City of Dekalb City Council met July 11

By Philip Gonzales

Jul 18, 2022

City of Dekalb City Council met July 11.

Here is the agenda provided by the council:

A. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL

B. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

C. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

D. PRESENTATIONS

None.

E. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

F. APPOINTMENTS

None.

G. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

1. Minutes Submitted by the City Clerk – None

2. Minutes Submitted by the Recording Secretary

a. Minutes of the Regular City Council Meeting of June 27, 2022.

H. CONSENT AGENDA

1. Accounts Payable and Payroll through July 11, 2022, in the Amount of $2,647,335.28.

2. Investment and Bank Balance Summary through May 2022.

3. Year-to-Date Revenues and Expenditures through May 2022.

COVID-19 Notice: The corporate authorities of the City of DeKalb intend to conduct this meeting in-person with a physically present quorum that is open to the public and in compliance with all applicable public health requirements. Pursuant to current public health guidelines, persons attending this meeting are not required to wear protective face masks/coverings.

I. PUBLIC HEARINGS

None.

J. CONSIDERATIONS

1. Consideration of a Proposed FY2023 Budget Calendar.

City Manager’s Summary: In recent years, the Council has followed a very transparent review process for the creation of the following year’s fiscal budget. Keeping with that successful format, the following schedule is proposed for development of the City’s municipal budget for 2023:

▪ Thursday, August 11 – Publication of an agenda for a joint meeting between the Council and the Finance Advisory Committee (FAC) on August 15.

▪ Monday, August 15 – Joint meeting of the City Council and the FAC, 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. This joint meeting will review assumptions presented by the City Manager regarding revenue trends and possible expenditures in the following budgets:

o General Fund

o Motor Fuel Tax Fund (Fund 210)

o Capital Projects Fund (Fund 400)

o TIF #3 Fund (Fund 262)

o Pension Obligations

▪ August 30 - October 13 – Intense department-level budget discussions around spending targets based on general goals established on August 15.

▪ Thursday, October 13 – Publication of an agenda for a FAC meeting on October 17.

▪ Monday, October 17 – FAC meeting to review proposed, detailed FY2023 Budget highlights, including annual levy assumptions, 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

▪ Monday, October 24 – Council consideration of property tax levy options.

▪ Monday, November 14 – Presentation of a Council resolution establishing a Truth in Taxation Hearing for November 28.

▪ Monday, November 21 and Wednesday, November 23 (if needed) – Back-to-back special Council meetings in joint session with the FAC to go over the proposed FY2023 budget document. The General Fund departments, Capital Funds, Enterprise Funds, and Special Funds will be the focus.

▪ Monday, November 28 – Truth in Taxation Hearing and FY2023 Budget Hearing. First reading on Proposed FY2023 City Budget.

▪ Monday, December 12 – Second reading on Proposed FY2023 City Budget.

▪ December 29 – Last day to file the approved FY2023 Annual Budget and Property Tax Levy with the DeKalb County Clerk.

City Council direction is requested.

Assistive services, including hearing assistance devices, available upon request.

2. Consideration of a Brief Summary of Recent Redevelopment Activity in the Hillcrest/Blackhawk Area.

City Manager’s Summary: The Annie Glidden North (AGN) Revitalization Plan was prepared by Camiros, Ltd. under the guidance of the ad hoc AGN Task Force and presented to the City Council on October 22, 2018. The Plan was a collaborative effort that described strategies for enhancing the quality of life for residents living in a wide area (see attached map) that comprised almost one-quarter of the population of DeKalb at that time.

Each of the Plan strategies had prioritized initiatives. To “identify areas and actions related to physical reinvestment of private property within the neighborhood,” there were two “high priorities”:

▪ The creation of a Lucinda Avenue focus area, “prioritizing redevelopment through a potential public/private partnership,” and

▪ The creation of a Hillcrest/Blackhawk focus area, “prioritizing mixed-use development through a potential public/private partnership.”

This brief summary will focus on the “Hillcrest/Blackhawk” area, with special attention to the City’s involvement and the next steps that might be taken to reach the high priority objective noted above.

History of Redevelopment Activity in the Period 2018-2022

The prime redevelopment area in the Hillcrest/Blackhawk area had long been identified by two building complexes: (1) the 2.42-acre Campus Cinema (1015 Blackhawk Drive) including a large, attached parking area with 184 parking spaces; and (2) the 2.05-acre Hillcrest Shopping Center (1011-1027 Hillcrest Drive) which featured nine first-floor commercial units; 14 second floor apartments; and 140 parking spaces.

To the north of the former Campus Cinema site and immediately south of the former Fanatico’s Restaurant site is a property of about 0.4 acres with about 100 feet of frontage on Blackhawk Drive. This property was once owned by the Emma Andreacchi Trust and the City purchased the parcel through a friendly land swap in October 2019. Altogether, the three parcels constitute approximately 4.87 acres. Further detail regarding the City’s acquisitions can be found in the on-line background to this agenda item.

Since the fall of 2019, the City of DeKalb has come into ownership of all three parcels and has assembled a land area once known for significant crime and failing or failed buildings and has prepared the acreage for private redevelopment. By the end of June 2022, the vacant and seeded parcels had a rolling, rural look:

Now that the 4.87-acre development area has been prepped for future private redevelopment, how should the Council proceed?

Potential Next Steps Toward a Successful Public-Private Partnership to Redevelop the Hillcrest/Blackhawk Focus Area

Now that the 4.87-acre development area has been prepped for future private redevelopment, how should the Council proceed? What is the “process” for determining a prioritized list of uses that would be well-supported by the AGN neighborhood and the broader DeKalb area and, when combined, would generate a sufficient return on investment to attract the capital necessary to create and sustain any redevelopment?

In anticipation of this moment, one of the core objectives of the AGN Revitalization Plan was the creation of a non-profit community development corporation to engage in activities that would promote and support redevelopment. Out of the AGN Task Force a cross-section of stakeholders organized such a board and named it Opportunity DeKalb. The board attained 501 (c)(3) status in the spring of 2021. The City of DeKalb is represented on the Opportunity DeKalb Board and already collaborates closely with the Board in its neighborhood initiatives.

In recent discussions with the board, City officials have welcomed further Interaction with stakeholders such as Northern Illinois University (NIU), the NIU Greek organizations, other local units of government, not-for-profit social service agencies that regularly serve residents in the area, neighborhood businesses, and residents in the variety of neighborhood housing accommodations that include larger apartment complexes, townhouses, fraternity and sorority houses, and single-family homes. In these different types of housing, there are long-time residents, families, students, seniors, single professionals, renters, and homeowners. Most must travel outside the AGN neighborhoods to find services and amenities including healthy groceries, restaurants, health care, childcare, neighborhood meeting space, after-school activities, recreation other than what is offered in the newly upgraded Welsh Park, and jobs.

In what forums can this interaction continue in the direction of a prioritized list of uses that can be defined in a “development profile” that the Council can circulate to prospective development interests? Certainly, such interaction has occurred and will continue in local churches, the University Village community rooms, in informal gatherings in Welsh Park, and in uncounted conversations in residential settings throughout the AGN area.

The City Manager recommends one or several Council workshop sessions in July and August to welcome stakeholder opinion now that the physical and ownership impediments have been removed from the Hillcrest/Blackhawk core development area. These can be joint listening sessions with representation from the Opportunity DeKalb Board. The board is aware that the final disposition of the 4.87-acre development area rests with the City Council, which has invested $2,508,431 in local and federal funds in assembling the lots for revitalization. Additionally, the City Council has invested another $1,873,221 from late 2018 until the present in ancillary improvements including, among other things, new streetlights ($200,000), the extension of wi-fi at no cost to neighborhood residents ($310,000), support for the University Village Collaborative ($150,308), support of Grow Mobile food distributions ($30,324), support for Camp Power and meals ($70,860), Twombly Road sidewalks ($110,000), support for the University Village summer bus shuttle ($53,000), relocation assistance for Hunter Hillcrest tenants ($80,000), and the purchase incentive for Hunter Ridgebrook and other Hunter properties to help supplant an ownership group that was not allied with the AGN objectives.

Out of the listening sessions, a working consensus of essential uses can be developed and synthesized for final Council consideration and action.

City Council direction is recommended.

K. RESOLUTIONS

1. Resolution 2022-058 Accepting the Qualification Based Selection of Hampton, Lenzini, and Renwick, Inc. to Perform Construction Resident Engineer Services for the Double Bridge Replacement Project Impacting N. First Street and Lucinda Avenue and Authorizing the City Engineer to Provide Approvals on All Standard Department of Transportation Selection Documents.

City Manager’s Summary: On February 14, 2002, the Council approved a list of eight “preferred” engineering firms that would were pre-qualified to perform engineering and construction supervision on larger public works projects within DeKalb through 2026. Such “resident engineers” will be needed on the two impactful bridge replacement projects that will be the focus of the City’s capital program in 2023.

City Engineer Zac Gill has recommended the firm of Hampton, Lenzini & Renwick for the replacement of the N. First Street and Lucinda Avenue bridges. The firm has already provided design services in the preliminary phrases of these major projects and has performed intermittent engineering work on major City projects since the 1990s. The bridge work will be principally funded by state and federal monies.

The Council’s selection of the resident engineer does not constitute approval of the actual construction financing or plans. City Council approval of the attached authorizing resolution is recommended.

2. Resolution 2022-059 Appropriating Supplemental Funds in the Sum of $500,000 of Motor Fuel Tax Funds for Maintaining Various Streets and Highways Under the Applicable Provisions of the Illinois Highway Code (Section 22-00000-00-GM) from January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2022, for a Total Appropriation of $2,325,000.

City Manager’s Summary: The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) requires municipalities to pass a resolution estimating total expenditures of Motor Fuel Tax (MFT) funds for general street maintenance for the upcoming fiscal year. The table below summarizes the total MFT expenditures budgeted for 2022 including the $650,000 supplemental increase to street improvements that was part of the FY2022 Budget amendments approved by the Council on May 23 (Ordinance 2022-023).

Operation

Estimated Costs

Road Salt

$ 250,000

Engineering Services

$ 175,000

Electricity – Street Lights and Traffic Signals

$ 300,000

Street Supplies

$ 100,000

Street Resurfacing

$1,500,000

Total

$2,325,000

City Council approval is recommended.

3. Resolution 2022-60 Authorizing an Architectural Improvement Program (AIP) Economic Incentive for 263 E. Lincoln Highway in the Amount of $12,625 (La Calle).

City Manager’s Summary: The Galindo family, doing business as La Calle, have leased the space previously occupied by “The House” at 263 E. Lincoln Highway and have received a building permit to substantially remodel the space to serve as a new entertainment venue. Specific improvements include some demolition, ADA compliance, the installation of life safety lighting and equipment, new cabinetry and casework, a variety of electrical and plumbing improvements, and painting. Construction design and supervision are also included in the total estimated project price of $25,250. The qualifying expenses for the purposes of the TIF #3 “Architectural Improvement Program” total $12,625 (see attachments).

City Council approval of an AIP grant of $12,625 to La Calle is recommended.

4. Resolution 2022-061 Authorizing an Architectural Improvement Program (AIP) Economic Incentive for 641 E. Lincoln Highway in the Amount of $8,616 (Fargo Skateboarding).

City Manager’s Summary: Ariel Ries and Addison Millhorn recently sought the assistance of the City’s Architectural Improvement Program (AIP) to put the finishing touches on a building with architectural significance. Their business, Fargo Skateboarding, occupies nearly 10,000 square feet of what was originally the Fargo Theater on E. Lincoln Highway.

Built in 1927-1929, the Fargo Theater operated until its closing in the 1950s. The space then became a roller rink for a number of years until the old theater space was closed in the late 1970s and a clothing store was established in the lobby area. Eventually, the clothing store closed, and Dimension Dance Academy moved in. The Academy remained in this location for about 30 years. In 2015, Fargo Skateboarding was established in the space and the restoration of the former theater section began).

In the spirit of the building’s history, the owners engaged multiple contractors to design, build, and erect an illuminated sign that echoed the sign once appearing on the theater marque (see attachment). The total cost paid by the owners was $17,231.69. According to the AIP guidelines, such work falls within the “Major Capital Improvement” category which provides a 50% reimbursement in the amount of $8,616.

City Council approval of an AIP grant of $8,616 to Fargo Skateboarding is recommended.

L. ORDINANCES – SECOND READING

None.

M. ORDINANCES – FIRST READING

None.

N. REPORTS AND COMMUNICATIONS

1. Council Member Reports.

2. City Manager Report.

O. EXECUTIVE SESSION

1. Approval to Hold an Executive Session in Order to Discuss the Sale or Lease of Real Property as Provided for in 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(6).

P. ADJOURNMENT

https://www.cityofdekalb.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_07112022-2203