Plan Council Minutes 2000 05-09-00 MINUTES
A Plan Council meeting was held on May 9, 2000 at 9:30 am at the Yorkville City Hall. The only
item on the agenda was the Prairie Garden Subdivision. Present were Barry Niles, Richard
Scheffrahn, Jim Nanninga, JT Johnson, and Joe Wywrot. Mike Schoppe was present through a
tele-conference.
MS asked what the land-cash contribution was for the subdivision. BN said that it was a
combination of land and cash. He had met with the Park Board and they agreed to give him credit
for some open space and trail improvements. MS said that the open space should be shown on the
final plat as either a parcel dedicated to the city or as an easement allowing public access. These
items are not shown on the proposed final plat or plan. JT said that the Park Board was willing to
consider a credit, but wanted to see what it would be before agreeing to it. Until the Park Board
agrees, all park contributions will be assumed to be cash.
MS brought up the issue of the roadway stub to the north (Perfection property). BN said that he
is very much opposed to this roadway because he doesn't want through traffic in the senior
residential area. MS acknowledged this, but still felt that the Parfection property must have a
second access point. JN said that the Ron Wehrli was supposed to keep a lot in Greenbriar
available for a certain period of time for Parfection. Dan Kramer is researching this.
JW asked MS for input regarding right-of-way widths and setbacks along Dan Drive, which is the
main entrance into the development. Dan Drive is proposed to have a 66' ROW when it really
should be 80 feet. Consequently, the parkway width is only 7.5 feet. JN said that we want to have
a parkway width of 10 feet. JW suggested placing the public walk in easements in the front yards
of the commercial properties. Regarding setbacks, the normal 50' building setback should be
increased to 57'. There was general agreement that these two changes would not be a problem.
JW also said that the parking lot setback should be 17 feet instead of 10 feet. MS said that it
should be wider; that landscape ordinance requires a 30 foot buffer area along frontages in non-
residential areas. This site would require a 37-foot buffer to compensate for the narrower ROW.
BN and RS said that depth is too much, and that it would limit parking lot size and/or building
size. That in turn would reduce sales tax revenue to the city. JW asked if the public sidewalk
could be located in the buffer area. MS said that the landscape ordinance was silent regarding that
issue. RS suggested that the setback and buffer distances be negotiated in the PUD agreement.
MS said that a landscape plan is needed for the development. The site needs 107 parkway trees
plus one tree every 50 feet along Route 47. In addition, the landscape ordinance requires 2 trees
to be planted in the front yards of every 4 multi-family units. Also, existing trees along the west
and south boundaries should be inventoried. A 30 foot buffer area is also needed between Prairie
Garden and Greenbriar. There was a general feeling that the existing row of trees, located
primarily in the rear yards of Greenbriar, would fulfill this requirement.
JT expressed concern about snow plowing in the senior residential area. With all the parkway
trees, street lights, and fire hydrants, he anticipates difficulty in finding a place to pile snow. This is
always a problem in these types of developments where you have multi-family housing and
eyebrow cul-de-sacs. MS said the landscape plan should show the streetlights, hydrants,
driveways, and parkway trees to see how everything would fit together. If the parkway looks too
cluttered, then perhaps some trees could be moved to the private front yards. The species of trees
should also be listed on the landscape plan. Substitutions would be allowed from the city-
approved list if a certain species of tree were unavailable when the time came to plant them. RS
asked about planting 2.5" caliper trees instead of 3" trees. The larger trees take longer to
re-establish themselves, consequently after about 5 years you have the same size tree whether you
planted a 2.5" or 3" tree initially. MS said that going with smaller trees could be OK also long as
there was something to compensate for that variation from the ordinance. For instance, since a
2.5" tree is about 15% smaller than a 3" tree, increasing the number of trees by 15% might be
OK. BN will submit a revised landscape plan for MS to review.
RS reviewed JW's review memo dated 5/8/00. Most items are minor in nature and would be
complied with. RS asked about status of the traffic study. BN said he doesn't have the final study
from Metro yet, but will submit it to IDOT as soon as he gets it. JW said BN should also submit
the final plans for review since IDOT will also have to issue a highway permit to allow work to be
done in their ROW.
RS asked if Deuchler needs to review the final plans since they have already commented on the
preliminary plan. JW said that YBSD needs to sign the IEPA sewer permit application, and it is
unlikely that they will do that without Deuchler advising them that it's OK.
RS asked about the field tile survey. BN said he had found the one field tile entering the property
from the south. JW said he should prepare a simple letter report showing location and elevation of
the tile to make sure that it can be incorporated into Prairie Gardens storm sewer system.
JS said that the watermain connection to Walsh Drive needs to be part of the Prairie Garden
plans. RS agreed; but didn't have the field survey completed until just recently. He will revise the
plans to show the watermain connection.
RS asked whether sump-pump services to each dwelling is really necessary. JW said ordinance
requires it. BN said he would like to have language similar to Heartland's regarding sump-pumps.
JW said that the Heartland agreement was ill conceived. It addressed groundwater, but not soil
conditions, which are also very important. This area has clay soils, whereas Heartland's area has
primarily sandy soil. RS said that storm service lines could be easily constructed if we find
problem areas during construction. JW said he knows of some homes in the adjacent Greenbriar
subdivision that have soggy yards because their sump pumps discharge to the ground surface. JW
will recommend that the storm service lines be included in the plans.
JN said that the next step for Prairie Garden is Plan Commission on 5/10/00 for final plat
approval. BN said that preliminary plan approval was tabled by City Council until 5/11/00 because
the PUD agreement hasn't been prepared yet. Dan Kramer is working on this. JN said the
preliminary plan and final plan could go to City Council for approval together, but that the
developer takes a risk that there could be changes to the preliminary plan that would then require
changes to the final plan.
The meeting ended about 12:15pm.
Minutes by Joe Wywrot