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Minutes - 02/11/2008 - Plan CommissionMINUTES OF THE FEBRUARY 11, 2008 SPECIAL MEETING OF THE PLAN COMMISSION OF THE VILLAGE OF OAK BROOK APPROVED AS WRITTEN ON MARCH 17, 2008 1. CALL TO ORDER: The Special Meeting of the Plan Commission was called to order by Chairwoman Payovich in the Samuel E Dean Board Room of the Butler Government Center at 7:31 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL: Gail Polanek called the roll with the following persons PRESENT: Chairwoman Barbara Payovich, Raju Iyer, Richard Knitter, Gopal Lalmalani, Mintu Sharma, Vivek Singhal and Marcia Tropinski IN ATTENDANCE: Gerald Wolin, Trustee, Jeffrey Kennedy, Trustee, and Robert L. Kallien, Jr., Director of Community Development 3. NEW BUSINESS CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL NEW BUSINESS A. VILLAGE OF OAK BROOK — COMMERCIAL AREAS REVITALIZATION COMMERCIAL AREAS PLAN — PROPOSED ADDENDUM TO COMPREHENSIVE PLAN REVITALIZATION PLAN - V0I3 Chairwoman Payovich advised everyone that this was the official public hearing on the Commercial Areas Revitalization Plan, which if approved by the Village Board would be an addendum to the Village's Comprehensive Plan. Director of Community Development Kallien provided a brief overview of the process. He said that the Plan Commission has the responsibility to hold the public hearing and review amendments to the Comprehensive Plan. Trustee Kennedy spoke to the Plan Commission as the Chairman of the Commercial Revitalization Task Force. He briefly reviewed the history of the process, which started about 3 years ago. A number of residents, civic and business leaders in the community came to the realization that as Oak Brook was approaching its 50`x' anniversary; much of the existing office space has been aging and becoming obsolete. Some of the retail space was becoming dated, and a lot of the infrastructure, in particular the traffic infrastructure, was in need of improvement and replacement. They saw that Oak Brook was in danger of losing its preeminent position as a destination for retail and office that it had been for most of its history. In June of 2005, the Village Board created the Commercial Revitalization Task Force, which consisted of several elected officials, appointed officials, and representatives of the business community. At about the same time, the Greater Oak Brook Chamber of Commerce, recognizing the saine challenges facing the Village created a blue chip economic development committee, which has been working with VILLAGE OF OAK BROOK Special Plan Commission Minutes Page 1 of 19 February 11, 2008 the Village and its consultants on revitalizing the commercial sectors. Two years ago, the Commercial Revitalization Task Force chose the team headed by Houseal and Lavigne, an urban planning firm from Naperville, to guide and advise the Village on this process. The Houseal Lavigne team conducted numerous interviews and have done a great deal of study, analyzed the challenges, problems and the opportunities for commercial revitalization in Oak Brook. In addition to conducting one -on -one interviews, they have conducted three public meetings /workshops that were open to all residents. A large number of residents have appeared, expressed their views, asked questions and provided input into this important project. In November, Houseal Lavigne presented their report and recommendations, which were reviewed by the Task Force and unanimously approved. This meeting is the formal hearing for the purpose of reviewing and recommendation of the proposed plan. Five major philosophies that have guided this project from the outset: 1. This project and the recommendations under consideration have focused on Oak Brook's commercial sector. It does not concern the residential neighborhoods, except to buffer and protect them from any commercial revitalization that occurs. 2. The plan and its recommendations build upon the wisdom and foresight, with which the Village of Oak Brook was laid out 40 -50 years ago, by taking advantage of its location along the tollways, creating zoning districts that are ideal for commercial purposes and separating those commercial districts well from the residential neighborhoods, and preserving a great deal of green space. Foresight is never perfect and a number of decisions that were made 40 years ago have now proven to be challenges to the Village, in terms of commercial revitalization and challenges in terns of traffic. The fact is that Oak Brook's place in the greater Chicago /metro area has changed considerably in the last 40 years, as development has moved far beyond to the west. The ways that people work and do business, live, recreate, and shop has changed since the Village was laid out. The aspects of the commercial zoning need to be re- examined and updated. 3. The emphasis is on improving the quality and not necessarily the quantity of office space and retail space. It is not the Villages objective to cram more retail or office space into the Village in order to generate tax revenue. The purpose is to encourage revitalization of what is here. Upgrading the office space to meet modern standards and continuing to updating the quality scale of retail. 4. Essential to the plan is to improve the traffic flow into and out of Oak Brook in order to make it easier for shoppers and more attractive for office locations and to improve the day -to -day convenience of the residents in getting around the community. The plan contains major recommendations regarding traffic and signalization improvements, improved access to and from both of the major tollways and other traffic related improvements. VILLAGE OF OAK BROOK Special Plan Commission Minutes Page 2 of 19 February 11, 2008 .c� 5. The plan envisions a partnership involving cooperation with the Village of Oak Brook, the vibrant business community and other jurisdictions, including the tollway, IDOT, Oakbrook Terrace and the other surrounding municipalities. The proposed plan relies predominately upon private capital, expenditure and investment to revitalize the office and retail sectors; and some assistance from businesses in terms of dealing with traffic and other infrastructure problems. The Villages' role as envisioned by this plan is to encourage, stimulate, coordinate the redevelopment of the existing commercial areas, both retail and office. He asked that the Plan Commission take a close, careful, thoughtful look at the plan, and hopefully recommend it for approval to the Board of Trustees. Chairwoman Payovich swore in John Houseal and Devin Lavigne. John Houseal, principal and cofounder of Houseal, Lavigne Associates, and project director for the Commercial Areas Revitalization Plan for Oak Brook, reviewed the "Plan" in detail. He identified the team as McDonough Associates that handled the transportation, traffic and infrastructure; Hitchcock Design Group assisted with the streetscape and urban design component and S.B. Friedman & Company handled the market analysis and some of the implementation components. Over the last 1 '/z years the project team worked very closely with the Commercial Revitalization Task Force, Trustee Kennedy and others throughout the process. They met with several people throughout that time, including Tracy and members of the Chamber of Commerce; Chuck Fleming with General Growth Properties, as well as other large landholders, business owners and stakeholders within the corridor. It was important that the Village know at the very beginning that there was a sense of stewardship from the community in participation in the document. At the end, it could not be the Houseal Lavigne plan for Oak Brook, but it had to be Oak Brook's plan for Oak Brook. With that level of participation and insight and assistance throughout the document preparation, there is a document, which is very viable, visionary, but realistic. It was written and created by all the people that assisted with the plan throughout the process. The study area is much more than the 22nd Street and Butterfield Road corridor; it includes much of the area to the north and south, so instead of a corridor plan it really is a commercial area revitalization plan. He reviewed the commercial areas and noted that some residential areas shown in the study area are only shown with respect to where the commercial area is located and to ensure that appropriate buffers, setbacks, and mitigation was taking place for any commercial development or activity adjacent to residential. Recommendations to changing or intensifying the residential in any way, was not part of the document. He said that a planning process has to do three things. The first thing is to establish a starting point with what you have to work with as a community. What does the VILLAGE OF OAK BROOK Special Plan Commission Minutes Page 3 of 19 February 11, 2008 demographic, market analysis, what is or is not working with the zoning ordinance that is being used and how is the land utilized telling you How is the traffic or infrastructure working or not. At a fixed set period of time, what is the starting point for the community; any process has to establish that. The second step in a planning process is that you have to figure out where you want to go. What do you want for your commercial areas 5, 10 and 15 years from now? You have to establish a starting point and understand it; you have to establish your visions for where you want to go and the third step in the planning process is how do you get there. Putting into place, the recommendations and implementation projects that help you realize the plans objectives. They took those three steps and developed an eight -step process. It included project initiation, community outreach, workshops, visual preference surveys, online questionnaires, interviewing business and property owners, several different outreach mechanisms. Step three was identifying existing conditions, traffic, market, zoning, past plans and studies, transportation, urban design. Step four was creating the vision for the community and commercial areas and establishing preliminary corridor plans. The corridor was then broken down into specific subareas because what is appropriate at the west end of the corridor may not be appropriate for the east end. You cannot assume that the same application of projects at one end or at the other end would obtain the same results. Once they were broken down and figured out what they wanted to accomplish, then you have to figure out how to implement and fund the recommendations. They looked into what are the grants and funding mechanisms most available and appropriate for the Village to pursue and to realize some of the objectives. It was then all pulled together for a final plan document. They established a land use plan. At the beginning of the process, they looked at the corridor as a whole. Even though they investigated individual areas, property by property and building by building, development -by- development, they had to look at the context of how the system operated in a coordinated fashion and how should land use function going forward. One of the most important things that came out of the plan was a land use plan. This identified where there were single- family residential areas, and nothing was planned for these areas other than to further protect them from commercial activity. They identified multi- family attached; class A office space, class B office space, retail /commercial, open space and an area where mixed -use developments with retail, office and condominiums should be considered. The intent was not to cram a lot more into the corridor at the expense of how the corridor and the community functions as a whole, if in the community and within the region, but what would be the best distribution of different types of uses across the corridor context and across the commercial areas. For example, class A and class B office does not differentiate a better or lesser office space, but rather a different type of office space. Oak Brook has sort of a regional reputation as an office destination; but it does not have any contemporary class A office space that would be identified as a corporate headquarters, global destination with maybe a VILLAGE OF OAK BROOK Special Plan Commission Minutes Page 4 of 19 February 11, 2008 restaurant in the lobby, or a health club in the building and covered parking for its employees. It is a different type of office space. Class B office space may not have some of the accessory amenities, but it is still very nice office space. They looked at visibility, access, the size of the sites and the ability to offer Class A development. They broke down the corridor into different types of office space based on the ability to provide new contemporary Class A office space development. The land use plan covers the enure study area. The next thing that they looked at was the transportation component, which is a big key to making the corridor function. Traffic is something that does not respect municipal boundaries; it could care less where Oakbrook Terrace ends and Oak Brook begins. Traffic has to work in a functional context for the region, community and on an individual site basis. Even if Oak Brook did nothing in terms of new development, traffic would likely get worse in the region as more people move in and more development takes place. They looked at an approach that was multi - tiered on how to provide connectivity. There were several things in past plans that helped to shape Oak Brook. One thing that was not very good was the past planning efforts dictated that individual office developments should focus on the individual office building, not adjacent office buildings or areas as a campus, but rather individual office sites. That was a plan recommendation from three decades ago and the village did a very good job of adhering to that plan, but what you have then is no cross - connectivity. There are uses that are adjacent to one another, but you cannot get from one to another one, because an 8 -inch curb exists. Throughout the entire length of the corridor, because there is virtually no cross- connection of adjacent parking, you have to go out onto 22'd Street, go down and then go back in because you cannot go along on frontage roads or access curb cuts. They discussed cross - connectivity and cross parking areas. They identified along the highway where different locations could be to add ramps. They were not referring to cloverleaf intersections or on off ramps in every direction. If you are heading eastbound into the city from 1 -290, you can only get off going eastbound and get on going westbound. They are called slip ramps that hug the right -of -way and sort of skirt up, but it allows traffic to begin to filter off. They identified a few locations, where there would be some potential redevelopment for Class A space. At Meyers Road with some redevelopment of the site, if it is reworked, there may be the ability to construct a slip ramp to relieve some of the pressure. If you are going eastbound on the highway and get off on Midwest Road to go to Oakbrook Center, it can take a significant amount of time to get there, especially going through the Route 83 intersection. There is no other pressure relief in the system. There are a lot of people traveling that route because there is no other way to get off the highway because it is poorly laid out. They identified an off ramp where I -294 south could be considered, although the tollway is not recognizing that at this point. They have identified other locations where slip ramps could be considered over time, perhaps in coordination of other capital improvement projects, or adjacent large -scale development. They have also identified where new signalization should be added, where other key intersections are with maybe an additional right lane or other improvement could be featured. Where cross access of adjacent sites needs to be improved. Under possible consideration, there could be a divided intersection at VILLAGE OF OAK BROOK Special Plan Commission Minutes Page 5 of 19 February 11, 2008 Route 83 and 22'd Street, where one goes under the other so that traffic could flow and there are other areas in the region where this works very well. In order to maximize accessibility and views into Oakbrook Center as it may redevelop in the future, you may want to have things at grade. If enough of the other improvements are done over time this sort of grade- separated intersection may need not to happen. They tried to identify throughout the study area, different ways to improve the system as a whole. Sidewalks and bicycles, if you are in that area you are taking your life in your hands to get around the commercial area on a bicycle or walking. It is very difficult. They looked at better pedestrian circulation and connectivity. All of these things are addressed in the transportation plan, section by section. As a whole, it not only had to work for the Subareas, but the system context as a whole. Character and Streetscape Improvement Plan. They looked at the character and appearance of the corridor as you drive through it. They questioned whether it is reflective of the type of the character that the village wants for itself as people drive through and shop at this destination. Some sections look better and some do not. There are changes being made with the overpass on 22nd Street and there are streetscape improvements that are funded right now at the east end of the corridor; and that is going to be beautiful. It can establish a template to see and given an opportunity in funding as it cascades westward down the corridor. The plan identifies key intersections, key icon locations and different levels of streetscape treatment at different steps. Prototypical improvements are to landscape medians. There is enough right-of-way and turning movement designation in the corridor now to accommodate landscaped medians at key locations, while maintaining turning movements into adjacent businesses. It includes landscaping along the right of way, adjacent to private property, and landscaped medians that assists in the movement of traffic not hindering it. New light standards have been chosen and they are going to be installed along with new landscape median treatments where the overpass is. As opportunities present themselves, the new light standards will be implemented. The area around Oakbrook Center along, Route 83, Spring Road and to the south could be greatly enhanced. Some of the coordinated improvements would have to be on private property. They have shown improvements at key intersections, right -of -way improvements, how adjacent private property improvements could be coordinated and it would provide a much better image and character as you drive through the corridor. A lot of people do not stop in Oak Brook, they drive through it and even driving through it you should get a sense of the quality, character and destination of the community. This plan goes down to that level of detail. There is a picture of how the bridge will look on the 22nd Street overpass, will have a terracotta coloring and stone along with a median, raised landscaping along the banks, and will have a raised bicycle path on both sides. It is not a stereotypical overpass with precast concrete and exposed metal. It will take what was an eyesore and turn it into an identity builder. Treatments that exist on the west end of the corridor by the Promenade are not necessarily, what you would want to have on Jorie Blvd. For each area and sub level, they have shown proposed improvements. VILLAGE OF OAK BROOK Special Plan Commission Minutes Page 6 of 19 February 11, 2008 Devin Lavigne reviewed the West End Subarea. The plan identifies areas of suggested improvement. Inland expressed a desire that they might want to redevelop their site to consolidate and relocate all of its offices in the Chicago region into this location. Reviewing other properties along the way, some of which back up to 1 -88 and I -294; there is no presence and is almost treated like a backyard that is not very attractive. For motorists traveling east or westbound on the tollways, Oak Brook is not putting its best foot forward. They have identified opportunities for landscaping. The sound walls that are being installed on the south side look very attractive and its time to do something on the north side. They have identified areas where curb cuts could be added to allow cross access between some of the properties and could function almost as an access road. They felt strongly that the heights and signage is limited on all of the properties and they are failing to maximize their exposure on the tollway. What some big companies look for is visibility. When the buildings are low one -story buildings and are set very far back with strict signage restrictions on them, they fail to take advantage of this asset. The plan recommendation is to relax the signage restrictions on these buildings that front the tollway and look for ways to make them look more prominent. They also stress in the plan foresight for architecture. Each of the buildings needs to be attractive from whichever way it is viewed. They stressed four -sided architecture. There should not be a front or back elevation; there should be an attractive fagade on all four sides. During the community outreach, they heard that there was a concern for attractiveness throughout the corridor. As they conducted their field operations, if they saw rooftop mechanieals that were unscreened or floodlights, it was noted. Instead of illuminating a parking lot with pedestrian light standards so employees can walk safely to their cars, some of the buildings have bolted floodlights onto the sides of the building and cast a floodlight into the entire parking lot. These are minor site improvements. Subarea Route 83 transitions into retail. There is Costco and Macy's furniture located there and should look to improve exposure to the tollway. There is no way to got west from Costco without going back onto 22nd Street. They explored the possibility of a traffic signal at MacArthur Drive and the Costco entrance. An improvement is also cited in the Oakbrook Terrace Comprehensive Plan. There are minor site improvements noted along Midwest Road for cross access. The Oakbrook Center Subarea plan is highlighted as one big opportunity site. The first step would be to reduce some of the paved parking areas to improve the pedestrian experience. The anchor stores Macy's, Nieman Marcus should be moved out towards the road and would allow Oakbrook Center to extend the amount of retail stores in the center and it would improve the visual appearance from 22nd Street. Traveling along 22nd Street and looking towards the Oakbrook Center there is a field of parking seen, Depending on the time of day, it can give a very desolate appearance. They would like to bring some of the buildings forward toward the VILLAGE OF OAK BROOK Special Plan Commission Minutes Page 7 of 19 February 11, 2008 .e-� corners and start to establish a presence on Route 83 and on 22r'd Street and expand opportunities to provide more retail. The Marriott could use cross access between properties, General landscaping and signalization improvements. The office cluster east of the shopping center is Commerce Plaza. These properties are more susceptible to change. Even though there is a parking deck, there is a lot of surface parking. The surface parking needs to be looked at as an opportunity. The McDonald's office building also does not have covered parking, so every employee in the building is parking in a field of parking. It would be an opportunity to encourage McDonald's to build a parking structure and take some of the surface parking off line to build more restaurants or another office building. With the land economics in Oak Brook, surface parking is a waste of property. The Enterprise Drive Subarea. The intersection at 22 "d Street and Jorie, they have highlighted the land area along Salt Creek. With the exception of one office building, they have failed to take advantage of the environmental amenities of Salt Creek. There is an opportunity for some outdoor seating areas for employees, a trail way system on both sides of the creek to connect into the current trail system that dead ends right there. The York Road Subarea Plan focuses on properties near the intersection of York Road and 22nd Street. The Clearwater Development has started along the west side. On the east side John Buck and Duke Realty tried to bring everyone together to come up with an exciting plan for all of the land, but were unable to. It is still a great opportunity even though Clearwater is developing independent of the rest of the land. There still is the potential for something substantial to happen in this area. There is the advantage of Salt Creek and visibility to 1 -88. A toll way exit terminates right at the property. They have identified issues again in this area, including lack of cross access. The Swift Drive Subarea Plan functions like a little industrial park. The uses in this area have an excellent exposure to 1 -294. These businesses should take better advantage of their exposure and opportunities in this prominent commercial area. The Jorie Blvd Subarea Plan. Cross access could be developed along the backs of the buildings facing the toll way. The new hotel that was built, he commented that the only way someone could ever find this building would be through map quest. Traveling along the toll way the next exit is Mannheim and would be difficult to work your way back to find it. It could never be utilized with drive by traffic. With way finding along 22 "d Street would help to direct people back. Some of the structures along Jorie have floodlights bolted to the buildings and pale in comparison to what has been built. John Houseal said that the last part of the plan talks about implementation and funding. Some things are already taking place and activities and actions are already being implemented. Some specific recommendations are: VILLAGE OF OAK BROOK Special Plan Commission Minutes Page 8 of 19 February 11, 2008 iO� The Zoning Ordinance needs a lot of work. D_ evelopment of a PUD ordinance --- There is no PUD ordinance and in order to do a complex development like Clearwater or the Promenade the only course is through text amendments. Text amendments are not the vehicle that you would like to choose in order to manage and accommodate creative, attractive, contemporary development that is functioning in the modern market. Building setback standards - Certain districts along the commercial areas have building setback standards that are over one hundred feet off of 22nd Street. Buildings are not allowed in the setback, but some parking is allowed; however, there are no extensive screening requirements. The Zoning Ordinance dictates that large parking fields can be located up against the street while buildings that may be very attractive are placed much further back. This is probably not the development pattern that the village would like to see going forward in order to accommodate development that is more attractive and to have a better urban built forum and character for this corridor and the surrounding areas Sign Ordinance_ -- needs a lot of work. There are buildings in the village that are allowed to be multiple stories (eight plus stories) tall, but signage is capped at the third floor. Some of the buildings that are 8 -12 stories tall have signage at the third floor and landscaping in front. As someone is driving down 22nd Street, the shade tree blocks the view of the sign on the third floor. If there were a nice monument sign by the street or nice signage near the top at the parapet, it would fit the architecture better. It would also be identified better, and would give a corporate client the visibility and some clout as being identified in Oak Brook as it viewed when you drive by the highway. The current signage is forced to go into places that do not make any sense because they cannot be seen. The existing signage does not work with the architecture, with the desired development pattern, or the landscape to see a number of changes. Changes, recommendations and implementations are categorized differently. • Zoning changes are administrative changes that can be handled in different ways such has hiring someone from the outside to assist with staff. It requires a public hearing does not cost a lot and does not take a lot of time, but it has a tremendous impact moving forward and can be started immediately. ■ Capital or intersection improvements require a lot of funding, a lot of years of notice and coordination. It is not something that the village could simply decide to do, because it would probably involve IDOT or tollway authority jurisdiction. It would be multi jurisdictional cooperation and extensive funding that is needed. It is a different type of implementation mechanism. VILLAGE OF OAK BROOK Special Plan Commission Minutes Page 9 of 19 February 11, 2008 `- � The Plan recommends some very specific things, some more general things; it recommends things that can be undertaken right away and others that may take 10 years in advance. Collectively as a whole, when 10 years have gone by, and at every opportunity available the village moves in the right direction in a coordinated fashion. In 10 years, the village could reflect that all of the decisions made have culminated and things would be better than they are now. If there is not a plan in place to incrementally guide those decisions as development occurs, or as capital improvement projects come up, or as zoning rewrites take place, then 10 years go by and a lot of things may have taken place in an uncoordinated fashion. The Village would then wonder why things had not improved in that period of time. This Plan coordinates those macro and micro recommendations into a plan that would deliver and revitalize the commercial district. In closing, he said that the best way to sum up the intent of the Plan and the effort put forth by the Chamber, property owners, Task Force and the residents of the community is that Oak Brook has been the regional leader and destination for office, retail and restaurants for the last three decades. The objective is to reposition the conunercial areas in Oak Brook to be the regional leader for office, retail, entertainment and restaurants for the next thirty years. Chairwoman Payovich opened the hearing for public comment. Each person was sworn in prior to providing any testimony or comments. Stan Papuga, 29 Croydon Lane, York Woods, said that his one concern is the traffic and how it was going to be on 1 -204 going south. The Plan seems to propose to have some sort of ramp at the east end of 22'd Street, which would bring the ramp and the toll road to the York Woods subdivision. He questioned that it the ramps are proposed to bring traffic into the commercial area, why are they located in a residential area. They do not want to bring the traffic south. There are a lot of properties that would be impacted adversely if the ramp were put there as shown on the plan. If it were listed on the Plan as a suggestion, it would be considered. The commercial developer should be looked to be the provider of the ramp to 1 -294. Simon Sheers, 43 Windsor, York Woods subdivision questioned the location of the ramp. Mr Houseal responded that the transportation plan is for the area and shows a new southbound ramp onto 1 -294 from York Road at this location in the commercial area. A specific on and off ramp is not shown on the transportation plan, but rather a symbol that the village needs to continue to look for southbound access onto I -294. The toll authority has since said that would not happen, because there is a ramp not far north at Roosevelt. There is a need indicated for some sort of southbound access south of Roosevelt Road and need to continue to work with the Toll Authority to provide southbound access onto I -294 somewhere between Roosevelt Road and Ogden Avenue, The Plan does not specifically recommend a ramp near the residential; the symbol was placed there so the village would continue to work with the Toll Authority to find an appropriate location. VILLAGE OF OAK BROOK Special Plan Commission Minutes Page 10 of 19 February 11, 2008 Tim Mlsna, 28 Chatham Lane said that in the York Woods Subarea everyone in York Woods along the north side of Croydon Lane have their back yards facing 22 "d Street. As easement exists for NICOR and ComEd, but it is maintained as a yard. He questioned that although it is shown in white on this page of the Plan other pages shown the residential development in gray. He also noted that there are now 15 lanes of traffic adjacent to York Woods. If a pay ramp is planned, it would not be used, because the Ogden Avenue entrance is a free entrance and the users are frugal. Mr. Houseal responded that the gray area only indicates that it is a residential area and there are no changes planned to any of the residential areas. He suggested that the text box be removed. Peter Dellaportas, 3030 Hunt Club Lane commended all the Oak Brook officials for putting together the overlay plan and it is like the bible when approved. When people come before the village at a future date, they look at the Comprehensive Plan. He would like to see the point made that the commercial ramp be pushed north of 22 "d Street and let the north commercial point on York Road take the grunt and the ramp of 1 -294 traffic. He would prefer to just say no and not have it happen. William Lindeman, 11 Pembroke said that he was very impressed with the Plan and that it is long over do. There have been other plans including the present Comprehensive Plan, the Draft Lohan Plan and a Sasaki Plan ( ?) and there was no mechanism for implementation of the plans. He asked if there were recommendations or procedures on how this plan is implemented. He asked if the plan would be to deal with existing violations or wait if these conditions exist in areas that are likely to have future redevelopment. He asked if they wanted to approach the existing nonconforming situations or concentrate on getting the interconnecting parking lots. He asked if experts would provide guidance to the village staff. He suggested that the parcel of land at the southwest corner of Route 83 and 22 "d Street be included in the Plan. He agreed that the Marriott sign should be at the top of the building. He observed that several signs were seen from the highway for Papermate Pen and Sharpie that are offsite signs that are not related to the property. A Payville sign is on the 800 Enterprise building and a Financial Services sign that are kind of low -level businesses, which do not really do much; and a For Sale by Owner is an offsite sign that does not belong there. He asked if these signs were going to be overlooked during the next 10 years when the village is hoping to make progress on the plan. He asked if there was going to be a czar for commercial area redevelopment that would address these issues and prioritize. He said that the village should better get outside assistance if for no other reason than to hopefully avoid some of the mistakes that were made previously, which were identified by Houseal and Lavigne by having the parking in the front and the building in the back. They know experts that would help to implement the Plan. He said that sometimes you have to pay up a little money to get an attorney, rather than someone that gives legal advice for free. Experts are needed and this Plan probably could be expanded to include a means of implementing it so that it would be most successful. VILLAGE OF OAK BROOK Special Plan Commission Minutes Page 11 of 19 February 11, 2008 Mr. Houseal said that the village has already begun to allocate assets in the next budget to begin addressing some of the zoning issues. They have had ongoing dialogue with IDOT and the Toll Authority regarding the intersection improvements. They are keenly aware, as is Mr. Kallien that the village is in need of a PUD ordinance that the village does not have. Sign ordinances is one of the things that communities have had the most luck with amortizing things when something is no longer allowed, that giving a time limit to have them removed, such as five years or provide sunset provisions. With regard to screening HVAC screening or other types of components, the key to getting new standards PUD ordinances and zoning requirements adopted is that you 'can begin to affect everything that comes up beginning at this point in time. Incrementally over time, things begin to become better, such as by adding triggering mechanisms to the regulations, such as occupancy or other things in order to come into compliance. You cannot go and just say that things have to be changed now, because you have to be respectful of the businesses that are there. Whether optimally utilized or not, the buildings that currently exist, are tenants of the village and add to the vitality of the community and contribute to the commercial dynamics. You cannot come in and unduly burden them with new regulations, if they have been legally abiding up to this point. You have to be more sensitive to those existing situations. It is a state of flux, but this is a Plan that will allow the Village Board, the Plan Commission and staff to identify anyone given here. It can be implemented, but implementation takes place incrementally case by case and the Plan allows that. Bob Kallien and others in the village have already started working on that and some things have already taken place or are in motion. Some changes may be seen more quickly, rather than later. Director of Community Development Kallien said that at the Village Board meeting on February 12, 2008 they are being asked to take action to initiate the RFP/ RFQ process to seek out consultants to help develop PUD language as well as significant changes to the Sign Regulations. These things are under way and the process was being taken very seriously. Member Knitter asked what the estimated cost would be to beautify an intersection. Mr. Houseal responded that members of the Beautification Committee might be able to respond to that. Members of the Hitchcock Design Group, was the consultant and they worked with the village on streetscape improvements as well as other areas in the Village. They have already begun working on the east end, near the overpass Director of Community Development Kallien responded that the Beautification Committee moved very quickly to deal with the bridge issue. Hitchcock Design Group was part of the team and they laid out the types of improvements that would be required in those areas and did quantify cost. There will be some implementation occurring this year, primarily around the bridge. A program is underway that would dovetail with this effort and would primarily occur around the right of way areas. VILLAGE OF OAK BROOK Special Plan Commission Minutes Page -12 of 19 February 11, 2008 Member Knitter questioned an approximate cost for a signal light at Costco, Mr. Houseal responded that it would probably be between $135,000 -- 200,000 along with any other hard improvements that would come along. The issue at that site is logistics. A couple of communities would like it, and Costco would like it. The mechanism to put it into place would be with IDOT because it is a jurisdictional issue. IDOT has a number of standards that have to be met and one of those is that what takes place cannot hinder traffic operations. There primary objective is not to solely serve Oak Brook, but to move traffic through the region on this corridor. It is a heavily traveled arterial and some of those things could be relieved through more internalized cross access. If cross access were formalized then a couple of times a day, office buildings or shopping areas entering out into a fixed location that already has an intersection light as opposed to not providing any cross access so vehicles are forced to go out where there are no controlled intersections. Some of the smaller scale improvements could have huge corridor ramifications. It is difficult to get IDOT jurisdiction. Seemingly, in things that would make it better, but system wide may not make it better and that is their first priority. Member Knitter questioned the plan for the Oakbrook Center and movement of the buildings. Mr. Houseal responded that although he could not speak for General Growth, who are the global experts for this type of shopping center, but the trend is to create more of a pedestrian environment with more of a mixed use, without huge fields of parking that create an island out of the shopping center. Oak Brook is one of the most successful large open -air shopping centers in the nation, and is a jewel of the community. There are things that could make it compete better on a larger scale. Creating a better dynamic sense of place as you drive by it on the street and the moment you walk into it. He did not suggest demolishing the center, but rather bringing the major tenants out to the corners of the property and once they are firmly established; then go in and make a concert venue or civic plaza, or open space. Add more restaurants with a scenic sort of European sidewalk flair and outdoor dining. More can be done with the internal space if some of the larger tenants are brought to the outside. The idea is to create more of a dynamic interesting shopping environment with more interaction. It can be done by restructuring and managing where things are, by doing things incrementally. They are the experts, but that is sort of the trend. They are a great partner in Oak Brook. Member Knitter questioned if there was something that could be done to start the implementation process, to say who is responsible for doing different things and what would they roughly cost, so that things can begin to move in a direction. He would like to see assigned responsibility, costs, timeframes to push the village and its officials to go to IDOT and the Toll Authority and impress how important it is to widen 22nd Street, If Route 83 and 22nd Street are not addressed, the report is a comic strip. VILLAGE OF OAK BROOD Special Plan Commission Minutes Page 13 of 19 February 11, 2008 Mr. Houseal responded that there are a number of things that have been identified specifically that need to be done and they can work with the community to scope out the costs for implementation steps that need to be done to see those realized. Those cannot be done until after the Plan is adopted, because up to that point, they do not know if there is consensus to recommendations. One of the most important things to see implementation realized is support and day -to -day use primarily by three different groups, staff, the Plan Commission and Village Board. When developers come in and property owners or businesses come in the first person they sit down with is the Director of Community Development Kallien. When they make a proposal, it can be determined how it works with the Plan. This way before they go through the formal application process and have hired a team to develop plans, they would have a fair sense of what it is the village is expecting to be done and they can work within those parameters. The next thing is that the developers use those plans to prepare something and then come to the Plan Commission. The Plan Commission and Village Board should use the document. The Village Board should use it in conjunction with staff when the annual budgeting is done and when capital improvement plans are done five years out. The Plan calls out what needs to be done. Staff needs to monitor the Plan to help bring it to the village officials to review over the fiscal year and what can be accomplished. They have tried to work very hard on the Plan to provide visionary objectives with real, viable, market realistic, incremental, implement able recommendations. If one thing does not work out of the 10 that are being tried, then it does not prevent the other 9 things from being done. This Plan was carefully crafted to make sure that one lynch pin project was not needed in order to do everything else. Armual budgeting should be done in coordination with the Plan document to ensure things do not come up as a surprise in order to Plan a year or more in advance. If the village is serious about it, they have the tool to get it done, if not, nothing will get done. Member Sharma questioned which Subarea Plan should be focused on first, or whether they would be dealt with simultaneously. Mr. Houseal responded that the Subarea analysis is done because it is hard to step back and look at everything as one big picture. They may refer to parking lot screening and it may be done in many different subareas. There is ordinance language that can be changed that would affect all of the subareas. They have identified likely redevelopment sites, but they may sit for 10 years and others may develop right away. There is now some guidance as to how redevelopment should occur on that site. It is a site by site, case by case perspective. When the Plan says is that when something does happen in that subarea, you can identify the area right away and see how it fits into the larger corridor. There is no order as to how the subareas are to be addressed. It is more by opportunity than subarea. Member Tropinski said that the Plan is very good and very important to the Village and she was impressed with the comments about having quality buildings on all four sides. How could it be implemented to ensure that there are quality buildings? VILLAGE OF OAK BROOD. Special Plan Commission Minutes Page 14 of 19 February 11, 2008 174 Mr. Houseal responded that right now the village has straight zoning in the commercial districts with standards that have to be met in regard to height, setback, FAR, parking ratio, lot coverage, etc. The village does not have a PUD ordinance, which is intended to provide a more creative opportunity to develop. It allows the developer more flexibility and the village more control. To get the best out of a site, straight strict zoning may not be the thing to do. The flexibility would perhaps allow an additional story on a building, if the landscaping were twice as good as planned; or if the architecture is improved significantly, perhaps the building could be moved closer to the road. What it avoids is someone coming in meeting the letter of the law and being able to build whatever looking building they want. The village has no control over that right now. If there is a PUD ordinance, and like a special use, there are several standards that have to be met, then if someone would request a building a little larger, but would offer very good architecture, it would be something the village would want to encourage. Fortunately, the village had a developer who wanted to do a state of the art top -notch project, as opposed to someone saying that they have met every requirement and even if you do not like the way that it looks, it could be built anyway. A PUD requires certain standards of review. One of the requirements would be to meet the requirements of the Commercial Areas Revitalization Plan. The plan calls out for 4 -sided architecture and a sense of buffering along residential areas. To further strengthen a PUD ordinance and in terms of character and appearance, design guidelines can be developed for new developments. Landscaping, architecture, signage, parking lot screening, building materials, can be included. The village can clearly indicate the character and quality that it wants to see without dictating what the buildings have to look like. In the PUD you can develop design guidelines that could list building materials, landscaping materials, etc. A PUD ordinance gives the village a level of review and control that the village does not have. You can then talk about aesthetics and architecture, building material and landscaping that it currently cannot do. Member Iyer asked how noise pollution was being addressed as well as traffic. Mr. Houseal said that the Plan does not address noise pollution, other than to buffer residential areas. It does not address noise as to how it relates to traffic. The Plan should state that any highway interchange, ramps, etc., ought to be dedicated to commercial areas. If the Toll Authority or IDOT would propose a study for a ramp, they would have to do that. Member Vivek asked how the see that the demographics have changed, and what do they expect because the Plan would be in existence for another 20 -30 years. Is there any plan to allow pedestrian passes from the hotel, like the Marriott to the Oakbrook Center and how do you tie in the entertainment areas with the Oakbrook Center. Mr. Houseal responded that the Plan does have specific recommendations for pedestrian circulation and enhanced pedestrian circulation. They explored the concept of an overpass over 22 "d Street to Oakbrook Center and may be could be done as some of the buildings are brought toward 22 "d Street away from the middle VILLAGE OF OAK BROOK Special Plan Commission Minutes Page 15 of 19 February 11, 2008 of shopping center. When General Growth Properties does its redevelopment along 22"d Street, it should be explored. The demographics in Oak Brook is like it is in a lot of communities and is shifting older. As it shifts older, people are either no longer able or desire to maintain a single - family detached residence, but that does not mean that they want to move out of their community. If opportunities are not afforded to allow people to live in the same community in the same quality of residential unit, although a different type of product, then they are forced to move. The village needs to look at where best to accommodate some attached single - fainily or multi - family condominiums. Somewhere in the commercial district is part of a mixed -use enviroru-nent in some locations. It would allow older families to shift and allow younger families to move and occupy the homes they are vacating. If retail, commercial, restaurant, recreation, and pedestrian mobility is lacking, it becomes less desirable for younger families. These things are important, not only for the shopping experience, but for the resident experience. They should not have to get in their car and battle traffic to go shopping on 22nd Street. It enhances the resident populations as well, not just the commercial district. Member Singhal asked how the Plan could be condensed into no more than three pages that says these are the 25 things, the costs, and the benefits. Implementation will only happen if it is simplified in a manner that can get 9,000 residents and 100,000 people excited about what they are planning to do. Mr. Houseal responded that once the Plan is adopted, the first thing order of business should be to specifically identify an implementation outline as to what should be done, what should be prioritized in terms of this year or next. Oak Brook has been a regional leader in some of these areas for the past 30 years. If the village does not do anything, it will fail to be that leader. It is a misnomer that if you do nothing things stays the same, If you do nothing you lose ground and things deteriorate, you lose market position, lose character, lose identity and lose desirability from a shopping perspective, from the tenant perspective, from those looking to bring their headquarters to the Village or raise families here. If you do nothing you lose footing in all of those areas. The Plan is to make sure that you make changes; not for the sake of change. You make changes that incrementally improve all of these things as a system in order to regain that position in all the different approaches and consideration. To do nothing is the kiss of death. You have to do something and the key is to know what to do when and in what fashion. Member Lalmalanx questioned the kind of possible development that could occur on the vacant McDonald's property on Kensington and whether there was the possibility of access to Route 83. Mr. Houseal responded that it is not a good area for retail because of access and visibility. It could be a corporate campus, performing art center, or active recreation space, but it is not ideal for retail, etc. It is a destination site. Mr. Lavigne said that was explored but the relocated ramp to access Route 83 is right there and goes into I -88. The probability of adding an entrance was VILLAGE OF OAK BROOK Special Plan Commission Minutes Page 16 of 19 February 11, 2008 determined to be zero by the transportation engineer. Member Sharma asked if there is any forecast or study on the probability of new offices moving into Oak Brook. Mr. Houseal said that a detailed market analysis and assessment was done at the beginning so that their recommendations were realistic. They did not want to make recommendations for Class A office or mixed -use if there was not a market for it. The absorption rate of that type of use over time, Member Sharma asked if they thought about what type of styles should be in the Design guidelines. Mr. Houseal responded that they did not. Some design guidelines talk about architectural style, he did not think that this would be that. Guidelines for Oak brook would not be to dictate a specific architectural theme or style design. It would be the means of insuring the quality, compatibility and suitability of design regardless of the style. He would not recommend an architectural preference for buildings in Oak Brook. Member Singhal asked if there was any kind of comparative analysis versus Oak Brook other communities or other places in the country. Mr. Houseal responded that they did a synthesis report. They looked at the market for office, retail, restaurant, mixed -use. They looked at what is the leakage and absorption of uses and how much restaurant is being lost right now to other communities because the village is not accommodating it very well? They spoke with a developer who said for the first time that one of their biggest competitions for landing a restaurant in Oak Brook was Naperville. It used to be that when a high - end restaurant in Chicago was looking for a place to expand in the suburbs, it was Oak Brook. Now they are leapfrogging Oak Brook and thinking about downtown Naperville as their first satellite restaurant. The gap needs to be stopped. t Trustee Wolin said that there was a lot said about implementation; and suggested that it would seem that the Plan Commission may be the responsible party on the implementation of this project and Bob Kallien would be the focus for it. The Plan has a thousand things listed that need to be done. The first step would be to work together with Houseal Lavigne and come up with a list of things to initiate in the next year The Plan Commission could have quarterly meetings to report on the things that have been done and then once a year hold a major planning process to review items for the next year. Unless there a follow up is done, it may not happen. There may be a better approach, but it is a workable approach. There is a plan to widen 22"d Street. IDOT has done the engineering and hopefully in the not too distant future they will have the funds to rebuild it. Trustee Kennedy said that in the very beginning it was important to the Task Force and Houseal Lavigne that this plan had to be implementable. He said that he wanted VILLAGE OF OAK BROOK Special Plan Commission Minutes Page 17 of 19 February 11, 2008 everyone to understand that parts of the plans have already been implemented. Tomorrow the Village Board is going to issue the request for qualifications for professional assistance in drafting the PUD ordinance and revising the signage ordinance. The Village Board may presumably approve a $50,000 contract for a feasibility engineering study on north York Road to deal with the problems in that area, including the Elmhurst Hospital and the development in the York Road area. They are working very closely with IDOT, not only on the aesthetics of the bridge that is under construction, but also on the 22" d Street project where the design engineering has already been awarded and is underway. They are working with other jurisdictions on other issues and they are also working on approximately $1.25 million worth of beautification on 22 "a Street that will hopefully be completed this year. There is a lot going on the village in terms of the implementation of some aspects of the Plan. The Village Board also increased the sales tax and hotel tax. Those funds are earmarked for beautification, traffic improvements and implementing commercial revitalization. Right now, the Village Board is working very hard on the implementation of the Plan even before it is formally adopted. Chairwoman Payovich thanked everyone for their participation in this process. After a brief discussion, the Plan Commission felt that all of their questions have been answered and few issues were identified and it was agreed to move the matter forward to the Village Board. Director of Community Development Kallien ensured that the Village Board would receive detailed minutes on the discussion at this hearing. Motion by Member Knitter, seconded by Member Lalmalani that in making the recommendation, the Plan Commission, conducted the required public hearing and found that the proposed Commercial Areas revitalization Plan dated December 2007 should be adopted as presented, subject to the following revisions and recommendations: 1. Include a statement in the document that any possible future on or off ramp onto the highway system should be prioritized for the commercial areas and not adjacent to or within the residential areas. 2. Eliminate the text box on page 73 regarding the 1 -294 ramp in the York Road Subarea Plan. 3. Recommend that the Village Board retain the services of Houseal Lavigne or a similar consultant to write a proposed general implementation outline with generalized dollar costs, responsibilities assigned and timeframe wherever possible, for each idea suggest in the Plan. ROLL CALL VOTE: Ayes: 7 -- Members Iyer, Knitter, Lalmalani, Sharma, Singhal, Tropinski and Chairwoman Payovich Nays: 0 — None. Motion Carved. VILLAGE OF OAK BROOK Special Plan Commission Minutes Page 18 of 19 February 11, 2008 4. ADJOURNMENT: Motion by Member Knitter, seconded by Member lyer to adjourn the meeting at 9:29 p.m. VOICE VOTE: Motion carried. ATTEST: Robert Kallien, irector of mmunity Development Secretary VILLAGE OF OAK BROOD. Special Plan Commission Minutes Page 19 of 19 February 11, 2008 1G?z ADJOuRNMEN'r