City Council Planning Sessions

MEMORANDUM TO: Record FROM: Susan Bishel, Public Relations Coordinator SUBJECT: June 26, 2017 City Council Planning Session Minutes DATE: June 27, 2017 CC: Mayor and City Council, City Manager, City Clerk, Department Heads The Planning Session took place in the Council Chambers, Wheaton City Hall, 303 W. Wesley St., Wheaton, Illinois. Those attending the Planning Session included: Mayor Gresk, Councilman Barbier, Councilwoman Fitch, Councilman Prendiville, Councilman Rutledge, Councilman Scalzo and Councilman Suess. Also in attendance were City Manager Dzugan, Assistant City Manager Duguay, Director of Engineering Redman, Director of Finance Lehnhardt and Public Information Officer Thrower. The session began at 7:00 p.m. and concluded at 9:12 p.m. The following items were discussed: I. Call to Order The Wheaton City Council Planning Session was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Mayor Gresk. II. Approval of May 22, 2017 Planning Session Minutes The Council approved the May 22, 2017 Planning Session Minutes. III. Public Comment Paula Barrington, Executive Director of the Downtown Wheaton Association, stated the association’s board voted in favor of keeping Martin Memorial Plaza on the south side of Front Street, rather than moving it to the north side of the street. The board also asked that the City consider adding a water feature to the plaza design. Kay Walgren, president of the DuPage Art League expressed concern about how the construction on Front Street would affect local businesses. IV. Downtown Streetscape Check Point 2 and Funding Assistant City Manager Duguay provided some background on how the City has arrived at Check Point 2. He reviewed some of the changes from the 2016 master plan, including the need to relocate curbs, address grade changes for accessibility and replace traffic signals. He also reviewed the steps the City has taken to reduce the overall cost of the project, including savings on Liberty Drive from West to Hale by not relocating the curb and eliminating structural soil, and limiting curb relocation and structural soil on Main Street from Liberty to Illinois. Also, the project will reduce the cost for the park site improvements along Liberty, reduce the budget for the French Market site, and change designs from festival street to pedestrian streets. Rob Deming of Primera discussed some of the changes to the engineering of the project’s first phase, including increasing traffic lane widths from 10.5-foot lanes to 11-foot lanes to meet PACE Bus Route requirements, revising parking angles and signal modernization. Jon Brooke of Design Workshop reviewed examples of directional signage, banners and wayfinding and signage that they are working on. Mr. Brooke presented three design concepts for Martin Plaza on the south side of Front Street. The first concept is based around movement, incorporating bicycling and the Illinois Prairie Path. The second concept centered around the idea of creating a quiet room in Martin Plaza by surrounding it with trees and creating seating. The third concept highlights the importance of the railroad's history in the downtown by creating a station-like feel with tall columns and spaces to view passing trains. The team also presented two concepts for moving Martin Plaza to the north side of Front Street. Both concepts would create a plaza approximately 100 feet long on the north side of the street where there is currently parking, and maintaining a small plaza on the south side of Front Street that would accommodate a tent. The first design could include moveable seating, art features, lighting features, and a connection between both sides of the street. The second concept featured an outdoor bar and café concept that focuses on outdoor dining, moveable seating, and creating a gateway to the rest of the downtown. All of the concepts would include lighting strung overhead as a decorative feature. Mr. Brooke stated the design team recommends moving the plaza to the north side of Front Street because they feel it would add to the existing streetscape, increase safety by moving the plaza further from the train tracks, create more square footage for the plaza and act as an extension of the current retail areas. However, the designers stated some benefits keeping it on the south side of the tracks would include having a central gathering place and better connecting the north and south sides of downtown. He stated many of the features presented in the various plans could be incorporated into different designs. In terms of including a water feature in the design, Mr. Brooke stated the design budget does not include a large-scale water feature. The original Downtown Plan included a water feature on the south side of the train tracks in the gathering area along Liberty Drive rather than in Martin 6/26/17 Planning Session 2 Plaza. He stated they could include a smaller-scale water feature in Martin Plaza. However, even a small pop-jet style fountain could cost $200,000 or more. Councilman Suess favored Design Workshop’s suggestion of a design on the north side of Front Street, incorporating some plaza features onto both sides of the street, because he feels it is a more balanced design, has a better potential of encouraging people to patronize the businesses in this area, and would make the downtown more pedestrian-friendly. Councilwoman Fitch stated she would like for the City to survey residents to get their opinions on the plaza location. She favored the plaza being relocated to the north side of Front Street, stating she believes residents would prefer a plaza with outdoor seating adjacent to businesses rather than between a busy street and the railroad tracks, and she thinks the parking would be more advantageous to shoppers and French Market patrons on the south side of the street. The rest of the Council expressed support for the design using the south side of Front Street, citing the desire to continue using the existing space for various community events, parking visibility concerns if spaces are moved to the south side of the street, and the desire of downtown business owners to keep the plaza on the south side of the street. In response to Council questions about outdoor dining space availability if the plaza were on the north side of the street, Mr. Brooke stated the wider sidewalks proposed in this project would allow more businesses to have outdoor dining options, not just those located adjacent to the proposed plaza. The proposed design would provide seating as a common space, not for exclusive use by the adjacent businesses. In response to Mr. Brooke's request for feedback, some Council members stated they would like to see a hybrid concept on the south side of Front Street incorporating elements from the north side concept, such as a gateway element, water feature and café seating. Assistant City Manager Duguay stated Primera will be taking the Council's feedback and developing more detailed plans based on the Council's direction. In response to Council questions and feedback about the proposed signage, Mr. Brooke stated they could look at incorporating blue in the design, and the designers would work with City staff to develop branding concepts. Council members expressed a desire to maintain a traditional- looking feel for the design. 6/26/17 Planning Session 3 Council members requested drawings on the types of materials that will be used. Mr. Brooke stated the team will present and discuss this with the Council the next time Design Workshop meets with the Council. Assistant City Manager Duguay reviewed upcoming work, including utility work starting in the fall on three segments of Front Street, and then construction on Front Street from spring 2018 through early fall 2018. Work would continue with the next phase completing utilities in the fall, then construction in the spring and summer of 2019. The fall/summer of 2019-20 would be Main Street and Wheaton Avenue improvements, finishing south of the tracks on Liberty Street with the park and French Market improvements in the fall/summer of 2020-21. In response to Council questions, Mr. Deming stated one lane of Front Street would remain open during construction, though there may be some parking restrictions during this time. Access to businesses will remain open throughout the process. City Manager Dzugan reviewed options for financing this project and how the City can maximize the use of TIF 2 funds for the project. The TIF 2 funds must be used by December 2022. This project is estimated to cost approximately $35 million, with $22.5 million being funded from TIF 2 revenue and $12.5 million being funded from non-TIF funds. City Manager Dzugan stated staff estimates the City will need to borrow $10-15 million to fund this project, and the City can allocate $2-$4 million from the Capital Projects Fund reserve toward this project. City Manager Dzugan reviewed previous discussions regarding funding this project. He reviewed some revenue options, including a 0.25% local sales tax increase, a food and beverage tax, Capital Projects Fund reserves, property tax rate increase, a French Market lease, a tax on local downtown businesses or business district sales tax. Another option would be to loan money for the General Fund for this project. The loan would be paid back over time through an increase in the local sales tax. City staff will continue to look at financial options for this project. The Council desired further review of the staff's option to implement a 0.25% local sales tax to cover debt/loan obligations, borrow $8 million to $10 million from the General Fund, and have the Capital Projects Fund reserve balance fund $2 million to $4 million toward the project. The Council also asked the staff research options for the local property owners benefiting from the improvements to financially participate through either a Special Service Area and/or Special Assessment. 6/26/17 Planning Session 4 V. City Council/Staff Comments The Council encouraged the community to attend the Wheaton Park District's Fourth of July Parade at 10 a.m. July 4. VI. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 9:12 p.m. 6/26/17 Planning Session 5