DeKalb Times

City of Sycamore City Council met July 16.

Here is the minutes provided by the Council:

ROLL CALL

Mayor Lang called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. and City Clerk Mary Kalk called the roll. Those Alderpersons present were: David Stouffer, Chuck Stowe, Alan Bauer, Steve Braser, Nancy Copple, Rick Kramer, Pete Paulsen, and Virginia Sherrod. City Attorney Keith Foster was also present.

INVOCATION – Deacon Chuck Ridulph, St. John Lutheran Church, gave the invocation.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE led by Alderman Rick Kramer

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

MOTION

Alderperson Kramer moved to approve the agenda and Alderperson Stouffer seconded the motion.

VOICE VOTE

Mayor Lang called for a voice vote to approve the motion. All Alderpersons voted aye. Motion carried 8-0.

APPOINTMENTS

A. Re-Appointment of Nick Lee to the Police Pension Board.

MOTION

Alderperson Stowe moved to approve the re-appointment and Alderperson Kramer seconded the motion.

VOICE VOTE

Mayor Lang called for a voice vote to approve the motion. All Alderpersons voted aye. Motion carried 8-0.

AUDIENCE TO VISITORS

CONSENT AGENDA

A. Approval of the Minutes for the Regular City Council Meeting of July 2, 2018.

B. Plan Commission Meeting Minutes from June 11, 2018.

C. Payment of the Bills for July 16, 2018 in the amount of $604,638.46

MOTION

Alderperson Bauer moved to approve the Consent Agenda and Alderperson Stowe seconded the motion.

ROLL CALL VOTE

Mayor Lang called for a roll call vote to approve the motion. Alderpersons Stouffer, Stowe, Bauer, Braser, Copple, Kramer,

Paulsen, and Sherrod, voted aye. Motion carried 8-0.

PRESENTATION OF PETITIONS, COMMUNICATIONS, AND BILLS

REPORT OF OFFICERS

REPORT OF OFFICERS City Manager – Brian Gregory said the demolition work on the old barn and silo at Engh Farm has taken place and is just about complete. He met with the committee for the DeKalb County Community Foundation (DCCF) to go over options for how to use the $20,000 grant funds that DCCF set aside, a couple of years ago, for each community in the county. He said that with Sycamore being a little ahead of the curve, having already updated the Comprehensive Plan, which is also our Economic Development Plan, they are looking at some sub area planning for future industrial sites shown in the Future Land Use Map. He said it will be made formal in the next two – four weeks.

Police Chief – Jim Winters reported that new Officer, Shaquille Perez, is finishing up his 14 week training period, in which he shadowed three different officers. Next week he will start solo patrol. The Chief said they are very optimistic about his progress and he’s doing well.

Fire Chief – Pete Polarek he would defer his comments until his agenda item later in the meeting.

Director of Public Works – Fred Busse said the Public Works crew has been busy installing new drainage under the road and installed two large concrete structures on the west side. They still have a little over 100 feet of pipe to install on the west side that ties into these structures and grading to get the water to run where they want it to go. The crews will be out there for a few more days.

Treasurer/Asst. to the City Manager – Adam Orton said he has the June Treasurer’s Report, on a cash-basis that has a benchmark of 17. Both the City and State Sales Tax are just below their benchmark at 15% and 16% respectively, while the Restaurant & Bar Tax is at 17% and the Income Tax is at 21%. They have received the second of six property tax payments totaling $953,000. He reminded that these income tax and sales tax do belong to last fiscal year, so they will be moved back at the end of the year. Overall Revenues are at 20.8%, but when weighted with property tax, is at 16.6%. The General Fund Expenditures are at 16% and both pension funds had small declines for the month of June. The auditors are in the report writing phase and said that in addition to the main Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, they also produce a report for each of the pension funds and one for the TIF Fund.

Building & Engineering Director – John Sauter said they are doing some preliminary plan review of the new DeKalb County History Museum on North Main and their plan is to begin construction late summer or early fall. The foundation is complete at the new O’Reilly Auto Parts project, so you should see a building under construction in the near future. He also reported that they issued 23 single family permits as of the end of June. Last year, we were at 32, which is behind last year’s pace but he suspects that the wet spring we had may have had an impact on housing starts. They still have 4 or 5 months left in the building season, so hopefully they will see more starts during that time.

City Engineer – Mark Bushnell said Elliott and Wood will start the Bethany Road Repair one week from today to repair the pavement buckling that occurred about a month ago. Work will require traffic to be limited to one lane in each direction with the outer lanes closed first and should take 3 weeks, in total.

Mayor Lang asked about the Airport Road project.

City Engineer Mark Bushnell said the contractor had a window of July 6 – September 6 to complete the work and they still plan on completing it during that time period. They also have a provision in the construction documents that says once work starts, it has to be continuous until it is complete.

REPORTS OF STANDING COMMITTEES 

Finance – Alan Bauer - no report 

Public Safety – Pete Paulsen - no report 

Public Works – Chuck Stowe - no report

PUBLIC HEARINGS - None

ORDINANCES 

A. Ordinance 2018.02—An Ordinance Approving a Request by Meijer Stores Limited Partnership for an Amendment to a Special Use Permit for a Planned Unit Development in Accordance with Article 4.3 of the Unified Development Ordinance of the City of Sycamore, Illinois. First and Second Reading.

City Manager Brian Gregory said this comes before the council from the 7-9-18 Plan Commission meeting with a recommendation by a vote of 7-0. This is an amendment to the Planned Unit Development (PUD) that was approved in March 2017 regarding the construction of a Meijer superstore at the First Midwest Group Project at the corner of Peace Road and Sarah Drive. At that time, Meijer had anticipated building a box that was 193,000 square feet. Since that time, the company made a corporate-wide decision to make modifications to the footprint of the building it is constructing and corresponding site plan adjustments. Meijer has revised its footprint to include a 159,264 sq. ft. anchor store that could be expanded in the future. He said the site plan has changed slightly in that the box is smaller, but shows the original footprint as the expansion area, if deemed necessary to expand by the market. The actual size of the store is not something that the PUD contemplates necessarily, nor would require the council to take any action, but it has to do with the number of parking stalls. As stated in the agenda: The planned unit development special use and corresponding development agreement outlines the parking plan and a sign package as proposed:

• The superstore will have 574 parking spaces. Code requires 1 space per 225 sq. ft. of net floor area (NFA) or 708 spaces, if the development was to be viewed as a standalone building. The Sycamore Crossings development as a whole is anticipated to generate 300,000 sq. ft. of commercial space. The code requires developments of more than 300,000 sq. ft. to provide one space for every 300 sq. ft. of NFA. Based on this the superstore would require 531 spaces.

Given the overall size of the Sycamore Crossings development and Meijer’s experience with parking needs for a store of this size, staff is comfortable with the parking plan as proposed. The ratio of number of parking spaces to the proposed building is roughly the same in the revised PUD at 1 space for every 277.50 sq. ft. versus 1 space for every 280 sq. ft. as previously approved.

• Meijer is proposing that parking lot islands be oversized and located at the ends of the parking isles and around the perimeter of the lot in lieu of islands every 20 spaces as required by code. In addition, the plans include additional landscape islands along the front and side of the superstore. The request is for operational purposes, namely the plowing of snow and a desire to maximize spaces that are closer to the building.

Staff is comfortable with the alternatives to traditional islands as the proposed alternatives offset code requirements and provide a buffer between the supercenter lot and adjacent outlots. This was approved previously and no significant changes are proposed.

• The building specific sign code does not factor in signs that identify the grocery entrance and general merchandise entrances, noted as “Home” and “Fresh”, potential licensee wall signs if other businesses such as a pharmacy operates within the superstore and the drive-thru signage on the building. While there are areas within the code that could be applied to make these signs compliant, staff felt it most appropriate to present the sign package as a whole for review and consideration.

He said the original action included a final plat but that stays the same, but he said the development agreement stays the same but with revised exhibits, a site plan showing the parking layout, elevations of the building, and the sign package are attached for consideration. At the Plan Commission meeting, the Meijer representative said it is currently planned for a 2019 start with construction completed and open in 2020. He said there are not a lot of changes in this PUD, but because we talked about parking and we wanted the original agreement to be very specific, so the right action was to bring this back as an amendment to the PUD for Council to take action. A public hearing was held on July 9th regarding the request for an amendment to the special use for a planned unit development after appropriate notice was made in the local newspaper on June 21, 2018, notices were mailed to property owners within 500 feet and a sign was installed on the property. This comes with a recommendation of a vote of 7-0. Mike Mondus, SpaceCo is here to answer any questions.

Alderperson Copple asked about the trees and landscaping.

City Manager Brian Gregory said there are different plans that are over-laid. The colored site plan includes the trees and trees in the islands. There are trees in the back along the fence line.

Alderperson Stouffer asked what the timeline is for the additional stores being built out.

City Manager Brian Gregory said the rest of the property is owned by First Midwest Group and they are working hard to find developers that would be interested in building. Many times there are interests contingent on the anchor store coming. Meijer will only own where they are building the superstore and the gas station.

Alderperson Bauer asked that since this is anticipated to be 300,000 square feet, the standard of one parking space for every 225 square feet would apply to this development and would include the outlots. If the Meijer building expands, that addition would then add the parking spaces over the 574 spaces that are planned.

City Manager Brian Gregory said this ordinance is to approve a variance as far as the PUD for that ratio, one for every 227.5 square foot, based on the square footage being proposed. If that area was expanded upon and additional parking was required by our code, it would require the parking spots to be built to plan or we would likely have a fair amount of real data to work from and if it was a parking lot that was being underutilized, then the company could ask for an exception or variance at that point.

Alderperson Braser asked if the stoplight to the south will be activated during construction.

Mike Mondus said it would be activated just prior to the store opening.

Alderperson Braser said if not during construction, that will limit the truck traffic.

City Manager Brian Gregory said they are trying not to co-mingle the truck traffic.

Alderperson Braser said that it would co-mingle it because the loading dock is on the south side.

City Manager Brian Gregory said that they don’t have jurisdiction over Peace Road, but they could talk to the County Engineer to see if there is a possibility to get that active at some point prior.

Alderperson Braser asked if they plan to open the gas station at the same time as the superstore.

Mike Mondus said that gas station usually does a soft opening a month before the store and then does a grand opening with the store. He said there is a commitment to start construction next year. He said the staff has been fabulous to work with.

MOTION

Alderperson Copple moved to waive first reading and Alderperson Braser seconded the motion.

VOICE VOTE

Mayor Lang called for a voice vote to approve the motion. All Alderpersons voted aye. Motion carried 8-0.

MOTION

Alderperson Copple moved to approve Ordinance 2018.02 and Alderperson Sherrod seconded the motion.

ROLL CALL VOTE

Mayor Lang called for a roll call vote to approve the motion. Alderpersons Stouffer, Stowe, Bauer, Braser, Copple, Kramer, Paulsen, and Sherrod, and voted aye. Motion carried 8-0.

B. Ordinance 2018.03—An Ordinance Amending Title 7, “Public Ways and Property,” by Adding a New Chapter 7 Entitled, “Small Wireless Facilities,” in the City Code of the City of Sycamore, Illinois. First and Second Reading.

City Manager Brian Gregory said that Illinois passed the Small Wireless Facilities Deployment Act in April that went into effect this June. This is the movement toward 5G. Illinois, along with twelve other states, have passed similar laws that allow for these small wireless facilities, or small cells, to be attached on utility and street light poles or other structures in the public right- of-way. That deployment act, essentially, limits the authority that local governments have over regulating such installations. In the law, there were some limited authority that local municipalities are granted, that includes applications, permitting, permit fees and any ongoing fees for collocating on a municipal structure. The Illinois Municipal League created and provided a model ordinance that they have shared for all communities, which must be passed by August 1st, according to the state law, in order for the regulation to apply. He explained that if there is no ordinance on the books, then at that point and time, any wireless carrier or any party interested in using small cell wireless would just need to be compliant with the state law. He explained that the Illinois Municipal League has crafted a model ordinance that has been customized for the City of Sycamore. Ordinance 2018.03 outlines small wireless facility regulations within the City, the application process and the fees associated with the application, permit and annual collocation rates. The model ordinance includes application fees of $650 to collocate a single small wireless facility on an existing utility pole and $350 for each small wireless facility addressed in a consolidated application to collocate more than one small wireless facility on existing poles. The installation of a new utility pole for such collocation includes a $1,000 application fee. The provider would pay a fee of $200 per year as an annual recurring rate to collocate. The act is meant to streamline and unify the regulations so that it’s not different from community to community.

Alderperson Bauer asked as long as we get this enacted by the deadline, then we can come back and amend this from time to time, if fees need to be adjusted.

City Attorney Keith Foster said that is a topic of statewide discussion, but it is the opinion that we can.

City Manager Brian Gregory said right now, the fee structure is the limit that we can put in place.

Alderperson Braser asked who is responsible for taking the structure down if the company leaves or goes out of business.

City Manager Brian Gregory said the ordinance discusses abandonment in section H and the company is to remove it within 90 days.

Alderperson Kramer asked if they can come in and put them up anywhere they want.

City Manager Brian Gregory said yes as long as they are in compliance with state law.

Alderperson Braser asked if there was a limit on how many they can put up.

City Attorney Keith Foster said he doesn’t think there is a limit, but a practical limit in terms of how many they will want to put up.

Alderperson Braser asked if they can resell them for $100 more or come in and monopolize them.

City Attorney Keith Foster said there are so many open questions on this, but thinks they will be able to sell this.

Mayor Lang said this is a lot less intrusive than a big tower.

Alderperson Stouffer said it sounds like taking action is the best action or if we just let it be, then we won’t even have an option.

City Manager Brian Gregory said yes, we recommend this ordinance. He said, again, the state law allows them to do it and then we add some local regulation. He said that in talking to his peers, many communities are looking at very similar local regulations.

MOTION

Alderperson Kramer moved to waive first reading and Alderperson Stowe seconded the motion.

VOICE VOTE

Mayor Lang called for a voice vote to approve the motion. All Alderpersons voted aye. Motion carried 8-0.

MOTION 

Alderperson Kramer moved to approve Ordinance 2018.03 and Alderperson Stouffer seconded the motion.

ROLL CALL VOTE

Mayor Lang called for a roll call vote to approve the motion. Alderpersons Stouffer, Stowe, Bauer, Braser, Copple, Kramer, Paulsen, and Sherrod, and voted aye. Motion carried 8-0.

RESOLUTIONS- None

CONSIDERATIONS

A. Consideration of a Recommendation from the Building & Engineering Department Regarding the Award of the

Bid for the Crack-Filling as Part of the 2018 Street Maintenance Program.

City Manager Brian Gregory said bids for the Crack Filling part of the 2018 Street Maintenance program were opened Friday, July 13th. A total of $50,000 was allocated to the program for the 33 streets that were outlined in the package that was sent to nine plan holders, three of which submitted bids. The engineer’s estimate was $42,550. The two lowest bids were exactly the same. Based on City Engineer Mark Bushnell’s memorandum distributed to the Council, Behm Pavement Maintenance has performed crack sealing for the city for the last two years and have done a very good job. Based on that experience, he has recommended the contract be awarded to Behm since they have experience with us on the exact same work for the last couple of years and done so well. We do recommend the full allocation of $50,000 is used as additional streets will be added. We have really gotten our money’s worth out of crack sealing trying to preserve our streets, especially the ones we have done five or more years ago, keeping the water out of the streets during the freeze-thaw cycle, has really prolonged the life of the street.

Per the agenda:

Behm Pavement Maintenance $31,500

Patriot Pavement Maintenance $31,500

SKC Construction $32,850

Alderperson Braser asked if we have enough to do 66 streets and award the contract to both Behm Pavement and Patriot Pavement and it would only be about $12,500 over the budget that we could go into next year. Would that be unreasonable to have them both do this at this price because next year, we would bid this out again and would it put us in a better position.

City Engineer Mark Bushnell said normally we put an estimate of streets together hoping we get through the entire list. Last year, we went past the 24 streets and added more. This year, we estimate 33 streets, which is our best estimate of what we will get through. He would rather use the allocation this year and re-evaluate the streets next year. If we have some leftover, we will add more streets to use the full allocation of $50,000.

Alderperson Braser asked if this was legal to have two bids the exact same price and select one and not the other.

City Engineer Mark Bushnell said he spoke with both the contractors because they have run into this same situation and they both indicated that it has been decided by a coin toss.

City Attorney Keith Foster said it is the low bid and we do have experience with the one contractor. We are accepting the low bid and with good reason, so yes, it is ok.

City Manager Brian Gregory said they did learn that if this were Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) funds being expended, it would be a coin flip. But with local funds, we just follow the local guidelines.

MOTION

Alderperson Bauer moved to approve the Consideration to award the contract to Behm Pavement Maintenance for $38,000 and up to $50,000 and Alderperson Kramer seconded the motion.

ROLL CALL VOTE

Mayor Lang called for a roll call vote to approve the motion. Alderpersons Stouffer, Stowe, Bauer, Braser, Copple, Kramer, Paulsen, and Sherrod voted aye. Motion carried 8-0.

B. Consideration of a Recommendation of the Architectural Review Committee to Award a Gateway Improvement Grant to Uriel Morales, Owner of County Liquors at 625 East State Street in the City of Sycamore, Illinois.

City Manager Brian Gregory said County Liquors applied for a Gateway Improvement Grant back in June and the Architectural Review Committee (ARC) had requested more information on materials, landscaping, and diagram. That was provided today and approved by the committee by a vote of 3-0 just prior to the council meeting. They will replace windows, add stone 3-4 feet high across the entire front of the building, remove all pavers except four feet, leaving a walk way and add grass with two trees and plantings installed around the sign enhancing the aesthetics of the property. The additional painting and clean up along the east side of the building will be completed.

Alderperson Braser asked if they owned the entire property.

City Manager Brian Gregory said they own the business and Louis Schoenburg owns the property. Our program requires the owner to sign off on the application and he has signed off on the improvements.

Alderperson Copple asked about the gravel area on the projected image of the aerial view,

City Manager Brian Gregory said the gravel area was used for a number of years when it was a truck stop and where semi- trucks would be stored. The semi-trucks have been removed. In the July 9th Plan Commission meeting, there was a workshop regarding the ancillary U-Haul business where those trucks have been moved to the back gravel area leaving the paved lots for customers of County Liquors. He explained how the business owners approached the Mayor about Sunday liquor hours to coincide with the U-Haul business. As they looked at the code, they found that the truck and equipment rental would be considered a Special Use. This is on a totally different path than the grant program. The grant program does not allow for paving as an improvement, it deals primarily with building and landscaping. He said the applicant bought the business, changed the awning, sign, and did a lot of work inside. He said it was in disrepair when they bought it and as resources become available, they have been making improvements. This would be the second Gateway Improvement Grant as the first was for the Carriage Apartments on West State Street.

MOTION

Alderperson Bauer moved to approve the Consideration to award the Gateway Grant in the amount of $5,000 to County Liquors and Alderperson Stouffer seconded the motion. ROLL CALL VOTE Mayor Lang called for a roll call vote to approve the motion. Alderpersons Stouffer, Stowe, Bauer, Braser, Kramer, Paulsen, and Sherrod voted aye. Alderperson Copple voted nay. Motion carried 7-1.

Lisa Jensen, County Liquors Manager, thanked the council for the grant and for trusting them. The will begin in the next two weeks and start with the windows.

C. Consideration of a Presentation of the 2017 Fire Department Annual Report.

Fire Chief Pete Polarek said the 2018 Annual Report Table of Contents includes an Executive Summary, Department Overview, Administration Division activities, Operations Division activities and response statistics and Special activities and events section. The five areas to highlight are as follows:

• Page 22, Request for Emergency Service- shows calls increased from FY10-FY18 and a graph on Multiple Call clusters.

• Page 26, Emergency Medical Services – Lift Assists/Medical Alarms – started tracking four years ago as the department has become a support system for some folks remaining in their homes longer. It has increased and he anticipates it will continue.

• Page 3, shows the items put into service with Grant Funds, including a mobile training prop and replacement AED.

• Page 12, Firefighter Cancer Prevention Efforts shows the efforts in reducing the risk to firefighters.

• Page 32, Special Activities/Events shows a multidimensional department and what the department is doing at work and in their off time.

He thanked Becky Hepker, Fire Department Secretary, for helping compile statistics.

Alderperson Kramer said it is a very nice report.

City Manager Brian Gregory said the report looks great, but it’s what’s behind that report that is so very significant. He said our service in all of our departments, including the Fire Department, is top notch. Seeing the inner workings and team efforts in making these type of results happen, is commendable. He acknowledged the team effort and Chief Polarek for his leadership along with Assistant Chiefs Zern and Turner. He added when we are able to achieve grants, it opens things up for the Fire Department and other departments in the city. It’s the big picture of all of our departments doing a great job working as one team for Team Sycamore.

OTHER NEW BUSINESS – None

ADJOURNMENT

MOTION

Alderperson Stowe moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:04 p.m. and Alderperson Paulsen seconded the motion.

VOICE VOTE

Mayor Lang called for a voice vote to approve the motion. All Alderpersons voted aye. Motion carried 8-0.

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