City Council Minutes 2006 10-26-06 Special Meeting MINUTES OF SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
OF THE UNITED CITY OF YORKVILLE, KENDALL COUNTY, ILLINOIS,
HELD IN THE GYM OF THE YORKVILLE MIDDLE SCHOOL,
702 GAME FARM ROAD ON
THURSDAY. OCTOBER 26.2006
Alderwoman Rose Spears called the meeting to order at 7:00
p g pm. She announced that
Mayor Art Prochaska would not be present due to a death in the family. It was noted that
there was not a quorum; however, the meeting would be continued. She then led the
Council in the Pledge of Allegiance.
ROLL CALL
The minute taker called the roll:
Ward I James Absent
Leslie Absent
Ward H Burd Present
Wolfer Absent
Ward III Munns Absent
Bock Present
Ward IV Besco Absent
Spears Present
Also present: Acting City Administrator Crois, Assistant City Administrator Olson, City
Attorney Wyeth, Police Chief Martin.
ESTABLISHMENT OF A OUORUM
No quorum was established.
INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS
See also guest lists attached.
DISCUSSION OF PARKING ORDINANCE
The purpose of this meeting was to discuss the parking ordinance and handouts were
provided showing the results of the parking survey.
Alderwoman Spears opened the floor for discussion.
Joe Barrv. 502 Terri Lane
Mr. Barry asked if this matter would be placed on a ballot for a vote as stated at the last
meeting. He said the yellow postcard gave 2 choices for yes and 1 choice for no. Many
of the families receiving the postcards have multiple vehicles, so the survey did not
reflect true results and was a waste of money.
Ms. Spears said putting it on a ballot is still an option. Another option is an advisory
committee identifying problem streets with City staff identifying the width of various
streets to determine if there are issues.
Mr. Barry replied that those factors should have been addressed before the survey. He
asked who the original sponsors of the ordinance were. Ms. Spears said it originated at
the Public Safety Committee and addressed the Fox Hill area. Former Alderwoman
Wanda Ohare brought this forward in response to complaints in her ward. It was the
Council's decision to survey the residents, bearing in mind there are multiple persons per
house. Mr. Barry said based on that fact, the survey was actually worthless.
Alderwoman Burd agreed with Mr. Barry that the Council had stated that this matter
would be put on a ballot. Direction was given by the Mayor for a committee to determine
the wording to be used. Instead, the committee recommended other action. She will
recommend to the other Aldermen, that this matter be put on the April ballot.
Mr. Barry said he thought the "showing" would be better on the ballot.
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The Minutes of the Special Meeting of the Citv Council — October 26, 2006 — page 2
Alderman Bock gave his recollection of the process that occurred. He said that after the
previous town meeting, the matter returned to the Public Safety committee where it was
stated that Oswego had done such a survey. It was also stated that only about 14% of
residents would turn out for a vote while a survey would produce a better response.
(Yorkville's response was 55 %). He said several surveys, referendums etc., could be
conducted with different results every time. At the end of that Public Safety meeting, it
was agreed that the survey was the better solution.
Regarding the survey, Alderwoman Burd said one was mailed to each household and that
it included non - registered voters. She agreed that the Council had decided to put the
matter to a vote, based on the minutes of that town meeting.
Chief Martin said that of approximately 4,700 households in town, 2,700 responses were
received along with citizens' written perspectives of the ban.
Loree King - Spring St.
Resident Loree King asked what the purpose of this meeting was and especially in view
of the fact that so many Aldermen were missing. Ms. Spears said that it was to provide a
copy of the survey results to citizens. Ms. King said she had a concern over the wording
on the survey and that "a ban is a ban!" She added that the previous minutes did promise
a vote.
Carol Foster —Fox Hill, 1312 Chestnut Circle
She said that it was unfair to continue saying that former Alderwoman Wanda Ohare
requested the ban. Ms. Foster said Fox Hill residents only initially wished to prohibit
commercial vehicles from parking on the street overnight. She thought the response to
the survey was excellent.
Barbara Collett (SD?)-John St. resident
She stated that John St. is the widest street in Fox Hill and she is unable to park in front
of her house -she must park across the street and that there is no parking in front of the
park. She also said she did not receive the survey and when she called City Hall, she was
told she would be mailed a ballot. This will be addressed according to Ms. Spears. Ms.
Collett asked what the specific problem was with John St., with only 10 houses, that
prohibits parking there. This resulted from complaints received and addressed,
according to Chief Martin. She felt the residents were being chastised based on those
complaints.
Shellev Butler -601 Teri Lane
Ms. Butler said the surveys were only sent to residents who receive water bills and
therefore many residents did not receive the survey.
Traci Pleckham -221 Fairhaven
She felt the survey yielded a good response. She added that she feels most residents do
not favor a full parking ban on all streets and that possibly some of the responses came
from residents who live on narrow streets. The ban might not be appropriate in some
areas she said.
Rover Murphv -803 Teri Lane
Mr. Murphy said that the 50% response rate sounds good until one knows that some
residents did not receive the survey. In his household, all five residents would vote no to
the ban. Because of that, he said this matter should be put to a vote. He wondered how
many residents knew that there was some type of ordinance on some streets already. He
also said that it is difficult to find ordinances on the City website. At the previous
parking ban meeting, he said most residents there were opposed to the ban. He said that
numbers can be interpreted many ways and that he wants the matter to be put to a vote to
give everyone over 18 a chance to voice their opinion. He added that the parking ban did
not work in Oswego. In the survey his own family conducted, some other families were
split on their opinions. Therefore, the first family member to receive the survey could
have completed it and did not reflect the view of each person residing there. At the
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The Minutes of the Special Meeting of the Citv Council — October 26, 2006 — page 3
conclusion of the meeting, Mr. Murphy stated that the yellow postcards already said "no"
to the ban.
Larry King- Spring St.
Mr. King said that survey numbers can be interpreted many ways and that the newspaper
article gave the wrong impression to readers. He asked what is the root cause for the
parking ban. Ms. Spears responded that some areas are public safety issues and the
Police received complaints about specific areas. Mr. King did not feel it was fair to make
changes for a few exceptions because those are enforcement issues. Chief Martin said
the Police tried to respond to the complaints and to please as many as possible. He
invited Mr. King to report any complaints since the police cannot be everywhere. Mr.
King said he has complained about construction violations on Spring St. They were
responded to and signs were put in place. He also felt that Police must determine if there
is a complaint or if an issue is an actual problem. Since the commercial vehicle problem
was addressed, Mr. King asked what the issue is now. He felt there are streets that need
to be reviewed on a per- case - basis. He also suggested that some of the new, curved
streets are more dangerous. The administrative costs of enforcing such a ban are
enormous, he said.
Ashlev Barry -502 Teri Lane
Ms. Barry said there are currently 6 cars in her household and she did not know where
they would park if the ban were enforced. Chief Martin responded that if there were a
hardship, they would be allowed to park on the street and the issue would be revisited in
six months. Guests could also be given permission to park there. She also said she lives
on a cul -de -sac with no through traffic. If cul -de -sacs were excluded from the ban, then
many residents might park on those streets. Ms. Spears said that one resident of a cul -de-
sac was threatened when he wanted cul -de -sacs excluded from a total ban. Ms. Barry
suggested the City should possibly restrict parking on narrow streets.
Ms. Spears said another option is a non - binding "advisory referendum" at the next
election. Attorney Wyeth explained this further. The referendum would be in question
form and the results would be given consideration by the Council. This would be
somewhat similar to the survey.
Mark and Barbara Gilmour -no address given
Mr. Gilmour stated he had been to the previous town meeting. He has a trailer and
commercial vehicle that he must park 2 blocks from his house at night. He did not feel
preferential treatment should be given for cul -de -sacs. Chief Martin said there are no
hardship allowances for secondary vehicles, only for passenger vehicles. Mr. Gilmour
said he makes his living with this commercial vehicle and he now has his house for sale
after 12 years' residence, since this is a hardship for him. He asked about possibly
grandfathering such situations. Chief Martin noted that he had worked with Mr. Gilmour
to find a parking place for his vehicle.
Ms. Gilmour added that their daughter has 3 years of high school left and since they have
their home for sale, she was present to support the other citizens opposed to the ban. She
said the inconvenience overwhelms the statistics and asked why Yorkville would do this
to their residents. She concluded that there were many more reasons to not have a ban.
Another citizen present asked if the suggested ban is due to all the new subdivisions and
that more thought should be given before allowing so many new homes to be built. Ms.
Burd noted that the requests for the ban originated from established neighborhoods.
Alderwoman Spears said she would recommend an advisory referendum preceded by
additional discussion and news articles.
Alderwoman Burd said she felt the issue was back to the beginning. She suggested
streets be considered on a case -by -case basis and restrictions placed accordingly. She
was not in favor of "blanket restrictions ".
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The Minutes of the Special Meeting of the City Council — October 26, 2006 — page 4
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Ms. Butler suggested that different setbacks might be needed to allow for longer
driveways for additional parking. It was noted by Ms. Spears that the Council recently
passed an ordinance requiring longer driveways.
A resident of the apartments on Marketview said he had received a survey. There is
parking on only one side of the street in this complex and he added that some towns have
laws allowing parking at least on one side of the street at night.
At this time there was no further comment and Alderwoman Spears said this matter
would come back to City Council for consideration.
The meeting ended at 8:30pm.
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Minutes by
Marlys Young, Minute Taker
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