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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/24/1993 COW minutes ' MINUTES COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE AUGUST 24, 1993 CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Mayor Farley at 7.36 p m Trustees present were* George Clowes, Timothy Corcoran, Richard Hendncks, Paul Hoefert and Michaele Skowron Trustee Irvana Wilks was absent Also present were Village Manager M,chael Janon~s, Assistant to the V~llage Manager Dave Strahl, Planning D~rector Dawd Clements and F~nance D~rector Dawd Jepson II. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES The Mtnutes of the Committee of the Whole meebng of August 10, 1993 were accepted and filed IlL CITIZENS TO BE HEARD ~ There were no c~bzens present who w~shed to be heard IV. REVIEW OF REVISED ZONING ORDINANCE - Mayor Farley presented an overview of the past meebng d;scuss~ons and ;nd~cated that the two ma~n top~cs left for d~scuss~on were 1) Status of ZBA as a final or recommending body and, 2) parking requirements ~n restdent~al neighborhoods Dave Clements explained that presently the ZBA is fine; on all Vanabons of 25% or less Anything over 25% goes to Vdlage Board for rewew and final action The proposal ~s to make ZBA final on all Varlabons end prowde a s~mple appeal process that would allow any individual to appeal the ZBA decision to the Village Board The proposal ~s designed to streamhne the Venation process wh,le affording ~nterested partes the right to have a "case" heard by the V~llage Board Mayor Farley requested comments from Board members Trustee Skowron, (a former member of the ZBA), commented that Dave Clements d~d a good job summarizing the recommendation of the ZBA The goal of the changes was to speed up the hearing process while providing adequate safeguards so that all interested part~es could be heard A majonty of ZBA members were comfortable w~th the recemmendat~on Mayor Farley asked ~f a member of the V~llage Board could file an appeal ~f they d~d not agree w~th the outcome of a particular case Dave Clements responded that any person could file an appeal Mr Clements also ~nd~cated that the Code provides for an annual meeting so that the Village Board and ZBA could d~scuss ~ssues, trends and philosophical d~fferenceS Mayor Farley stated he was ceoncerned about the t~me of year that such a joint meeting m~ght take place He felt ~t ~s possible that the ZBA could be of a d~fferent m~nd dunng a construcbon season and the Village Board could rewew the ZBA decisions after the construction season to determine a d~fferent course However, s~nce the appeal option ~s in place, the hkehhood of such a d~fference would be somewhat remote Trustee George Clowes ~nd~ceted he was agreeable w~th ZBA recommendabons because of c~t~zen appeal process He stated he ~s satisfied with the proposed revisions to the Zoning Ordinance Trustee Hendrlcks stated h~s strong preference is that all appmnted bodies be hm~ted to making recommendations that would be reviewed by the V~llage Board He referenced the Sign Review Board as an example of a body where decisions are final Trustee Hendncks d~sagreed with the approach and was against the proposed change The Mayor stated he was comfortable w~th the safeguards as proposed and the Village Board's ability to control controversial decisions Trustee Hoefe~t ~ndicated that many of the proposed changes ~n the C~)de should reduce the overall number of Variations He ~s philosophically opposed to ZBA being final ~n all cases, the current 25% I~m~t ~s sufficient and feels that difficult cases should not be sped up so as to allow for c~tlzen input Trustee Corcoran agreed w~th Trustee Hoefert and stated the V~llage Board should be final ~n most cases He does not want to influence another body and agrees w~th the current standards Village Manager Janonls ~ndlcated that Trustee W~lks, who was absent, wanted a statement she wrote read ~nto the record The statement indicated that Trustee Wilks beheves the current procedure ~s adequate and the V~llage Board should remain final ~n most cases The present t~me frames for heanng cases are not a problem Trustee Hendricks stated he was opposed to ZBA being final ~n any manner and believes the ZBA should be returned to a recommending body only but could accept the status quo The Mayor ~nd~cated that a majonty of Board members had expressed a desire to keep the ZBA as a recommending body with the 25% rule as the only excapt~on Mayor Farley brought up the d~scusslon of off-street parking ~n residential districts Dave Clements gave a summary of parking restncbons Questions about recreational vehicle descnptions, separates commercial vehicles and larger trucks which require special permit, separate recreational vehicles and other vehicles to ~address concern at last Committee of the Whole meebng Trustee Hendrlcks ~nd~cated the proposal does not address the concerns about r v parking being prohibited He ~s ~n oppos~bon to r v parking and does not want allowed Only wants a ctanflcat,on proh~b,ting recreabonal vehicle parking not th,s change proposed by Dave Clements where recreatmnal vehicles and other vehicles are defined Trustee Hendncks asked at the last Committee of the whole meeting ~f there was any clanficat~on of the ~ssues of recreational vehicle parking in residential areas contained w~th~n the new Zoning Ordinance He feels th~s change should go back to ZBA for their input and ~t can consider th~s change along w~th the overall Ordinance change Village Manager indicated the memo from Dave Clements was d~rected by the Manager after d~scusslons with Attorney H~ll Current Code allowed for some ~nterpretabons The memo clanfied some gray areas Mayor Farley indicated that Trustee Hendncks has been consistent in opposition to recreational vehicles and the Village Bosrd has been consistent against Trustee Hendncks concerning this issue ~1 do not want to send this change back to ZBA for review Trustee Skowron ind~cated she d~d not recall any d~rectmn to expand defin~bon at ZBA She is sympathetic to c~tizens who have to view recreabonal vehicles for lengthy periods of t,me She stated that each time th~s comes to the Board, the Board has not changed ~ts positron She believes recreational vehicles should be inconspicuous and beheves there is some merit to define -3- Trustee Corcoran agreed w~th appearance problems and has not received mtizen complaints ~n order to address th~s s~tuat~on. ~-~ Trustee Clowee stated he can understand c~tlzen concerns, maybe the Board could look at vehicle height restnctions Concerned about enforcement ~ssues related to recreational vehicle parking and zoning questions which recreational vehicles may create, such as set backs, etc Th~s formahzes the poslbon of the Board Trustee Hoefert ~nd~cated he was not aware of a h~gh level of complaints Th~s ~ssue has been d~scussed numerous times in the past and has not been short changed He recalled Trustee Hendncks bringing th~s up many bmes even pnor to being on the V~llage Board ,Storage of recreational vehicles off personal property is probably a problem Current language ~s fine If ~ssue does flair up, we can possible look at it again at that time Trustee Hendrlcks stated he truly believes in th~s issue We have heard of front yard set back, look at s~de yard set back requirements and recreational vehicles should be ~ncluded in set back considerations The change legalizes th~s issue Other c~tles do not allow why does Mount Prospect He believes this to be an · erosion of the Zoning Ordinance and ~t must be stopped Mayor Farley ~ndlcated that Mount Prospect d~d at one time prohibit recreational vehicles but changed policy Prohibition is not universal Citizens should be allowed to use recreational vehicles ~n th~s fashion Trustee Hendrlcks pointed out that if I~mball H~II has a restricted covenant they can supersede the Village board which appears to be message tO consider ~n prohibiting recreational vehicles M~scellaneous Comments Trustee Hoefe~t ~nd~cated that many t~mes we look at hardship ~ssues and determine what a hardship ~s However, where in the Code ~s hardship defined as conditional use ~s, for example We should define hardship to assist c~t~zens ~n determining whether they should proceed with the Vanance request Trustee Hoefert has a question about a case before the ZBA about a garage on EImhurst Avenue. The Code may be too restnctlve based on required set backs which are based on a typical 50 foot lot In th~s case, the lot ~s 55 feet ~n an area w~th mostly 50 foot lots Maybe we should consider expanding defimtlon Dave Clements stated most older subd~ws~ons have a predominance of 50 foot lots and the Vanance process ~s designed to address th~s difference Trustee Hoefert suggested a standard~zed definition of lots to streamhne the process at the t~me of Vanance Dave Clements w~ll rewew Zoning maps to determine a standard lot size to return to the Board Trustee Hoefert stated he understood the Board was not going to hold up th~s change pending a d~scusslon on non-confirming uses, but would hke th~s issue addressed, s~nce I want discussion to occur. Mayor Farley stated there were no more miscellaneous ,terns to be d~scussed regarding the Zoning Ordinance. The t~me table will be a first reading on September 7 and second reading on September 21, only if desire of Village Board to move faster to continue d~scuss~on until September 21 V, DEPARTMENT REVIEWS - FINANCE DEPARTMENT Mayor Farley ~nd~cated th~s was the first of a senes of d~scussmns regarding revtew of Department operations V~llage Manager Janoms had proposed these Departmental rewews be held prior to the budget process H~s ~ntent~on ts to have all Departments prowde overviews to assist the V~llage Board tn understanding V~llage operations to address upcemtng budget shortfall Finance Director David Jepson gave a presentabon of the Finance Department Rewew He pointed out that services are internal services among V~llage, gave ~ an overview of Department act~wbes, internal reports, mumc~pal finance ~ssues, hst~ng of acbwt~es of the Department He proceeded through the booklet which was made available to the V~llage Board He explained the philosophy of investments have provided funds which are not necessary m taxes and fees Village Manager Janonis pointed out perm~ts/hcenses and follow-up and htgh collection rates Dave Jepson gave h~ghhghts which w~ll have to be addressed for the future ~nclude (1) full accrual accounting, (2) Cook County assessment practices, (3) total tax burden on Mount Prospect residents, (4) unfunded State and Federal Mandates and (5) Accountability for government servtces Mayor Farley expressed the Village Board's opinmn ~n that they are grateful for the servtces provtded and gave credit to the F~nance Commission and Department for working together Trustee Corcoran asked ~f there are any non-paper processing opportumtms available to reduce costs -5- Dave Jepson responded that he uses a lock box and will see ~f some of the new technology could improve the s~tuabon ~n the future We also use some electronic transfer of funds Trustee Hoefert stated the V~llage ~s lucky to have the quahty of people we have and gave credit to the Department members He also made a comment on electromc transfer of vendor checks as to where we are at this point Also, has the V~llage reduced debt service due current rates, Dave Jepson stated that he ~s looking to b~d out banking services and RFPs w~ll be developed to look at electronic transfers dunng November along w~th our banking services Investment ~ncome has decreased and there has been some reduction of debt service refinancing Trustee Hoefert asked if there is any way to estimate revenue for veh~cle'hcenses Dave Jepson responded that ~t ~s d~fficult to determine amount of vehicle st~ckers due to inaccurate State records Trustee Skowron stated that the Finance Department does a good job and reahzes the hm~ted space of V~llage Hall She also stated that ~t ~s d~fficult to be efficient when people are so dose together. Trustee Clowes commented that the Department does an excellent job, likes the way ~ssues are developed, is interested other towns and questioned how can we have a Iow number of customer service employees There ~s a problem of unfunded mandates have affected the V~llage Dave Jepson responded that ~t ~s because of the performance of employees, we do more for less m Mount Prospect Trustee Hendricks comphmented the staff and ~nd~cated that the F~nance Commission does a very good job Village Manager Janonis stated the focus is on what Departments do not what they cannot do Service demands are changing He asked for ~nput from Village Board for rewslons ~n presentations Mayor Farley stated the information was very good Trustee Hoefert pointed out V~llage Hall defi~en~es ex~st and a space plan rewew could prowde some ins~ght to prowde a staff rewew deficiencies ~n building -6- VI. ANY OTHER BUSINESS Parklnq Restrictions at Lions Park School Trustee Clowes brought up the issue of parking around Lions Park School There ~s some confusion with Safety Commission and asked that it be brought back to the September 7 Village Board meeting Village Manager Janonls indicated the pnn=pal and PTA are aware of issue and reiterated th~s would be brought back on September 7 Board meeting Mayor Farley suggested official notice be sent out about decision coming up at that meebng Cable Increase Trustee Corc~oran brought up the memo from Cheil Pasahc regarding TCI pnce increase Communications Administrator Cheryl Pasalic indicated the rate ~ncrease takes effect September 1 The letter received today ~ndlcates a rate increase in apparent vlolabon of FCC ruhngs, rate for basic fee is frozen until November 15 but TCl can move up to allowable amount until November 15 The increase ~s for ~ addlbonal services FCC has allowed cable to Fee operators provide Increases must be nobced due to Franchise Agreement but do not have to meet t~me frames In agreement because of hm~ted penalties Trustee Corcoran thought a partnership was established TCl has surpnsed us and just as addlbonal equipment required Cheryl Pasalic ~ndlcated rebroadcast agreements are almost completed Trustee Corcoran ~f there was a poss~b~hty of debating the price increase Trustee Skowron indicated we should use cable television channel to explain changes/increases Village Manager Janonls responded that we can use telews~on but ~t ~s d~fficult to determine details of agreement Village ManagerJanonis reported that there was m~nor damage from storm Some flood improvement areas called ~n to tell the changes worked II. ADJOURNMENT ~ There being no further bus~ness' to be dIscussed, on a Motion by Trustee Hoefert and Seconded by Trustee Corcoran, at 10 12 p m, ~t was MOVED to go ~nto Executive Session to d~scuss Property D~spos~tlon ~ There being no further d~scuss~on, the Execubve Session ended at 10 47 p rn, and ~ · the regular meeting of the Committee of the Whole was adjourned at 10 48 p m Respectfully submitted, DAVID STRAHL ' ' Assistant to the Wllage Manager DS/rco 8