Agenda Questions/Answers 11/05/2014 City Council Meeting I.1. Approve the 10/16/2014 Cash Disbursements of $12,046,416.35. Chirico: Item I-1 page 22 North East multi regional Please explain the purpose of this subscription. Can the city do without being in this association? Item I-1 general What is the city's annual cost for all association memberships including attending conferences, including all travel, lodging, registration fees, membership dues, and other costs associated with conferences? Please separate into two categories: voluntary associations and required (compliance) associations. Item I-1 General; The city-wide FY15 Budget for Conferences and Training is $873,311. The additional information requested will take additional time to complete, we will follow-up thru a council work request to provide this information. (Lockwood) Item I-1 general This subscription is an association created by a consortium of police departments with the purpose of providing up to date police officer training at a considerable cost savings to member departments. The police department recommends we remain in the association due to the cost savings for the high level of trainings provided through the association which cover a variety of specialty topics including narcotics investigations, search and seizure, and legal updates. (Delaney) Chirico: Edward services. City fitness center. Do we have records of the use of the city hall fitness facility? If so, what percentage of staff uses the facility? Conservatively, we estimate that the workout facility at City Hall is used 150 times per month. (Schatz) I.7. Pass the ordinance approving a conditional use for general retail in the OCI district for property located at 2244 W. 95th Street, PZC 14-1-118. Krause: Do churches that have cafes collect sales tax and does that tax include the food and beverage tax? Churches are normally tax exempt and not required to collect sales tax, so the city does not collect food and beverage tax from churches. (Lockwood) I.9. Deny the requested variance from Section 3401.3 of the 2012 IBC for 1478 E. Chicago Avenue, Q&A Page 1
requesting an additional two years (total of 4 year deferment) to install fire sprinklers in the Angeli's Restaurant Space, BRB #89. Krause: Has there been any fire calls at this location? If so, how many, when and what was the extent of damage if any? Were any businesses closed because of a fire? We have had three fire related calls to this shopping center going back to the early 1990 s. One was an electrical fire with light smoke in the 1490 E. Chicago address. The second was a minor smoke investigation of a bad window lighting fixture in 1482 E. Chicago. The third was a small fire in the restaurant at 1478 E. Chicago due to combustibles too close to a water heater. Visible smoke was noticed through the window and it was also found that the fire melted a water line connection which sprayed water on the fire keeping it from getting larger. They incurred minor fire damage and water damage to all floors. We have no record if the business was closed for any duration during repairs. We have no record of any other businesses being closed because of fires. We have had numerous other fire calls to this shopping center for activated fire alarms, service calls or gas leaks. (Scheller/Urban) Wentz: Are there any sprinklers currently in place at the John & Eddies location at 1468 E. Chicago Avenue (located about 4 units to the west of Angeli s in the same strip mall) or is this unit slated as part the l plan to install a fire suppression system within the next 8 years? Do most other strip malls in Naperville with restaurants have fully functioning fire suppression systems? For example, are there fire suppression systems in the strip malls along 75th street and along Ogden avenue where the strip malls include restaurants with ovens? There are no sprinklers anywhere in this building as of yet. This would be required within the next eight years. Most other strip malls with or without restaurants do have sprinklers installed. The driving factor for sprinklers is building size or square footage. Generally buildings built after 1990 have sprinklers installed if they exceed 5000 square feet in size. All of the new strip malls on 75th street are sprinkled. On Ogden Ave., centers such as Iroquois Commons, Ogden Mall, Cress Creek, and Lakeview Square are completely sprinkled. (Scheller/Urban) L.2. Confirm the tax levy amounts and set the public hearing date on the City's Tax Levy and the levies for SSA #21, SSA#23, SSA #24 and SSA #25 for December 2, 2014. Wentz: L.2. What is the last possible meeting date for the Council to set and approve the tax levy? Was the anticipated $7 million dollar anticipated budget deficit (I believe it was previously $11 million) based on the assumption of a flat (0% increase) levy or on the levy as proposed with the proposed 5.9% increase? L.2. The middle portion of Paragraph 1, Page 8 of the 10/27/14 workshop materials states that The revenue estimates included in the FY2015 Budget set levels that are $2.3 million or 2.1% below actual FY2014 revenue. In the first 5 months of FY2015, we have seen slight increases compared to budget estimates in some areas and are refining the revenue projections accordingly. What is the current actual revenue projections for the first 6 months (May October) of FY 2015? Can staff provide us with additional sales tax revenue reports for September and October as well as any other updated revenue reports (October home sales, etc.) so we can be fully informed on the latest revenue data before we vote to approve the levy? L.2. What is the procedure to approve a lower levy if we don t have a majority to approve the current Q&A Page 2
proposed levy? L.2. What is the anticipated 2015 council meeting date for discussing a possible abatement. L.2. Please provide a history of City tax levy abatements over the past 6 years. Q#1 The levy ordinance would need to be approved at the December 16th meeting in order to meet the filing requirement with the counties of on or before the last Tuesday in December (12/30/14). Staff recommends that Council approve the Tax levy after the public hearing on 12/2/14. Additionally, the action requested for Council on 11/5/2014 is to confirm the tax levy amount. This amount is a working estimate necessary to provide the public with information regarding the tax levy amount. Council may adjust and set the levy at a different amount after the public hearing on 12/2/14. (Pelka-Wilger, Mayer) Q#2 - The anticipated budget deficit ($11 million) includes a levy that is 5.9% higher than the prior year. (Mayer) Q#3/4 - Staff will be closing the books thru October this week, after which a mid-year report will be prepared for distribution through the Manager s Memorandum. The report will include an update on sales tax revenues, home sales, and any other revenue updates for the fiscal year. (Mayer) Q#5 - As stated above, the requested action for Council for the Nov 5th meeting is to approve the tax levy estimates, so they can be placed on file for public inspection prior to the public hearing. Council can adjust the estimates (up or down) any time after placing them on file for public inspection and before approving the tax levy ordinance. However, a final levy ordinance must be passed and filed with the County Clerks before the last Tuesday in December (12/30/2014). (Pelka-Wilger, Mayer) Q#6 The estimated date for abatement discussion would be end of March beginning of April. (Pelka- Wilger, Mayer) Q#7 Historically, the City s abatements are for the portion of the General Obligation bond debt service that is attributable to the water, electric, and SSA debt service payments. Over the last six levy years, the abatements have been: Tax Levy Year 2013: $9,297,266.50 Tax Levy Year 2012: $8,884,914.50 Tax Levy Year 2011: $7,652,844.76 Tax Levy Year 2010: $7,229,191.26 Tax Levy Year 2009: $4,285,938.26 Tax Levy Year 2008: $3,195,476.52 (Mayer) N.1. 812 W. Jefferson Avenue (Living Intown Properties), PZC 14-1-100: Wentz: N.1. From a storm water drainage perspective, what are the respective elevations between the subject property of 812 W. Jefferson Avenue and the property immediately to the east? (lot 15 on page 357). It would appear that the property to the east is actually at a slightly higher elevation. The two lots are pretty close to the same elevations based on the macro-survey level information the City has. Detailed drainage information has not been provided yet since the property has not been entitled. If the Q&A Page 3
requested approval is granted, then the developer will prepare the required drainage plans which the City will rigorously review to ensure compliance with our codes and ordinances. (Novack) N.2. Water Street District North (PZC 14-1-108) and South (PZC 14-1-109): Krause: What is the projected number of parking spaces taken up by employees based by the expectant tenants based on Water Street? An example would be Ryan Hill Realty, which will be one of the tenants. When are we going to discuss their request for incentives? Are we going to have the opportunity to discuss the charges for parking, such as excess for the hotel or valet parking? When is the City Council going to be addressing the extension of the TIF district? Has Water Street applied for any demolition permits? How long does it take to get a demolition permit after one applies for it? 1) What is the projected number of parking spaces taken up by employees based by the expectant tenants based on Water Street? An example would be Ryan Hill Realty, which will be one of the tenants. The number of employees for office/retail/restaurant spaces are not calculated separately for the parking demands associated with those uses. In the downtown, the Continuous Improvement Model parking generation rate of 2.02 spaces/1,000 gross s.f. includes employees as well as patrons. The anticipated parking demand of 178 spaces for restaurant/retail/office spaces includes both employees and patrons (including 10 hotel employees), which is consistent with the rest of the downtown. (Urban) 2) When are we going to discuss their request for incentives? Are we going to have the opportunity to discuss the charges for parking, such as excess for the hotel or valet parking? The financial components of the Water Street project will be presented in the Major Business Terms (MBT) including the parking overflow fee, which is currently anticipated to be presented on November 18, 2014 City Council meeting. (Urban). 3) When is the City Council going to be addressing the extension of the TIF district? The extension of the TIF will be incorporated into the Major Business Terms agenda item for Council direction, and formal ordinances in accordance with State Statute authorizing the TIF extension will be prepared for a subsequent Council meeting. (Urban) 4) Has Water Street applied for any demolition permits? There have not been any demolition permits submitted for the Water Street project to date. (Urban) 5) How long does it take to get a demolition permit after one applies for it? A commercial demolition permit is typically reviewed and issued in approximately 2 weeks. (Urban) Wehrli: I would like J1 Q&A from the November 20, 2014 and J1 Q&A from the December 4, 2012 City Q&A Page 4
Council meetings included in the November 5, 2014 Q&A. Attached. (Bertino) Q&A Page 5