DeKalb Times

Village of Shabbona Village Board Met Oct. 15.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

Presenters: Marc Cinnamon, Don Goncher, Dylan Schroeder and Jason Stoll of Fehr Graham 13 people in attendance (7 in-person and 6 via Zoom)

Public Meeting was called to order by Marc Cinnamon, Village Trustee, at 6:30pm on Thursday, October 15, 2020, at Indian Creek High School and via Zoom 1-312-626-6799 Meeting ID: 870 5732 8002 Passcode: 431110 or online https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87057328002?pwd=MGhTbG5TVzJpNVBzVnZ4UjhKTHBhQT09 Don Goncher reviewed agenda, purpose, and guidelines for the public meeting.

Application for the ITEP grant needs to be received in Springfield by 4:30 pm on November 4, 2020.

Fehr-Graham presentation: Jason Stoll spoke about downtown streetscape project, drawings are still conceptual, but they have made enough engineering progress that the village can go forward with applying for the grant. Dylan Schroeder said that it is still very preliminary concept design yet of the streetscape. Once grant is approved then the design will be finalized. Overall design is about four blocks, from Shabbona Road to Illini Street along Rt 30. Section from Shabbona Road to Nokomis would have new trees that would help bring down scale of the road to help provide traffic calming. New and fresh landscape to make downtown attractive, once you come into downtown trying to accomplish so that it is pedestrian friendly, easy to park and access buildings and have a memorable space including uniform planters and trees to make a lasting positive memory. Trying to reinforce the center of downtown while slowing traffic down and providing safe and accessible access to businesses. Feedback that has been given about parking prior to tonight and comments from previous public meetings and tonight will all be part of final design decisions. To date, Fehr Graham has submitted a lot of reports and documents to IDOT including environmental studies that they did.

Jason talked about project costs, the assessment was done a year ago and will be updated prior to grant application. Current project estimate is $1.8 million. Sidewalks $1.2 and Amenities $600,000. Getting grant, current projection is that the village would be responsible for $716,000. Grants take a long time to administer and if village is successful on grant award there are still at least three years of design and permitting with before construction even begins.

Don Goncher said that this is looking toward the future of the village. He opened for questions and comments from the public.

PUBLIC Comments:

Richard Lockowitz asked about cost for village. Jason responded that not all the elements are covered by grant. Parking lots, site lights and fixtures are not covered. Don said that the alley between Illini and Nokomis on south side of railroad tracks is separate from this project, it is being negotiated with railroad. Room for one-way alley with angled parking and village will be negotiating footage with railroad. Railroad has expressed that they are willing to work with Village and DeKalb County. Improvements to public parking lots are village expense and not part of grant.

Marc Cinnamon explained that there are other grants that village can apply for to help cover the portion not covered by the ITEP grant. If Village is awarded the ITEP grant, then we would start applying for additional grants to help pay for the not-covered items. Any expenses to date are not recovered by grant money, after grant is awarded then engineering is 80% covered by ITEP grant.

Don Goncher said that next summer IDOT is doing Route 30 road. Steve Wilhelm asked if IDOT does Route 30 this summer, then do we tear it all up again? Don replied that he is trying to coordinate and has reached out to Representative Demmer to help coordinate so that IDOT could possibly do cut outs with Route 30 next year.

John Houghtby expressed that there are only the gun shop, restaurant, and bar and with the low number of businesses, does this really do anything for businesses? This takes away his driveway and parking so he said it doesn’t help anyone. He also said that he does not think the Village needs to address anything for pedestrians.

Su Cox asked if parking for houses on Nokomis will be changed, Marc answered that it will not.

Don Goncher explained that part of the reason for doing all this is to attract businesses downtown, there used to be a lot and there are a number of empty buildings. First impression is part of trying to attract businesses to Shabbona.

Su Cox asked if the restaurant wanted to put tables outside, could there be room for outdoor dining near restaurant. Dylan said that part of this is providing community space and businesses like the restaurant can take advantage of the space. Sue also asked if instead of clock shown in design, could we be different and do something for our Indian heritage—like a nice history plaque. Don said that we can do anything there, the clock is just showing there can be something there like a statue or fountain. Dylan said the goal is to work with community to make that area unique.

Frank Ottengheime said that he is part of the pathway committee and they are also applying for ITEP grant, what is the chance two projects in same town can both get awarded. Jason said that it can be a challenge to get both. Frank said that he is worried about cost, especially since Fehr Graham was over on engineering on first section of pathway and asked if there is any guarantee that estimating for engineering will be close for Village. Jason said the pathway was small project and he was off by 90% in error with the estimate for pathway section. On a large project, it is easier to nail down expected unit prices versus small project like the first section of pathway. Frank said the pathway has already started, and the village has $30,000 invested in ITEP Grant but would the village be better off to negotiate with railroad for quiet crossings instead of pursuing this ITEP grant. He thinks infrastructure and train whistles need to be addressed first.

Su Cox asked if you don’t get the grant, then is this off the table. Jason said that ITEP is offered every two years, village can reapply in future cycle with marginal cost. Reapplication for a client is $4000. Marc Cinnamon said that Durand IL was awarded ITEP Grant two years ago and are now getting ready to start and it took them 3 attempts to get grant. Engineering done to date is not lost.

John Houghtby and Steve Wilhelm said the village should spend money on streets in town instead of streetscape downtown. Don Goncher said that the Village Infrastructure committee has identified street work and Cherokee seal coat will be part of county bid next year along with some others.

David Simpson asked if in order to apply for grant do we need to put up or have funds in place. Richard asked if there is any other money that village needs to put out for this application. Jason said that there are no funds that need to be in place to apply for grant and no additional money beyond what has been approved already will be needed. Village Board needs to approve and sign a resolution to apply for grant at their October meeting. David asked when talking to businesses to come into Shabbona, is part of their decision based on view of downtown areas. Don said that it definitely is a factor when someone looks at Shabbona’s downtown for opening a business.

Marc Cinnamon said that our revenues have increased substantially over the past few years. We want to create something to be here for next generation in town. Communities that invest in themselves, do much better than those that do not.

John & Mary Houghtby concerned about losing their driveway, and Jason responded that we can work with you on the driveway.

Su Cox said that she thinks it is a nice plan, just a matter of paying for it

Frank Ottengheime but Pathway is competing with Village for this grant is what it comes down to, Jason said not directly but yes indirectly. Marc said there are communities that get multiple ITEP grants for different things. Both are good projects and Jason thinks both projects would be scored highly by the state. Frank said that once state gets highway done that will make downtown look better and he doesn’t think we need to go much beyond that.

Su Cox asked if rest doesn’t happen, can plan be scaled down, like Shabbona road to Nokomis trees and help enhance if rest does not happen. Dylan said that yes that is something to consider.

With no further questions or comments from the public, Don Goncher adjourned the meeting at 7:18pm.

ITEP Grant Public Meeting Minutes for the Village of Shabbona, Illinois submitted by Village Clerk, Jennifer Morrison.

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/550b1847e4b087b6171a0cc7/t/5f98c0882a20b21cc2be90ee/1603846280808/10.15.2020+ITEP+Public+Meeting+minutes.pdf