City Council Planning Sessions

MEMORANDUM TO: Record FROM: Susan Bishel, Public Relations Coordinator SUBJECT: June 11, 2018 City Council Planning Session Minutes DATE: June 13, 2018 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: Councilman Barbier, Councilwoman Fitch, Mayor Gresk, Councilman Prendiville, Councilman Rutledge and Councilman Scalzo. Councilman Suess was absent. Also in attendance were City Manager Dzugan, Assistant City Manager Duguay, Police Chief Volpe, Director of Engineering Redman, Director of Planning & Economic Development Kozik, Public Information Officer Thrower, Deputy Chief Murphy and Deputy Police Chief Miller. The session began at 7:00 p.m. and concluded at 8:15 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. Public Comment Downtown Wheaton Association Executive Director Paula Barrington, 108 E Wesley Street, spoke on behalf of the Downtown Wheaton Association. She emphasized the need to market the downtown, especially during the downtown streetscape project, and as local retailers face challenges competing with online retailers. Ms. Barrington stated a new Special Service Area agreement would allow the Downtown Wheaton Association to continue these marketing efforts. She thanked the City for its continued support of the downtown. III. Approval of May 29, 2018 Planning Session Minutes The Council approved the May 29, 2018 Planning Session Minutes. IV. Special Service Area 7 Replacement Mayor Gresk recused himself from the discussion on Special Service Area 7. Councilman Scalzo acted as Mayor Pro Tem for this discussion item. City Manager Dzugan reviewed the Council’s previous Planning Session discussions regarding a replacement for Special Service Area 7. To move forward with an ordinance for the Council’s formal consideration, City Manager Dzugan sought the Council’s direction on the Special Service Area’s term, boundaries and tax rate. Based on the Council’s previous direction, City Manager Dzugan stated the purpose of the SSA was expanded to include covering the costs of some additional services the City provides. The Council last discussed the proposed boundary to be the current boundary plus three rental properties: 121 N Cross Street, Courthouse Square apartments, and 1 Wheaton Center. City Manager Dzugan stated adding these properties and maintaining the tax rate of 0.45% would yield an estimated $413,000 in revenue. He also reviewed tax rates if the City chose not to levy the full amount. Councilman Prendiville, Councilman Rutledge and Councilwoman Fitch expressed a desire to keep the boundaries of the SSA the same as the current boundaries. Some of the reasons cited were the belief that the increased tax on the rental property owners would likely be passed on to renters in the form of higher rents, and that some of the costs for the Downtown Wheaton Association’s events and marketing should be funded by the entire city, as events and a vibrant downtown benefit the entire community. Councilman Barbier and Mayor Pro Tem Scalzo expressed a desire for the replacement SSA to generate enough revenue to fully fund the Downtown Wheaton Association, without the City’s General Fund being used to fund a portion of the DWA’s budget. Mayor Pro Tem Scalzo stated he supports including the three rental properties discussed in the replacement SSA. City Manager Dzugan replied to Council questions about the stated purpose of the SSA by stating City staff drafted the replacement SSA purpose to be broad enough so that the SSA funding could help fund some of the special costs borne by the City for maintaining the downtown. City Manager Dzugan and Director of Planning & Economic Development Kozik reviewed previous changes to the SSA and TIF 2 by stating the City made changes that allowed for the increment TIF revenue to be part of the DWA funding. This allowed the City to lower the SSA tax rate from 0.95% to 0.45% and allocate the TIF increment revenue generated from the tax rate back to the DWA. City Manager Dzugan stated Councilman Suess expressed interest in including the three rental properties in the new SSA boundaries and levying the full amount of $413,000. 6/11/18 Planning Session 2 Councilman Barbier stated he would like to keep the boundaries as they are and raise the rate levied to fully fund the DWA. Councilman Rutledge stated he would support this. City Manager Dzugan stated this item will be placed on the June 18 agenda for the Council’s consideration, but the Council might be able to delay a vote until July 2 or call a special meeting June 25 in order to comply with the state statutes time limit requirements for establishing a replacement SSA. V. 25 mph Residential Street Speed Limit Implementation Plan Mayor Gresk returned to the meeting at 7:35. City Manager Dzugan reviewed three elements involved in implementing a 25 mph speed limit on residential streets: engineering, education and enforcement. The Council had several previous discussions about this potential change from 30 mph to 25 mph on residential streets, and KLOA performed a traffic study for the City. The study recommended certain streets remain at their current speed limits of 30 mph or 35 mph due to their characteristics and use. The City’s aim is to have a measurable reduction in vehicle speeds on residential streets. Engineering costs, which would include signage and ordinance changes, would total approximately $52,000, and educational components would cost approximately $2,500. City staff recommends rolling out the speed limit change in conjunction with its back-to-school safety campaign in August. While engineering, education and enforcement are all important pieces of the implementation, City Manager Dzugan stated traffic experts find enforcement to be the most effective element in causing a reduction in speed. The Wheaton Police Department provided its implementation plan, including resource acquisition and allocation, proactive enforcement and assessment analysis. Since 2003, the City has reduced its police force by 3 sworn police officers. City Manager Dzugan stated the reduction in officers has reduced the resources available for traffic enforcement, and he believes this directly corresponds with increased numbers of traffic speed complaints from residents in residential areas. The Wheaton Police Department recommends the City Council add two police officers to have the resources necessary to effectively reduce speed. The Police Department’s proposed action plan also recommends the City purchase two new electronic speed monitoring signs to aid in awareness. 6/11/18 Planning Session 3 City Manager Dzugan stated he believes the cost for rolling out this campaign can be absorbed by the short fiscal year 2018 budget, but the addition of 2 police officers would need additional consideration as part of the City’s 2019 budget. The majority of the Council spoke in favor of implementing the plan as proposed. Councilwoman Fitch stated she would like to implement the engineering and education elements but would like to revisit whether to add more police officers at a later time, when the City can measure if engineering and education have helped reduce speeds on residential streets. Police Chief Volpe answered Council questions about crash data by stating most crashes happen at intersections, whereas the focus of this effort is to reduce speed on residential streets. He answered a question about enforcement efforts by stating that the proposed enforcement would not just be on the most heavily traveled streets. He stated with additional resources available, the Police Department would first focus on enforcing the streets that studies have shown there to be the most speeding, more heavily traveled roads and areas where the Police Department has received the most complaints. Then eventually, officers would be able to address streets that are classified on a lower tier. In response to a Council comment about whether the City needs to add police offers for additional enforcement, City Manager Dzugan stated the enforcement is widely believed to be the largest motivator for people to reduce their speeds, and the Police Department needs additional resources to accomplish this. Police Chief Volpe stated to accomplish the level of enforcement required without additional officers, he would need to pull beat officers and/or investigators off their assignments to assist with traffic enforcement. City Manager Dzugan answered a Council question by stating while City staff is seeking direction on whether to hire additional police officers, due to the time it takes to hire new officers, they would likely not be in place until 2019. Chief Volpe stated the initial rollout could be accomplished by shifting some of the current assignments and possible overtime. In response to a Council question about why the plan calls for reducing the number of speed limit signs, Director of Engineering Redman stated decades ago, before the Police Department had a traffic control unit, the City added many more speed limit signs to attempt to raise awareness, but there are more signs than the City believes are necessary or useful. City Manager stated based on the Council’s feedback, City staff will prepare a speed limit ordinance for their consideration, and staff can make preparations for the implementation plan. 6/11/18 Planning Session 4 The majority of the Council directed City staff to move forward with the hiring of two police officers, with the funding to be part of the 2019 budget. City Council/Staff Comments There were no comments. VII. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 8:15 p.m. 6/11/18 Planning Session 5