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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/07/1999 EDC MinutesMINUTES ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION 2nd Floor Conference Room, Village Hall Thursday January 7, 1999 8:00 a.m. The meeting of the Economic Development Commission (EDC) of the Village of Mount Prospect was held on Thursday, January 7, 1999 in the second floor conference room of Village Hall, 100 South Emerson Street, Mount Prospect, Illinois. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Norman Kurtz called the meeting to order at 8:00 a.m. Commissioners John Arndt, Patricia Biedar, Bruce Gillilan, Norman Kurtz and David Lindgren were present. Commissioner Ben Trapani was absent. Also present was Bill Cooney, Director of Community Development and Michael Blue, Deputy Director of Community Development. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The minutes of the December 3, 1998 meeting were reviewed and unanimously approved. Mr. Arndt abstained. OLD BUSINESS A. Development Update Mr. Cooney provided the Commission with a status report of the downtown redevelopment efforts. He indicated that the Village was very close to securing two development sites for construction this summer. He also indicated that the Village was reviewing the financial projections for the TIF and considering alternative methods including extension of the TIF to complete the overall redevelopment of the downtown. There was significant discussion regarding the various efforts of the Village and general support of procuring the two sites in the downtown for redevelopment this year. Mr. Cooney also updated the Commission on other developments in the Village including the Menard's, Country Inn & Suites, Big "K" Mart and CareMatrix developments. The Commission inquired about the status of the ring road project near Randhurst. Mr. Cooney indicated that IDOT was not in a position to provide any funding for this project and the Village is considering alternative means to address this long term capital improvement project. NEW BUSINESS A. Discussion on Goals for 1999 Chairman Kurtz indicated that staff has prepared a memorandum that outlined potential goals for the upcoming year for the Commission. He indicated that he wanted the Commission to become more actively involved in these projects and asked for input from each Commission member as to their priorities for the upcoming year. The Commission generally agreed that the downtown redevelopment effo rts were the top priority for 1999. It was suggested that the Commission should hold public forums for downtown business owners, as well as residents, to provide updates on the Village's downtown efforts. Commissioner Lindgren suggested that the EDC sponsor a presentation when a developer is chosen for each of the be particular sites. e for a formal invited to such He suggested that the Village could install a tent at one of the locations and provid presentation to interested parties. He suggested that all cross sections of the Village should id an event including, but not limited to, churches, community groups, schools, as well as businesses and local r r Economic Development Commission January 7, 1999 Minutes Page 2 residents. It was also suggested that Commission members could act as direct liaisons to the local downtown businesses during the construction project. Mr. Gillilan suggested that other goals of the Commission should include sponsoring seminars covering Village services. Such seminars could include a fire prevention seminar for businesses and/or a seminar explaining what actions could be taken during ComEd outages. He also indicated that the Village could provide a service to businesses by coordinating a refuse contract that would be available to any interested business in the Village. The Village could go out to bid and secure a unit price for refuse disposal that interested businesses could take advantage of It was understood that specialized refuse disposal would need to be taken care of on a case -by -case basis but that there would be some economies of scale if the Village could coordinate such an effort for general waste disposal. He felt that EDC needed to focus on a sense of uniqueness for the Village that we could utilize in an attempt to attract more business. The Commission also discussed providing the Chamber of Commerce with a quarterly article that could be inserted in the Chamber's newsletter. They felt this would be an opportune way to get the Commission's message out to the business community. In addition, the Commission discussed reinstating the quarterly newsletter that was sent Village -wide in the Village newsletter. Mr. Cooney indicated that he and his staff would work at producing these documents for Chairman Kurtz's signature. B. Scotty's Home Market — Request for Class 6 Tax Abatement Mr. Cooney indicated that he has been working with the owner's of Scotty's Home Market in an effort to have them locate their corporate offices and local distribution center on the vacant 10 acres on Kingston Court in the Kensington Business Center. Scotty's is an interactive, electronic grocery home shopping delivery company. They are looking to construct a 100,000 square foot office /warehouse facility that would be home to up to 250 employees. In addition, Scotty's would generate sales tax from this location. The Commission discussed the proposal and the merits of granting a Class 6 Abatement and voted unanimously to support the request. CHAIRMAN'S REPORT There was no Chairman's report. ADJOURNMENT The Commission agreed that the next meeting was scheduled for March 4, 1999, at 8:00 a.m. The meeting was officially adjourned at 9:20 a.m. WJC:bhs H:\GEN\EDCM1NUTES\Jan99.doc