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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/28/2000 COW minutes MINUTES COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MARCH 28, 2000 CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 7:33 p.m. by Mayor Gerald Fadey. Present at the meeting were: Trustees Paul Hoefert, Richard Lohrstorfer, Michaele Skowron and Irvana Wilks. Absent from the meeting were Trustees Timothy Corcoran and Dennis Prikkel Staff members present included Village Manager Michael E. Janonis, Assistant Village Manager David Strahl, Public Information Officer Maura Jandris, Community Development Director William Cooney, Deputy Community Development Director Michael Blue and Planner Judy Connolly. II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Approval of Minutes from March 14, 2000. Motion made by Trustee Hoefert and Seconded by Trustee Lohrstorfer to approve the Minutes. Minutes were approved unanimously. III. CITIZENS TO BE HEARD None. IV. PROSPECT HEIGHTS ARENA UPDATE Mayor Farley provided a general introduction to the topic and stated that many of the concerns that have been raised by Village staff 'have been reviewed and responded to as part of the Traffic Plan. He stated that the Arena is solely within the borders of Prospect Heights and representatives of the Arena and developer and traffic consultant have been invited to provide general information to the Village and residents from the northeast portion of town. Assistant Village Manager Strahl provided a summary of discussions between Mount Prospect and Prospect Heights representatives over the past several years regarding the Arena development. He also introduced Brian Bradley of Prospect Development and Rob OIson of Barton Aschman, the traffic consultant. Brian Bradley of Prospect Development spoke. He stated the main entrance to the Arena will be at ground level with the majority of the seats below grade and up to 25 feet below grade. Therefore, upon entrance to the Arena, patrons would follow the stairwells to their seats downward. He stated this facility is designed for all sporting events that have been contemplated to compete directly with any other Chicago area facility, but the advantage of this Arena is wider seats. The Arena includes suites and a private club in addition to a picnic area for concessions. Rob Olson, Traffic Consultant for the Arena project, spoke. He stated that his firm and his personal experience in designing traffic patterns for stadiums ~s extensive. He stated as part of the research, they looked at numerous traffic patterns around' other facilities of similar nature and felt that the traffic patterns as designed are consistent with any other stadium. He stated the traffic patterns are designed for sold-out shows, He stated there has been extensive work with IDOT to make the necessary improvements to enhance the traffic flow. He stated the main entrance to the stadium is from the frontage road on Palatine Road. He stated the design of the parking facilities are such that they can be revised depending on the event and the projected crowd for the event. He stated there wilt be extensive use of Police personnel at control points for key intersections depending on the size of the events. He Is confident that the traffic flow system is designed to get the vehicles on site quickly and off site quickly because in order for the facility to succeed, it will have to have convenience over other similar facilities. Assistant Village Manager Strahl spoke. He reviewed the highlights of the revised Traffic Plan based on comments from Village staff. Among those items that he highlighted are the following: · Burning Bush will not be extended beyond its current end point. · All traffic in the southern lot of the Arena is physically directed north to Palatine or east to Apple Lane. · Palatine Road will be the main entrance and exit point for traffic and additional curb cuts are anticipated to be installed to facilitate traffic movements. · There ~s no southern entrance as to discourage traffic from using Mount Prospect residential streets. · There will be Traffic Control Officers stationed at critical points throughout the site to ensure efficient traffic flow. · A physical barrier will be installed along the southern property boundary which will further discourage parking in residential areas and walking to the Arena. The barrier will consist of a berm, landscaping and a fence. · A majority of the events will be staged after the typical rush hour periods and the streets that are utilized for transportation to and from the Arena are designed to handled the projected traffic flow since those streets handle more cars now during rush hour than they would from the Arena operation. 2 General comments from the Village Board members included the following items: There was a concern raised if the number of parking spaces that were projected for the Arena use were under estimated, what would be the alternative parking solution There was also a comment regarding additional Traffic Control Officers at other staging points depending on traffic flow. There was a clarification regarding the Arena Liaison Committee for the feedback of issues once the Arena begins operation. Bob Olson responded to some of the comments regarding parking and traffic flow. He stated that their experience regarding Arena parking is such that the site has adequate parking for the events anticipated. He stated they have secured up to an additional 800 off site parking spaces if necessary and employee parking will be handled at a remote site to maximize available parking spaces at the Arena for sold- out events. He also stated that IDOT is in the process of altering the traffic signals to assist in priority traffic flow for the north/south routes to and from the Arena. Brian Bradley responded to some of the comments as follows. He stated the focus of the traffic is to get people in an out of the events as quickly as possible which they feel will be a marketing plus in comparison with other facilities in the Chicago area. He stated season parking passes will be included with any season ticket ,'"- holders for the Arena, however, general admission patrons will be required to stop and pay for parking. He stated if cueing becomes a problem regarding parking, there may be a need to review the parking process and make necessary alterations. Michelle Dore, of 1764 East Camp McDonald Road, spoke. She stated that she used to live in Evanston and has had experience with college students attending events in Which they would illegally park or park in the neighborhood to avoid paying for the parking fee and walk virtually any distance to the event. She also is concerned about how illegally parked cars will be enforced. She suggested that some consideration be given to residential parking stickers. She is also concerned about how theSchool Districts will keep the traffic and children segregated from the traffic flow destined for the area. And, finally, she is concerned that the traffic impact will affect the residents who live in the area that must drive in the area for their various functions. Village Manager Janonis spoke. He stated the Mount Prospect Police Department will enforce illegally parking vehicles on residential streets and will respond depending on the situation. He also stated that residents who have a valid vehicle sticker and who park in the area already could be considered to have a residential parking permit. He stated that it appears from the schedule of events that most events will occur after school. He stated he anticipates that additional signage will ---- be installed to direct patrons to the Arena via major streets. 3 Gall Dieterich, 1324 Peachtree Lane, spoke. She stated that a comment was -- made regarding 800. off site parking spaces that have been identified and is concerned that the shuttle buses avoid the use of Camp McDonald to shuttle the remote patrons to the Arena. Rob OIson stated that it would be very unlikely that the buses would use Camp McDonald since the entrances are on the north side of the facility and there would be no need to drive back and forth. This item was provided for information purposes only and required no Village Board action at this time. V. CORRIDOR DESIGN GUIDELINE UPDATE Plan COmmission members were also present including: Carol Tortorello, Ed Janus, Gary Grouwinkel and Mike Zadel. Community Development Director Bill Cooney provided a summary of what work has been completed to date from the consultant, Wolff Clements, He stated many of th ~ proposed designs that the Board will see this evening have been presented to the Plan Commission for their input a ready and based on additional in put from the Village Board, it is expected that final design can get underway. _ He introduced Frank Clements and Craig Farnsworth from Wolff Clements to provide the information to the Village Board. Craig Farnsworth provided a lengthy slide show illustrating the concepts that their firm is recommending for consideration on vadous corridors and additional signage. General comments from Village Board members included the following items: There was a comment regarding if any cost estimates have been formulated based on the various concepts presented this evening. There was also some discussion regarding how to minimize possible vandalism damage to proposed entrance markers. There was also a concern regarding possible lab ty exposure for the planters that are proposed for installation in the meridian of Golf Road. There were also numerous comments regarding the proposed logo for installation at the entrance markers and on street directional signs depicting Mount Prospect. There was also a discussion regarding the material to be used for the proposed entrance marker walls, Mike Zadel, Chairman of the Plan Commission, spoke. He stated that he liked the keystone symbolism in the logo and felt that the logo could possibly work as ~-. designed. He felt that the walls should be a recognizable theme if scaled down throughout the community. Ed Janus, Plan Commission member, spoke. He stated that he is not sure if the planters would serve any purpose if installed along Golf and that may not be the best location for their installation. He felt that the keystone shape was quite nice and the logo Could be altered to take advantage of the shape. Carol Tortorello, Plan Commission member, spoke. She liked the tree concept and liked the symbolism. Gary Grouwinkel stated that there could be additional work done on the logo to be more meaningful. Frank Clements stated there are different planter options available depending on the streets that may ultimately have planters. He also stated that they will continue working on the proposed logo based on the input from the Villag~ Board this evening. This was an information update to the Village Board requesting information regarding the proposed entrance markers and corridors. Based on the information provided', additional work will be directed to the proposals and a follow up presentation will be scheduled in the near future. VI. MANAGER'S REPORT None. VII.ANY OTHER BUSINESS None. CLOSED SESSION The Closed Session which had been scheduled for the evemng to discuss labor negotiations has been canceled. VIII. ADJOURNMENT No other business was transacted and the meeting was adjourned at 10:26 p,m. Respectfully submitted DAVID STRAHL Assistant Village Manager DS/rcc H:\GEN\~inutes\032800 COW Minutes.doc 5