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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/26/1993 COW minutes MINUTES COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE OCTOBER 26, 1993 I. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was celled to order by Mayor Gerald Farley at 7 33 p m Present at the meeting were Trustees T~mothy Corcoran, Richard Hendncks, Paul Hoefert, Michaele Skowron and Irvana Wilks ~-Absent from the meeting was Trustee George Clowes Also present at the meebng were V~llage Manager M~chael Janoms, Assistant to the V~llage Manager David Strahl, Village Planner Ray Forsythe, V~llage Attorney Everette H~II, Inspection Serwces D~rector Chuck Benc~c, F~nance Director Dawd Jepson, Public Works D~rector Herbert Weeks and Deputy Pubhc Works D~rector Glen Andler II. MINUTES I Motion by Trustee Skowron to approve the Minutes of August 24, 1993 and ~ ~- Seconded by Trustee Hoefert Trustee Wilks abstained ~ ' Motion to approve the Minutes of September 14, 1993 by Trustee W~lks and Seconded by Trustee Hoefert Minutes were approved w~th one abstention by Trustee Hendncks Trustee Wilks requested a minor modification of her d~scuss~on concerning SWANCC, page 7, of the M~nutes The correct~on was read aloud and the M~nutes will be revised by the following meeting III, CITIZENS TO BE HEARD Jed Peeler, 316 No~h Elm Street spoke Mr Peeler is a 40-year resident and he read a statement concerning the ban on firearms Th~s ban includes niles and other types of weapons w~thln the V~llage of Mount Prospect through a Cook County regulation He requested the V~llage Board consider repeal of th~s law m Mount Prospect through the exer=se of their home rule powers IV. SINGLE-FAMILY HOME CONVERSION ORDINANCE Trustee Hoefert stated th~s ~ssue centered on the number of properbes w~th~n the V~llage ~n which single-family homes have been converted to multi-family dwelling un,ts He stated these conversions are ~llegal under the current Code Trustee Hoefert stated he would consider a phase-out of these non-conforming structures ~n order to make them meet current Codes He would favor the enforcement of th~s Code on a complaint bas~s to minimize impact on staff time The phase-out could be accomphshed through a five-year amortization period He felt the extended family s~tuabon could be accommodated if there were certain restncbons to the structure, for example, an ~ntenor passage and there was a no- rent s~tuabon Some nobficat~on would have to be handled through the Real Estate Transfer or water b~lhng records the Vdlage currently has He also suggested there be penalties considered for conversions w~thout permits Village Attorney Evemtte Hill stated the best possible way to address these ~llegal conversmns ~s through a complaint,system Even though many ex~sbng conversions are ~llegal, some may, m fact, have been m place pnor to the passage ~ of the current Code restnct~ons These pre-existing converst~ons would be considered ex~sflng, non-conforming uses For example, what to do when a complaint ~s made dunng the amortization bme frame He recommended that the burden of proof be put on the owner to show the unit was not ~llegal and ~n existence pnor to 1964 which was the date the Code was adopted Another suggesbon is to consider asking residents to register their unit with the ,V~llage and the Village could c~te non-registered owners The key to reg~strabon ~s the nobficabon campaign carned out by the Vdlage ,Through the Real Estate Transfer Tax, a property could be recorded at the brae of transfer and there has to be special conslderabon m order not to hold up a sell of real estate due to the ~llegal use In order to do th~s, the item could be attached to the btle of the real estate, Resident Bill Reddy, 105 Souttt Elm, spoke He currently hves across the street from an illegal non-conforming structure He stated the home is m d~srepa~r and he would ask the Board to consider Trustee Hoefert's Ordinance to correct these non-conforming uses He has also expenenced th~s problem at h~s previous home m Mount Prospect The home ~n question ~s at the comer of Pine and H~ghland and currently is a non-conforming use Resident Gerald Pozsgay, 616 Norltt Pine, spoke He has expenenced problems w~th multi-family homes ~n s~ngle-famlly areas firsthand through garbage problems ;He suggested that the V~llage approach real estate people and have them accountable for making sure the non-conforming uses are not continued -2 - Trustee Corcoran stated he Jup orts the concept but would hke to define ",n-law arrangement" Trustee Skow~on stated that she had supported the concept ~n the past when she was on the Zomng Board and th~s ~s not the appropnate use w~th~n an R-1 D~stnct Trustee Wilks quesboned how much staff t~me and attorney brae would be ~ncluded to enforce th~s Ordinance Attorney Hill stated there should not be a lot of attorney brae Primarily because the attorneys are already at the Court when these complaints would come up so .that would not ~ncur additional brae and commitment Chuck Benck= stated that ~f the recommendatmn to pursue th~s ~s on a complaint bas~s, ~t would not have a stgmficant ~mpact on staff brae Trustee Wilks recommended the staff look ~nto other property maintenance problems and thinks there are probably enough Ordinances on the books now to enforce th~s She was concerned about g~wng the job to staff and attorneys ~f we don't have enough staff currently Th~s w~ll over-burden staff further Mayor Farley stated he supports this concept He recommended that staff start to prepare the Ordinance because there appears to be a majonty of support on the part of the Board His only reservation concerns the short five-year period for 'possible revision This period may be too short and the effort of the owner may not be enough to get ~n comphance w~thln this penod Trustee Hendrlcks stated he supports the enforcement of the Zoning Ordinance and supports Trustee Hoefert's suggestions concerning th~s roue Village Manager stated he ~s only concerned about staff t~me allocation and working th~s additional task into the current duties of various Inspectors Th~s roue ~s part of the evolution of the community toward more property maintenance and less development as a commumty ages Property maintenance ,s a very t~me- consuming process which must be considered when looking at staff allocation He stated it ~s ~mportant to get a clear commitment from the Board as th~s Ordinance is enforced due to the numerous concerns residents w~ll raise as this Ordinance is enforced There appears to be no problem about using available media sources to get the message out He would look to put the burden of proof on the homeowner which seems very reasonable in terms of minimizing staff ~mpact Mayor Farley stated he hoped Inspectors would exercise judgment enforcement and accounbng for the senior population which may be affected by th~s and suggested fiscal and staff ~mpact of enforcement be idenbfied prior to the start of th~s project VI. DEPARTMENTAL REVIEWS - PUBUC WORKS Th~s was a conbnuabon of the prewous presentation Public Works DireCtOr Herb Weeks ~ntroduced Sandy Clark who ~s the Forestry · Supenntendent ~ Sandy presented the Governor's Award for Urban Forestry to the top local government ~n the Northern Ilhno~s Region to the Wllage Board Mr. Weeks continued I~stmg ~tems which must be accounted for through h~s Department which included unfunded Mandates such as alternate fuel systems and replacement of vehicles w~th alternate fuel by the 1998 deadline Mr Weeks ' stated that natural gas ~s currently the most fuel-efficient ~n terms of alternate fuels - among the alternative fuels of propane, natural gas and electric However, natural ~ gas has problems w~th re-fuehng Trustee Corcoran suggested the Village ubhze the Northwest Mumc~pal Conference 'm pursuing centrahzed fuehng and funding as th~s Mandate comes closer to fruition ~ Herb Weeks continued to hst the vanous other Mandates includ~ng EPA water procedures to eliminate lead and flood ~mprovements He stated that he ~s able to maintain the level of service he ~s currently prowdlng to the V~llage but would have d~fflculty add~ng add~bonal serwces w~thout add~bonal staff Trustee Hoefert nqulred about the status of hmng a space planner for the Village Mr. Janonis stated has not reviewed that proposal and plans on taking another look at that once the Budget rewew is ~comple~ted " General d~scuss~on followed concerning Pubhc Works acbwbes Fire Depa~m~ent Review: Chief Cavello, Deputy Chief Jackson, Deputy C,h, ief Ulrelch and Captain Dumovich were present -4- Chief Cavello began by stabng that his purpose was to ~denbfy serwces and ~ssues confronting the Department Among the ~ssues hsted, Chief Cavello stated that training, building, apparatus manmng and apparatus purchasing are the mare issues concermng the F~re Department He has been ~nvest~gabng the poss~blhty of increas~ng manmng on vehicles, ~dent~fying the poss~b~hty of building a training tower for ground and fire tra~mng, and building or relocating the Station at Kensington and River for ~mproved response t~me He stated that the apparatus manning issue concerns the ~dea of ass~gmng add~tmnal people per vehicle Enhanced EMS services would be prowded through the purchase of additional hfe-support equipment for the fire engines themselves One issue which is ~mmediately pending ~s the need for a regmnal training or a local training fac~hty, Trustee Corcoran suggested that the poss~b~hty of a regional tra~mng fac~hty should be ~nvest~gated at the pohcy level of the V~llage Board Chief Cavello stated that his first pnonty is to consider a 17-man sh~ft and then to equip a second apparatus In order to accomplish th~s, he has outhned the possible recommendatmns and the cost ~n Opbon #3 contained in his booklet of information General discussion followed Vlo ANY OTHER BUSINESS Trustee Wilks wanted to update the Board concerning Cnmehne The prem;ere ~s scheduled for November 1 She was very impressed with the opportunity to watch staff work together. VII. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to be d~scussed, the Board adjourned into Executive Sessmn at 10 05 p m The regular meeting of the Committee of the Whole adjourned at 10 40 p m DS/rcc -5-