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Economic Development Minutes 2011 11-01-11 APPROVED 01/03/2012 UNITED CITY OF YORKVILLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE Tuesday, November 1, 2011, 6:30pm City Conference Room In Attendance: Committee Members Chairman Marty Munns Alderman Chris Funkhouser Alderman Jackie Milschewski Alderman Diane Teeling Other City Officials City Administrator Bart Olson Community Development Director Krysti Barksdale-Noble Code Official Mark Hardin Other Guests Lynn Dubajic, YEDC Tony Scott, Kendall County Record The meeting was called to order by Chairman Marty Munns at 6:30pm. Citizen Comments: None Minutes for Correction/Approval October 4, 2011 The minutes were approved as read. New Business 1. EDC 2011-41 Building Permit Report for September 2011 Ms. Barksdale-Noble said currently there are 35 single-family building permits for the year with 2 pending in Autumn Creek. Mr. Hardin commented that a contractor said he had 2 or 3 more in Heartland. 2. EDC 2011–42 Building Inspection Report Summary for September 2011 All of these inspections are now in-house, except for a few of the plumbing inspections. No further action. 3. EDC 2011-43 Comprehensive Impact Fee Revision This discussion was begun at the last meeting and is regarding the adjustment of the impact fees relating to the current economy. Many fees were reviewed, but land cash came to the forefront. Staff requested EDC input on reducing this fee. Option 1 Krysti Barksdale-Noble explained the following. There are 2 options. : is a development- based approach where each developer would approach the City to have their annexation agreements reviewed on a case-by-case basis. The current land value would be considered and the agreement could be adjusted accordingly. There are benefits and drawbacks. The developer would take the lead on such a request and the City would not incur any upfront funding. There would not be any comparables, 1 just what the developer presents. The original land cash ordinance says if there are any conflicts as to the fair market value, the developer could present their own evidence for consideration. The drawback is that there are varying land cash values from various developers and tracking this administratively could be a challenge. Option 2 : the City would complete a comprehensive evaluation and reduce the fair market value of an acre limiting it to a certain time period. As development increases, the value would be incrementally raised. The drawback would be front-funding this appraisal. It could cost $5,000 to $10,000 and would includes sites outside the City. The last option is no change at all. Surrounding cities have not reduced their land cash values possibly prolonging the development slowdown. Administor Olson also weighed in on these options. Land cash fees are authorized under ordinance, however, not all fees are the same. Some subdivisions have no land cash requirements since they were developed prior to the ordinance. If a study is done, it will not necessarily change the existing agreements unless it was retroactively applied. This could help bring a developer to the negotiating table. Ms. Barksdale-Noble said many of the developers have fee locks while other developers would benefit from a reduction. She commented that the land cash fee of $101,000 has been in place since 2006. Alderman Funkhouser stated that he prefers to reduce the amount of negotiation and make land cash equal. He would like to set limits on the amount for a certain number of years. He also favors doing the study and said that “no change” is not an option. Other towns’ land cash values were questioned by Alderman Teeling. Most are higher than Yorkville and no one has reduced their fees according to Ms. Barksdale-Noble. Commenting about the impact a fee reduction would have, Ms. Dubajic said it would help tremendously. She said it is one of the first issues raised by developers. Chris Funkhouser added that no construction will impact the parks budget also because no parks are needed if there are no people to use them. Alderman Milschewski asked how Yorkville land cash values compared to other towns. Oswego is $110,000, Sugar Grove is $80,000, Plainfield is $139,000 and Plano is $96,000, all per acre. Yorkville is low to middle in the annexation agreements already in place according to Mr. Olson. He further stated that many of the subdivisions have low fees of $10,000 due to land donation, pre-paid impact fees and other factors. He commented there is disparity between old and new developments in terms of fees. There was a brief discussion of how the smaller developer can be helped in terms of fees. It was noted that the ordinance was last revised 5 years ago. Ms. Milschewski asked how the study might affect the City in terms of administrative costs. There would be adequate fees charged to offset such costs according to Mr. Olson. Alderman Funkhouser noted that Sugar Grove had taken similar measures to temporarily reduce certain fees and and it did not have the desired effect, but he says the proposed reductions should have long-term benefits. Alderman Milschewski said she would like to see the unfinished subdivisions completed before starting new ones. This would alleviate weed problems and force the completion of roads. Many fee locks are 2 expiring soon and this reduction should be welcomed by developers according to Krysti Barksdale- Noble. In summary, the committee decided to move ahead with recommendation of the study. 4. EDC 2011- 44 Release of ComEd Information at Account Change Mr. Hardin said any new commercial building occupancies should not receive electrical service until a certificate of occupancy is issued by the City. This would allow the City to inspect the business, determine if the zoning is proper, etc. ComEd would not provide electrical service until this was done. This was in place until a year ago, according to Mr. Olson, but this would now be administered under ordinance. This item will move to the consent agenda. 5. EDC 2011-45 EDC Meeting Schedule for 2012 After discussion, it was decided to keep this meeting on Tuesdays, but the start time will be 7pm beginning in December. Old Business – None Additional Business There was no further business and the meeting adjourned at 7:03pm. Minutes respectfully submitted by Marlys Young 3