Building & Zoning Committee

VILLAGE OF NILES 1000 Civic Center Drive Niles, IL 60714 www.vniles.com Meeting Minutes June 25, 2020 8:15 AM Zoom Videoconference BUILDING AND ZONING COMMITTEE MEETING Chairman Denise McCreery – Trustee Members Charles Ostman – Community Development Director Rich Wlodarski – Community Development Assistant Director Tom Kanelos – Chairman Planning and Zoning Hadley Skeffington–Vos – Deputy Village Manager Danielle Grcic – Village Attorney Rich Mangold – Resident Building and Zoning Meeting Minutes June 25, 2020 Committee Meeting CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL The Niles Building and Zoning Committee meeting was called to order at 8:17 AM. Present: 10 – Chairman McCreery, Ostman, Wlodarski, Kanelos, Mangold, Thake, Skeffington- Vos, Grcic, Lockerby, and Bruemmer Guests: 1 – Bill Przbylski (Chicago Billboard) Absent: 1- Mayor Andrew Przybylo APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chairman McCreery asked for a motion to approve the minutes of February 20, 2020 meeting. Ostman moved to approve the minutes, Mangold seconded. AYES: 6 - Chairman McCreery, Ostman, Wlodarski, Kanelos, Mangold, Skeffington- Vos NAYS: 0 ABSTAIN: 0 OLD BUSINESS I. Consideration in Recommending Chicago Billboard Contract for Entrance Signage with Digital Message Center Bill Przbylski stated it is tough to monitor whether or not the people advertising is local or not, it also limits prospects. Trustee McCreery inquired about national advertisers such as Goodyear Tires. Przbylski stated Chicago Billboard has strict prohibitions on the types of businesses that can be advertised. Chicago Billboard would offer the Village advertising space to advertise public services 24/7, such as COVID-19 information and Village closures. This would constitute over a 1,000 impressions daily. Ostman inquired about advertising in Hoffman Estates. Przbylski stated yes. Mangold inquired about Fire and Police advertisings. Przbylski stated passwords are given to first responders and their advertising take precedence over other announcements. Chairman McCreery inquired about location and size of signage. Village of Niles Page 2 of 10 Building and Zoning Meeting Minutes June 25, 2020 Committee Meeting Bill Przbylski stated they are 8x16 or 7x14. Chairman McCreery inquired as to what size the sign would be in the Village Bill Przbylski stated they would value input on signage size and branding guidelines, depending on Village codes. Actual scree size is 6x12 and it’s scalable. Ostman stated there are two areas to amend to approve outside advertising. Mangold stated that purpose of signage is Welcome to Niles, purpose is getting diluted to allow national advertising. Ostman echoed the thought. Ostman stated Chicago Billboard does a great job, but does not think this would be for the Village of Niles right now. Chairman McCreery stated $70,000 per sign. Chairman went on to say her main concern is location. Chairman McCreery inquired what happens if we approve or deny the motion to Attorney Grcic. Attorney Grcic stated that should the motion die here, there’s nothing that stops the applicant to request a text amendment be brought to the Zoning board. Motion: Chairman McCreery entertained a motion. Ostman motioned to recommend Chicago Billboard Contract for Entrance Signage with Digital Message Center. Skeffington-Vos seconded. AYES: 3 - Chairman McCreery, Kanelos, Skeffington-Vos NAYS: 3 - Mangold, Ostman, Wlodarski ABSTAIN: 0 Motion did not pass. Village of Niles Page 3 of 10 Building and Zoning Meeting Minutes June 25, 2020 Committee Meeting II. Discussion on Proposed Ordinance on Services by Pro Champs for Foreclosures Wlodarski consideration of foreclosed properties and vacant properties? The amount of the fee. Chairman McCreery has concerns with vacant properties, 10 days to register properties vacant, 30 days for foreclosed. If there are renters, is the property being registered? Ostman recommends just going forward with foreclosures only with a $200 fee every six (6) months. After a year the fee can be reevaluated and make adjustments at that time. Mangold stated he sees no negatives to the program and considers if we have the ability to see where vacancies are we should do it. Kanelos is fine with just doing foreclosures. Chairman McCreery sees no problem to have a $300 fee. Motion: Chairman McCreery entertained a motion. Ostman motioned to propose to the Village Board an ordinance on services by Pro Champs for registering properties in foreclosures at the rate of $600 per year per property. Mangold seconded. AYES: 6 - Chairman McCreery, Ostman, Wlodarski, Kanelos, Mangold, Skeffington- Vos NAYS: 0 ABSTAIN: 0 Motion passed. Village of Niles Page 4 of 10 Building and Zoning Meeting Minutes June 25, 2020 Committee Meeting NEW BUSINESS I. Approval of members for Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee There were many qualified applicants, an interview process was started. Lockerby stated they were able to interview all thirteen candidates, all were wonderful and could do a great job. Five of them stood out as having background that lend itself to being part of the committee. Bruemmer echoed the thought that they were all great candidates. Chairman McCreery asked if there were there any questions about the recommended candidates. Mangold stated he trusts the interview process. Mangold inquired if committee could grow to eight members. Chairman McCreery stated yes, that would be possible. Kanelos stated unless there was a compelling reason, to stick to five members. Trustee McCreery stated she would like to discuss adding an additional three candidates to the recommended group. Charles Ostman stated there is no right answer as to how many people should be in the committee other municipalities have upwards of sixteen Lockerby stated having 12-15 members would be fine as recommended by The Lakota Group. Village of Niles Page 5 of 10 Building and Zoning Meeting Minutes June 25, 2020 Committee Meeting Motion: Chairman McCreery entertained a motion. Ostman motioned to approve the following members for Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee: Michael DeSantiago, Janet Lee, Joe Maccione, Dennis McEnerney, John Murphy, Collin Baker, Adam Konopka, and Scott O’Brien, along with four additional members consisting of Tom Kanelos, Denise McCreery, Craig Niedermaier, and Mike Shields. Wlodarski seconded. AYES: Chairman McCreery, Kanelos, Skeffington-Vos, Mangold, Ostman, Wlodarski NAYS: ABSTAIN: Motion passed. II. Recommendation of text amendments for Zoning Code Lockerby stated they have evaluated the code and through the normal course of business, a number of sections of the code should be reviewed and modified. 1. Section 15.3G – Special Use Expiration a. Recommended that the following section (15.3G-1-e) be added to the Zoning Ordinance to address with properties with special uses that have been abandoned for more than six months. b. Discussion 2. Add residential as a permitted/special use in ENT-MU District and modifying allowed residential uses in the C districts. a. Recommending Dwelling – Above the Ground Floor be added to the ENT-MU District as a permitted use, and Dwelling – Townhouse and Dwelling – Multi-Family be added to the ENT- MU District as special uses. It is also recommended that Dwelling – Single Family, Dwelling - Townhouse, and Dwelling – Multi- Family all be changed from permitted uses to special uses in the C- 3 District. b. Discussion Village of Niles Page 6 of 10 Building and Zoning Meeting Minutes June 25, 2020 Committee Meeting 3. Define Contractor and Construction Office a. Recommended that a definition for these types of uses be added to the Zoning Ordinance. Contractor and Construction Office. Offices for businesses in the conduct of any building trade or building craft, together with land and/or structures used for the storage of equipment, vehicles, machinery, or building materials related to and used by the building trade or craft. A contractor office with no equipment or material storage is considered an office. b. Discussion 4. Section 5.2 Clarify 250 foot distance only applies to retail uses from major intersections/lighted intersections a. Recommendation that the section be modified to clarify that the imposed requirement is only at intersections with traffic signals, and that this requirement applies to 250 feet from the intersections, not only corner lots. b. Discussion 5. Add parking requirements for various uses a. Recommended that parking requirements for the uses enumerated in the memorandum be added to Table 10-2 of the Zoning Ordinance. b. Discussion 6. Make Restaurants Special Uses in all districts in which they are allowed (including ENT-MU?) a. Discussion about the potential of making all restaurants in the C-1, C-2, C-3, C-4, C-5, and OR Districts special uses rather than permitted uses. If this proposed change is approved, it is also suggested that a special use waiver process be created that allows the Community Development Department to waive the special use requirements if the restaurant is less than 4,000 square feet or if it’s a carry-out restaurant with 10 or fewer seats. This will allow smaller restaurants that may not have a negative effect on the immediate surroundings to bypass the special use process. b. Discussion occurred and it was decided that the proposed text amendment was not recommended at this time. 7. Make Outdoor Seating allowed as a permitted use in the ENT-MU District a. Recommended that the section be modified to allow Outdoor Seating as permitted in the ENT-MU district. b. Discussion Village of Niles Page 7 of 10 Building and Zoning Meeting Minutes June 25, 2020 Committee Meeting 8. Parking for Adult-Use Cannabis Dispensing Organizations a. After further review, we have a few options. 1. We can make the parking requirement subject to the authority of the Director of Community Development, 2. We can increase the parking requirement so that it may meet the more immediate demand. The problem with this is in the long run, the demand will slow down as other businesses open. We do not want large parking lots that are not needed. 3. We can leave the parking requirement as is b. After discussion, it was decided that option 3 was appropriate at this time. 9. Change R-2-35A and R-2-35B a. a. It is recommended that no modifications be made to Table 4-1 at this time to address the minimum lot width requirement in the R-2- 35B District. b. It is recommended that no modifications be made to Table 4-1 at this time to address the front yard setback issues in the R-2-35A District. The proposed modifications under the section below (proposed amendment #12), which proposed allowing second floor additions to encroach into the front yard as long as it is no more than 20% of the lot width (5 feet) would address many of the situations in the R-2-35A District. b. No Discussion, as the recommendation was that no modifications were to be made. 10. Section 16.3F – allow encroachments into FRONT yard also a. Recommended that the section be modified to allow for (non- conforming) front yard setback requirements to be included in the non-conforming section. b. Discussion Mangold inquired 11. Give Village Board the authority on variations that are in conjunction with other zoning actions. a. At this time, it is recommended that the ultimate authority for projects that involve variations and a separate zoning request be evaluated. Upon preliminary review, it appears that the Village Board should have final authority on variations that involve other zoning actions that the Village Board has final authority. b. Discussion After much discussion Lockerby will bring discuss amendment number 11 with Grcic for final language. Village of Niles Page 8 of 10 Building and Zoning Meeting Minutes June 25, 2020 Committee Meeting Motion: Chairman McCreery entertained a motion. Ostman motioned approve recommendation of text amendments for Zoning Code, excluding amendment #6, 8, and 9. Wlodarski seconded. AYES: Chairman McCreery, Kanelos, Skeffington-Vos, Mangold, Ostman, Wlodarski NAYS: ABSTAIN: Motion passes. III. Recommendation of text amendments for Building Code Tabled IV. General discussion on unimproved alleys/fences Tabled V. Discussion on safety devices to commercial entrances Tabled VI. Discussion on new members and staff voting Tabled PUBLIC COMMENT None ANNOUNCEMENTS St. Haralambos is passing out groceries Village of Niles Page 9 of 10 Building and Zoning Meeting Minutes June 25, 2020 Committee Meeting NEXT MEETING DATE – Thursday, July 23, 2020. ADJOURNMENT Chairman McCreery asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting at 10:15 AM. Mangold moved to adjourn. Seconded by Kanelos. AYES: 5 - Chairman McCreery, Ostman, Wlodarski, Kanelos, Mangold NAYS: 0 ABSTAIN: 0 Motion Passed. Village of Niles Page 10 of 10