a concern.
St. Charles is spraying to control problem, but Chris Rollins said this is 60% effective and very
expensive. The overspray gets in plants,the sewer system, and gets in service water. When
trees are infected,the larva of the emerald ash borer cannot be killed.
To detect the problem among ash trees in state parks, 4-6 inch trunk ash trees are girdled. (This
kills the tree.) The sap from damaged ash trees attract the emerald ash borer so this tests if they
are in an area. U of I is developing a cardboard trap colored purple with a scent of parts of the
ash tree. These attract the emerald ash borer and can be an indicator instead of sacrificing trees.
Yorkville has the ordinance that you cannot have more than 20% of one type of tree'.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting was adjourned at 9:43 p.m. following motion by Gary Golinski and seconded by
Ken Koch. The motion was unanimously approved.
Minute Taker—Eileen Lesak
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