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Home My WebLink About01/09/2018 COW MinutesM19a,ruec i?raxuyacrt. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MINUTES - January 9, 2018 - V Floor, Village Board Room Village Hall, 50 S. Emerson Street 1. ROLL CALL— CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 7:04 p.m. in the Village Board Room of the Village Hall, 50 South Emerson Street, by Mayor Arlene Juracek. Trustees present included William Grossi, Eleni Hatzis, Paul Hoefert, Richard Rogers, Colleen Saccotelli and Michael Zadel. Staff present included Village Manager Michael Cassady, Assistant to the Village Manager Nellie Beckner, Village Clerk Karen Agoranos, Communications Director Howard Kleinstein, Building & Inspection Services Director William Schroeder, Building & Inspection Services Deputy Director Mark Rysavy, Field Inspection Leader Rick La Veau, Community Development Director William Cooney, Fire Chief Brian Lambel, Fire Deputy Chief John Dolan, Fire Assistant Chief Administration Bryan Loomis, Police Chief John Koziol, Public Works Director Sean Dorsey, Human Services Director Julie Kane, Finance Director David Erb and Administrative Analyst Alexander Bertolucci. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 3. 4. Approval of Special Meeting of the Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes of December 12, 2017. Motion by Trustee Zadel, second by Trustee Rogers. Mayor Juracek called a voice vote and the minutes were approved unanimously. CITIZENS TO BE HEARD None. DISCUSSION ITEMS 4.1 Single Family Reinvestment Program Discussion Village Manager Michael Cassady stated the Single Family Reinvestment Program has been a strategic goal of the Village since early 2016. During bond rating calls when issuing Village debt, analysts express concerns over declining EAV. Most communities in this area experienced a very similar loss of value during the Great Recession. We are starting to trend in a good direction, but are still concerned that there are things that we can be doing to increase value measured by EAV. The goal is to see homes increase in value and continue to have a housing stock attractive to young families that want to come and enjoy our great schools. We have been doing a lot of work to better understand some of the things that may be preventing investment in our single family neighborhoods. Building & Inspection Services Director William Schroeder stated as part of Community Development's permit process improvement evaluation, the Village held a series of roundtable meetings with both residential and commercial developers. In addition, staff sent out approximately 3,000 surveys to permit applicants to seek feedback about the Village's development and inspection process. Additionally, staff surveyed two concentric rings of surrounding communities for fee information to make sure we are consistent in the area. Committee of the Whole Page 1 of 3 1/9/18 He stated developers and architects have noted that any additional costs, such as a residential fire sprinkler requirement, affects the financial feasibility of a project. While staff understands the value of residential fire sprinklers, analysis of submitted plans leaves staff to believe some builders concentrate their building efforts on avoiding residential sprinklers by limiting design and scope of work. In essence, builders are designing "less" of a house, investing less, and reducing potential EAV in the community. Fire sprinklers make homes safer in a fire; however, cost of fire sprinklers can clearly have an impact on development. $8,000 to $12,000 in initial costs, $1,500 in backflow protection and annual maintenance and testing creates a total cost over a 30 year period of about $29,000. He stated staff is proposing modifications to the residential fire sprinkler ordinance that allows alternative construction methods to offset the requirement of full 13D fire sprinkler system. The alternative construction methods include a combination of enhanced construction methods and options to provide improved safety in single-family residential built structures. Staff recommends that: A) All new single family detached homes and homes where 50% of existing walls are removed will require fire sprinklers 13D system. B) A full 13D fire sprinkler system can be waived IF: 1) Fire rated type -x drywall installed 2) Installation of LRFSS (limited fire sprinkler system) 3) Engineered floor and roof trusses prohibited Additionally, staff recommends that if a commercial contractor or resident builds a new single family home the following incentive package will be offered; discounted permit fee to 10% of construction cost, waiver of the single family village donation fee, waiver of parkway trees fee, and waiver of plan review fees with a sunset clause of December 31, 2019. Mr. Schroeder reviewed construction costs, fire sprinkler regulations and the number of new single family homes with fire sprinklers compared to neighboring communities. Staff also recommends a fee standardization based on square foot. Currently permit fees are based on cost of construction. Permit fees based on square footage of new or renovated areas are more accurate than cost of construction. Furthermore, changing permit fees would reduce permit fees for a new single family house by about $5,000 and if a fire sprinkler system is installed it would furthered reduced. The following responses from staff were provided to questions from the Village Board: • The permit fee restructuring and fire sprinkler incentive would be marketed to increase resident and contractor awareness of the proposed program. • There are a number of reasons fire sprinklers are problematic for home design. • Goal is to get as many homes equipped with fire sprinklers and there are workarounds within the current code to avoid installing fire sprinklers. • Insurance savings from having a fire sprinkler system does not repay for cost of installation. Staff used a house on Palm Drive to analyze costs. Committee of the Whole Page 2 of 3 1/9/18 • Fire sprinklers would not affect the Fire Department's ISO rating but may affect the Community Development's ISO rating. • There are negligible insurance savings between a Fire ISO rating of 1 and 2. The Village was audited last year and our ISO rating of 2 was confirmed. • Fire Sprinklers have a life span of 50 years. • Different types of fire suppression systems are available, however, water is the basic design and more economical than special designed systems. • All permit fees are included on one itemized bill. • Village would be recommending type -x drywall. • Staff discussed fire sprinkled homes with a few relators and responses are that people shy away from it. • Mount Prospect has 183 homes with fire sprinklers and in the past had two structure fires that were equipped with sprinklers. • 13D fire sprinkler system is to reduce flashover and get people out of the building. • Installing a LRFSS system requires relatively minor plumbing work. Village Manager Michael Cassady stated the recommendations are driven to create more opportunities to install fire sprinkler systems. The concept is to give a two year window to advertise these options to see if we can create more homes with full or modified sprinkler systems. The unintended consequence of a mandated system are workarounds impacting the number of tear downs and the designs we are ultimately seeing in renovations. The goal is to create more fire sprinklers in a more affordable way. Mayor Arlene Juracek stated there is general agreement on the proposal; however, we would like to see it flushed out a little further based on questions asked tonight, a draft ordinance and the proposed strategy to inform the residents, contractors and people possibly interested living in Mount Prospect about these changes. 5. MANAGER'S REPORT None. 6. ANY OTHER BUSINESS None. 7. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:14 p.m. Alexander Bertolucci Administrative Analyst Committee of the Whole Page 3 of 3 1/9/18