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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/10/2008 CWC minutes MINUTES VILLAGE OF MOUNT PROSPECT COFFEE WITH COUNCIL SATURDAY, May 10,2008 9:00 AM Community Room, Village Hall Meeting convened at 9:00 AM. Those present: Trustee Lohrstorfer, Trustee Juracek, Trustee Corcoran, Trustee Hoefert, and Fire Chief Mike Figolah. Residents in Attendance: Carol Tortorello South Elmhurst Ave. Kimberly Skic Owen Street Ken Koeppen Linneman Road Mal Holec Quince Lane Rodger Kruse South Louis Street Alyssa Hillman Sioux Lane Beverly Zamfel North Maple Street Tom Psihogius North Wille Street Bruce Nejdl North MacArthur Boulevard Franklin Young North Emerson Steve PoUt Highland Street Ken Koeppen expressed concern for the southbound stop sign on Huntington Commons Road at Linneman Road because of a parkway tree hindering the sign visibility. Mr. Koeppen then brought up eliminating the vehicle stickers. Board members briefly expressed their concerns with the cost of enforcing the program, but replacing the revenue is the issue. While many discussions have taken place over the years there has been no action to eliminate the stickers. Mr. Koeppen inquired where to dispose of prescription drugs since flushing them down the sewer isn't advisable any longer. Ms. Tortorello stated that our Human Services department will take clearly identified prescriptions. The Solid Agency of Northern Cook County also accepts these prescriptions. Mr. Koeppen recommended the Village consider posting the cost of a ticket on Fire Lane signs. He believes that if people see the actual cost of the ticket they will be less likely to park in the lane. Mal Holec expressed concern with the proposed triangle development because of traffic congestion. He recommended the implementation of a circulating bus strictly for Mount Prospect. This bus (or buses) could continually circulate throughout the community from Randhurst to the downtown and other destinations. He stated that Wheeling currently has two buses for this use in their community. Trustee Juracek stated that she thought it cost the Village of Wheeling about $720,000 annually for that bus service. Board members expressed interest in learning more about the program. Mr. Holec asked the Board to consider a full-time police officer to be stationed at the corner of Busse Avenue and Route 83 to help pedestrian and vehicle traffic cross Route 83. Carol Tortorello expressed concern for a home at 712 West Busse Avenue because the houses address number is spray painted on the home. The house is newly constructed. Ms. Tortorello expressed concern for an illegally parked car at 108 S. Pine Street. She sees this car parked there frequently. Ms. Tortorello brought up the proposed triangle development for discussion. She specifically asked if the cost of Busse Avenue (roadway) was included in the $9.5M cost that the Village was going to contribute to the developer. A debate took place amongst the Board members whether there is a dollar value for the roadway without consensus. Rodger Kruse expressed thanks to the police department for their recent crackdown of illegal drivers. He also expressed kudos to whoever cleaned up the orange mess at 701 Prospect A venue. Mr. Kruse asked for extra police presence at the corner of William Street and Prospect Avenue for stop sign violators. Melissa Hillman introduced herself as a member of the Mount Prospect Youth Commission. She asked if the Board and staff would consider a Youth in Government week where students could shadow the Mayor and staff. A brief discussion took place with support from all. Some recommendations included; not confining the shadows to one week as some may not be available that week and including a mock Village Board meeting where the students could play roles and solve real issues. She appreciated the comments and will take them back for consideration. Kimberly Skic stopped in to see what was going on without any specific issues other than to recognize the fire department for this week's Children's Fire Safety Festival at Randhurst. Chief Figolah stated that more than 3,000 kids went through this week's program and that this was the 29th annual event. Next year's event is questionable due to Randhurst potential redevelopment. Tom Psihogius stopped by just to see what went on. Bruce Nejdl stopped by to express his concerns with parking access for the proposed triangle development. He related a recent newspaper speak-out that spoke about the Des Plaines Metropolitan Square development. He stated that the newspaper comment spoke of customers (at the Metropolitan Square) that looked for on-street parking in front of the shop they were to visit, but if a parking spot wasn't available in front of the store the customer would leave the area; ignoring the parking deck. Mr. Nejdl expressed concern that most people don't like parking decks and, for various reasons, will not park there. He sees a correlation with the proposed triangle development. Although he stated that he personally has no problem parking in the decks and walking a little farther. Mr. Nejdl expressed concern for homeless people taking refuge in parking decks. He is concerned that there are even some homeless in the Village Hall deck. Staff will investigate and take appropriate action. Mr. Nejdl stated that he wanted to see a grocery store in the downtown. Everyone in attendance expressed the same interest. Trustee Corcoran stated that we need more density in the downtown to attract a grocery store. Beverly Zamfelleft the meeting without any comments. Franklin Young recommended the Village look at a different sidewalk replacement program. He stated that the current program, which charges $48 per square, doesn't appropriately look at the bigger picture. He said that the sidewalks in front of his home are all out of level, but only some are broken and/or uneven. He proposed a plan that will allow him to pay a smaller portion to fix larger sections of sidewalk. Board members expressed desire to look at this issue and perhaps consider a sliding scale to coincide with the quantity of sidewalk squares. Steve PoUt expressed concern over all of the illegal signs that are placed throughout the Village on Friday's at 4 PM. He states that the people responsible for putting up these signs in the parkways and on utility poles are very sophisticated and know that if they place their signs after staff leaves for the weekend their signs are safe until Monday. His recommendation is to allow residents to have the ability to pull these signs and throw them away. He is aware of a local policy that doesn't allow residents to police these signs. Board members stated that the idea of having residents remove signs may have merit, but only after these selected residents were trained by staff. Steve stated that people would need to be warned about grabbing signs because some are booby-trapped. He is aware of signs with sharp edges and grease to deter people from removing the signs. Mr. Po lit asked about the status of the Holiday Inn because he noticed no work being performed and the building posted "Stop Work." Chief Figolah stated that the Holiday Inn has permits to perform outside work, but permits have not been issued for inside work yet work was being performed inside. The stop work order was posted for the inside work and some site conditions. Plans are due this week so that work will hopefully resume. The meeting was adjourned at 10:45 AM. <-1 -=~P--- Respectfully Submitted, Michael J. Figolah Fire Chief