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EDC Minutes 2005 06-16-05 APPROVED 7/21/05 UNITED CITY OF YORKVILLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE YORKVILLE CITY HALL CONFERENCE ROOM THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2005 The meeting was called to order at 7 p.m. ATTENDANCE COMMITTEE MEMBERS AND CITY STAFF: Aldermen Marty Munns and Joe Besco; and Alderwoman Valerie Burd; Mayor Art Prochaska; City Attorney John Wyeth; City Administrator Tony Graff; and Anna Kurtzman, building department. OTHERS: Lynn Dubajic, YEDC; Tony Scott, Record Newspapers; Scott Mai, Smith Engineering; Craig Chesley, ComEd; Allan Armstrong, ComEd; and Bill McCue. 1. Minutes None. 2. Feasibility of Relocating Overhead Power Lines to Underground Allan Armstrong, external affairs manager with ComEd, said he's aware of the city's effort to relocate power lines along Route 47 and added that ComEd is required by the federal government to recover costs from relocating overhead wires underground. Rider 28 in the federal provisions allows municipalities to redistribute the cost among residents as a certain line item on their electric bill. Other municipalities have paid the cost on their own. Armstrong said ComEd isn't concerned about how it's paid, but the Federal Commerce Commission demands the company recovers its cost. Craig Chesley, manager for public relocations, said moving overhead wires underground can get quite complicated. Graff said according to the Illinois Department of Transportation District 1, which includes much of the northern suburbs, many communities are burying cables along their major thoroughfares. Chesley said over the last 1.5 years, there has been a big push to relocate cables underground in that area. Generally, he said if municipalities identify their desire to install the cables underground early, it's beneficial. That way, the work can be done as IDOT is repairing roads. Usually, he said, IDOT doesn't like to support overhead to underground. Alderwoman Valerie Burd said her ward is the downtown area where redevelopment is encouraged. She said there's a nice park along the river and she wondered if the lines along the river could be buried. Chesley said the lines near the river are sub transmission lines that are 34,000 volts. Those can be put underground, but special equipment is necessary and it's much more expensive. i When communities are interested in relocating lines, Chesley said ComEd would provide a ballpark figure of the cost. Communities are then asked to provide a non - refundable deposit and then a more specific cost estimate is done. City Administrator Tony Graff asked how the utility company handles other utility companies that hang from the same poles. Chesley said cost estimates are for ComEd costs only. He said ComEd informs communities of what other utilities are using the poles and those costs are separate. The utilities, however, try to work together to relocate the lines and coordinate installation to save costs. Alderman Joe Besco asked if it's harder to locate and repair outages when lines are underground. Armstrong said they're not more difficult to locate, but they are more difficult to repair. Armstrong said growth in the county is staggering and the trend he's noticed is for developers to pay for locating lines underground near their developments. Alderwoman Rose Spears said that's the approach she's pushing for. Burd asked if the city could recover costs of relocating wires in the downtown area with the TIF (Tax Increment Financing) district. Graff said if the current system works, the costs wouldn't be recoverable. However, if changes are necessary to meet the ordinance, the costs could be recovered through the TIF. Graff said one developer asked if costs could be shared for lines buried along a state highway. For instance is the developer pays for costs because of a development on one side of the road, the developer on the other side gets a free ride. He said that's an issue City Attorney John Wyeth would have to look at. Burd asked if the cables are safer underground because they're not exposed to the elements. Armstrong said they're typically more reliable than overhead lines. Chesley commented that in the booming areas, cable hits are more common and costly. Graff said one community he knows of is considering installing protective fencing around the lines while developers are building. Graff said the city is trying to get sample ordinances from other communities regarding relocation of lines. Burd suggested the Economic Development Committee recommend buried cables in the downtown area and along Route 47 and encourage developers to put lines underground as well. Chesley said it sounds as if the community is well ahead of the curve and said the utility company will help in any way it can. Armstrong said the greatest amount of lead -time possible is extremely helpful. 3. PC 2005 -08 Blackberry Woods Preliminary PUD Plan The developer said a question was raised about a possible bridge over Blackberry Creek. The only creek access the developer has is on the very southeast side of the development and the developer is trying to preserve trees in that location. That location also lines up to the School District property. Graff said Smith Engineering suggested a second access to the high school by putting a bridge across the creek to connect to Cannonball Trail. Environmentally, however, he said this isn't the best site. If a bridge ever were constructed, it would be better south of the high school. Meanwhile, Bill McCue said the Plan Commission is concerned there's only one access to the property. He said he's working with the county to get an emergency access road installed to connect with the county property. 4. PC 2005 -17 Fox Hill Unit 6 Lot 1 Final Plat Graff said the Plan Commission recommended approval subject to engineering. Graff said some easement issues have been worked out and there's also a possibility of connecting to Route 34 if necessary for a right in, right out. The EDC decided to move the request forward to the Committee of the Whole. 5. PC 2005 -04 Lincoln Prairie Yorkville Special Use Request John Duggan said the petitioners are seeking a special use request for an asphalt plant on 15 acres of property inside the south portion of the planned industrial park on Eldamain Road. At the public hearing, a resident who lives about 1/ mile from the planned facility asked about what types of odors the plant would produce. The Plan Commission asked the developer to do provide an engineering report on the smells. Duggan said volatile gases cause the odors and new plants all have volatile gas recovery systems. The systems are installed to prevent nuisances and to make the process more effective. Committee Chairman Marty Munns asked about noise. Duggan said asphalt plants are particularly noisy. At full capacity, the plant could produce 1,200 tons per hour. However, he said if the plant reaches 60 percent capacity, he would be happy. Graff said the truck traffic likely would be about 16 to 20 trucks per hour. Spears asked if there's something the city could do to limit operational hours of the facility. Besco, however, said if the plant had a big project it needed to finish, he'd hate to have the hours restricted. The committee decided the request should return to the EDC in July when the engineering report on odors is finished. 6. Building Permit Reports for May 2005 The reports were approved and moved forward to the C.O.W. 7. Proposed Zoning Text Amendment for Drive - Through Facilities Anna Kurtzman with the building department asked if the committee wanted to look at the issue of stacking vehicles at drive - through facilities. She said the staff is recommending that the Zoning Code be amended to address two concerns: the location of the drive - through in relationship to the public right -of -way and the amount of stacking to be provided per use. The proposed changes would require drive - through facilities to be oriented away from the public right -of -way. Also, stacking requirements would be imposed limiting the number of stacking spaces. For instance, on an automatic car wash, there would be 10 spaces required for cars entering the wash and two required for cars exiting the wash. Graff said the ordinance is mostly geared toward banks. He said the city has asked banks to locate the drive - throughs so that they're not in the front. Burd said she doesn't mind seeing a drive - through, that way she knows were to go. She said she's more interested in the space requirements so that there is room on the property to serve customers and she would like to see buildings made attractive. Besco agreed. He said as long as the building looks nice, it doesn't matter where the drive - through is located. Kurtzman said she'd redraft the proposed ordinance to keep in the stacking space requirements. But she said it sounded like the committee would prefer to rely on the appearance code regarding aesthetics. She said she'd bring the revised ordinance back to the committee for review. 8. Resolution Providing for a Feasibility Study and Report with Respect to the Designation of the Downtown Area as a TIF Redevelopment Project Area Graff said the city needs to pass a resolution for intent to designate the downtown area as a TIF district. Also, he asked if the city should hire URS again to do a feasibility study. Burd asked if the islands would be included. Graff said IDOT thinks they're already included. The committee agreed to go ahead and bring a resolution to the C.O.W. 9. Discussion of Future Incentive Programs to Attract Commercial/Industrial Business to Yorkville Regarding last months presentation on the county incentive program, Munns suggested the committee members go though the grading process and see how it could be adjusted to fit the city. The meeting adjourned at 8:50 p.m. Minutes respectfully submitted by Dina Gipe