Economic Development Committee

1 APPROVED 2 MINUTES OF THE NORTHBROOK ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITEE 3 Village Hall Terrace Room 4 October 26, 2016 5 Members Present: Chairman James Kahan, Carol Currie, Jessica Donato, Sandra Frum, Tensley Garris, 6 Jay Glaubinger, R. J. Gravel, Edwin Feld, Cathy Lauria, Mike Riggle, Karen Roloff, Richard Rushkewicz, Ken 7 Slepicka, Ken Spero, Joel Taub, and Brian Wegley. 8 Staff Present: David Schoon 9 Recorder: S. Anetsberger 10 Call to Order & Introductions: 11 ECD Chairman Kahan called the meeting to order in the Northbrook Village Hall, Terrace Room at 7:30 12 a.m. Everyone introduced themselves. 13 Review of Minutes: 14 A recommendation was made to make the following corrections: 15 Page 1, Line 11 - Change Board Room to Terrace Room 16 Page 3, Line 34 - switch order of words facilities and businesses to read "What kind of facilities are 17 growing businesses looking for" 18 Page 3, Line 4 - Title should read, "R. J. Gravel Assistant Superintendent" 19 A motion was made and seconded to accept the July 13, 2016 EDC minutes as amended with three 20 corrections. The motion was approved by unanimous voice vote. 21 Public Comment-Hear from the Audience - None 22 Community Planning & Economic Development Coordinator Report 23 David Schoon, Village Staff Liaison provided updates regarding the following developments: Northeast 24 Northbrook (1) NorthShore 770 - nearly all occupancy permits have been issued; (2) Marathon Station 25 at Dundee and Skokie Blvd - Marathon owner and Rehab Institute will present a joint application to 26 Board for re-subdivision and rezoning of property on November 15; (3) Life Time Fitness at 1000 Skokie - 27 three component project approved at last Board meeting, applicant is working on getting approval 28 documents recorded; (4) Lock Up Self Storage at Sunset Ridge and Skokie Boulevard continues to be 29 under construction; (5) Sober Living Facility at 1620 Sunset Ridge Rd. has not yet submitted formal 30 application for supportive living environment, needs text amendment and special permit; (6) Green 31 Acres Country Club - property is being marketed by Colliers and is accepting and reviewing bids on the 32 123 acre parcel; (7) Three properties along Skokie corridor are seeking special permit process for 33 signage; 8) Dick's Sporting Goods is looking to take over the space vacated by Garden Fresh on Skokie 34 Blvd; Northwest Northbrook (9) Timber's Edge continues to move forward; (10) OrangeTheory physical 35 fitness along with Goldfish Swim School seek special permit approval to operate in former Ace Hardware 36 space on; (11) Prinz Ltd., 512 Lindberg seeks special permit for a small retail sales area; Downtown (12) 1  EDC Meeting Minutes – October 26, 2016 1 Village Green Center construction is moving along; (13) Jacob's Home project is in for final engineering 2 approval; (14) Downtown Zoning Regulations - Village Board directed staff to adopt form-based lite 3 approach to include height, build-to-lines, and transparency issues. New draft will be delivered to Plan 4 Commission for their consideration; South Central Northbrook (15) Heritage Woods Assisted Living 5 Facility at Techny and Shermer - formal application has been submitted, Architectural Commission has 6 concerns about bulk and scale; (16) High end car auto storage facility at Old Willow and Shermer - soil 7 study found a fair amount of contamination on site, applicant walked away; 17) Ultimo Motors on 8 Holste Rd. sales tax rebate was approved by the Village Board; (18) CrossFit on Janke Rd. - Village Board 9 rezoned property and approved special permit; (19) Martial Arts studio at 1625 Shermer needs to be 10 rezoned to Commercial and needs special permit; Southeast Northbrook (20) Edward James Homes on 11 Voltz Rd. - site work should start soon; (21) Lodge expansion approved for an additional 50 units; (22) 12 David Weekley Homes on Landwehr - seven lot subdivision with new developer; (23) David Schoon, 13 Village staff liaison attended the International Council of Shopping Centers Deal Making Session at Navy 14 Pier to build successful business partnerships. 15 A member asked how do you fill empty big box store spaces? Liaison Schoon answered that it is a 16 struggle to fill the big spaces and that they often have to be broken up into smaller spaces to fill them. 17 ICDC update 18 Liaison Schoon stated that ICDC hosted representatives from: Allstate, Bernhard Woodworking, 19 Highland Baking, Lord & Taylor, Macy's, UPS, Waterway and Wiss Janney Elstner, all located within 20 Northbrook, representing hourly, retail, manufacturing, trades, and big business, to discuss the efforts 21 used to recruit and retain employees and the challenges that businesses are facing. Representatives 22 from the retail sector are facing challenges recruiting employees. The Commission found that it is a 23 bigger regional issue and not just a Northbrook issue. Guest representatives shared that it is a challenge 24 to find hourly employees within close proximity due to housing costs and public transportation. Mass 25 transit is not an option as most hourly employees do not work 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. schedules. The 26 representatives stated that there is a lack of apprenticeship programs for the trades in terms of area 27 high schools. Schools are gearing kids towards college vs. trades. The Commission also heard from the 28 business representatives that it is hard to get high school kids to work part time jobs. The 29 representatives stated that the goal of getting kids a good education means that they are involved in 30 after school activities and community service rather than seeking out part time employment. Member 31 Garris stated that retailers are in desperate situations because of a lack of employees. The Commission 32 discussed how and if the Village and Chamber could be of help. 33 The Commission stated that millennials choose to live in an urban environment with a lot of activity and 34 it is difficult to attract them. The senior workforce is an option, but many seniors choose not to work 35 during the winter as they may be gone from the area. 36 The Commission discussed taking a job fair directly to the people seeking jobs but transportation to 37 Northbrook is the issue. Time spent commuting to Northbrook means a loss of pay. 2  EDC Meeting Minutes – October 26, 2016 1 A member asked if the businesses advertise in any of the apartment complexes located within Glenview. 2 Liaison Schoon answered that without transportation, a couple of miles makes a big difference. 3 Pace Bus Stop 4 ICDC has been working with Pace to place a bus shelter at Commercial and Academy in Sky Harbor for 5 Shuttle Bug routes that run from Metra to employment centers. Area businesses contribute towards the 6 cost of the transit routes. The Commission continues to follow the progress. 7 Cook County Sick Leave Ordinance 8 Cook County businesses must provide sick leave as per a County adopted ordinance going into effect on 9 July 1, 2017. Municipalities can adopt their own ordinance and exempt businesses within their 10 community from having to adhere to the County ordinance. The Village could issue its own ordinance to 11 say that businesses only need to comply with state and federal labor laws. ICDC is leaning towards a 12 position that the Village Board should exempt businesses from complying with the County ordinance. 13 Village Board President, Sandra Frum stated that the Village Board will study the County ordinance. 14 A member asked if the question of sick leave on the November voting ballot was related to the Cook 15 County Sick Leave Ordinance. The answer was that they are not related. 16 Updates from Each Taxing District 17 Library - The Library is working with their insurance company to make repairs after a van ripped the 18 canopy on the east side of the building. Two library trustees have announced their resignation. A robust 19 number of applicants have expressed interest in the open trustee positions. The levy was approved and 20 finances are in good shape. The Library is working on their strategic plan. 21 Park District - Swimming pool construction at West Park is on schedule to open in June 2017. The 22 Master Strategic Plan will not be finished until the end of the year. Molly Hamer, newly appointed 23 Executive Director, is planning to be present at the next meeting. Bonds were retired and hopefully 24 there will be reductions in tax bills. 25 District #27 - Summer renovations were all completed on schedule. The teachers' contract was 26 extended. The Union and the teachers work well together. The fund balance reserve is good. The District 27 continues to pursue cost containment measures. 28 District #28 - Full day kindergarten has been well received. The District is in the midst of the levy 29 process. A 21st Century Learning Initiative kick off is taking place. The District is watching School Funding 30 Reform. 31 District #30 - District is working on implementing the comprehensive plan process. $4.1 million was 32 spent over the last three years at the elementary level on maintenance. Millions of dollars worth of 33 work was determined to be needed at Maple School. A Steering Committee and a Citizen Task Force 34 team assessed the needs at Maple before a decision was made to move forward with debt service 3  EDC Meeting Minutes – October 26, 2016 1 bonds. Three different approaches were offered. The community is invited to take part in the process by 2 attending an educational tour offered on three separate dates. 3 District #31 - Bonds were issued last year for capital improvements for HVAC replacement. The project is 4 almost finished. Life safety issues are almost complete. Bonds in the amount of $1,000,000 were issued 5 for operating expenses and monies are being used to reinstate some previously cancelled programs. The 6 Board of Education approved the recommendation of the Education Foundation to move from Ipads to 7 Chromebooks for grades 6-8 for fiscal year 2017. 8 District #225 - Some existing bonds from 2007 were successfully refinanced with a savings of $8,000,000 9 by taking advantage of low interest rates. Life Safety Bonds in the amount of $15,000,000 were issued. 10 The levy recommendation is complete with a 3% recommendation. An agreement between Allstate, 11 District 31 and District 225 is in place for the triennial assessment up to year 2019. The ten year forecast 12 for growth at GBN/GBS has softened slightly. 13 Village of Northbrook - The Village will hold a discussion on Amtrak's proposal to add three trains (six, 14 round trips) daily from Chicago to Milwaukee that will travel through Northbrook. Freight trains would 15 move to an extra siding that would be added from Lake Street to Techny. A second bridge would need 16 to be built over Shermer. A public hearing will take place. 17 President Frum stated Northbrook is going through a caucus process. The caucus is looking at sales tax 18 and repurposing property. Sales tax within Northbrook is flat as many choose to purchase online. At 19 present, sales tax money received on internet purchases goes back to the State. The State of Illinois is 20 looking at adding a services sales tax but we do not know how the money received would be distributed. 21 Questions in the future for the Village will be: How do we repurpose property? How do we repurpose 22 Northbrook Court? Repurposing of some of the commercial areas over the next 5-10 years within 23 Northbrook is an issue that aligns itself with EDC and promoting investment in industrial and commercial 24 areas. 25 Discussion Regarding Promoting Investment in Non-Residential Areas 26 Chairman Kahan stated that after a conversation with Member Korman, the take away was that the 27 market has a whole lot more supply of space than demand. Chairman Kahan stated that homeowners 28 owners invest in their spaces to make them more valuable, but why does that not happen in the 29 industrial area? Repurposing properties does not always generate more sales tax than the prior property 30 did. Decisions in the residential sector are not driven purely by economics, but also by emotions. 31 Northbrook Court is a big economic asset within the Village. A decision was made to have a 32 representative from Northbrook Court come and address the joint EDC/ICDC meeting January 25, 2017. 33 Chairman Kahan said that by monitoring the data on equalized assessed value (EAV) we can see what 34 the trends are. The residential contribution in terms of EAV is going up but non residential is going 35 down. Homeowners will be bearing the burden more and more. 4  EDC Meeting Minutes – October 26, 2016 1 Member Roloff stated that there is a need to get the Commission's arms wrapped around these 2 important issues. She suggested either lengthening the meeting time, streamlining what happens within 3 the meeting time, or change the order of the meeting. 4 Old Business 5 Chairman Kahan stated that the Joint Review Board learned that the Village has received the first 6 incremental tax collection from improvement made at the NorthShore 770 site. Given the Village is 7 earning very little on the money in the TIF account, it would behoove the Village to accelerate the 8 payment of any cash in the account in order to minimize the interest owed to the developer. 9 10 New Business 11 Tensley Garris, President of Northbrook Chamber of Commerce invited membership to attend the 12 Annual Auction and Taste scheduled on November 1. 13 Adjourn 14 On motion made and seconded, the meeting was adjourned at 9:05 a.m. The next EDC meeting is a joint 15 meeting with ICDC scheduled for January 25, 2017 at 7:30 a.m., Village Hall Board Room. 16 Respectfully Submitted - Sue Anetsberger 5