At a recent meeting, the Mundelein Economic Development Commission was updated on north-downtown development efforts.
Below are the minutes from this meeting, as provided by the commission.
Village of Mundelein Economic Development Commission is located at 221 N. Lake St., Mundelein.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES July 28, 2016
I. CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by Chairman Gallas at 7:28 a.m. on Thursday, July 28, 2016 at the Mundelein Village Hall, 300 Circle Plaza.
II. ATTENDANCE
Present: Larry Gallas, Mike Allred, Gerry Brin, Brandon Tole, Donna Morrison and
Jeanne Silver
Also Present: Terry Skriba, Mundelein Community Connection, Dawn Abernathy, Village
Trustee and Amanda Orenchuk, Director Community Development
Absent: Laurie MacKay, Tom Ouimet and Bob Swanson
III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES. Motion by Morrison, seconded by Brin to approve the minutes of June 23, 2016. Mike Flynn noted correction to the dates for the Arts Festival. The minutes, as amended, were unanimously approved.
IV. PUBLIC COMMENTARY. Larry Gallas congratulated Amanda Orenchuk on being
promoted to the Community Development Director.
Dawn Abernathy commented on the presentation made by the EDC to the Board on Monday, July 25, 2016. She thought the presentation was excellent.
Gerry Brin commented that the visit to the McDonald’s Corporate Headquarters in Oak Brook, sponsored by Mundelein Community Connection, was educational.
Terry Skriba reminded the commission of upcoming events including Farmers Market every Friday, Park-on-Park the second Wednesday of the month and the Art Festival in September. She also mentioned that the Mundelein Community Connection Summer Luncheon was held on Wednesday, July 27 was very successful and the Motorcycle Park-on- Park also held on the 27th was well attended.
V. Village Board Presentation. Larry Gallas and Brandon Tole reported on the presentation. Brandon noted that the primary purpose of the presentation was to introduce the Village Board to the EDC tracking system for reporting key tasks in accordance with the commission’s goals and objectives. The spreadsheet tracks the activities planned and completed, the number of business contacts, tasks that are uncompleted, and projects those tasks for the entire year. To date the Economic Development Commission has made 364 business contacts and that the report identifies five core tasks of the commission, which are business recognition, advising the village board, business retention, business attraction and continuing education. Of those core tasks, 65 subtasks have been identified. Chairman Gallas emphasized the importance for all commission members to report business contacts including new business contacts and BIG grant contacts.
VI. Broker’s Tour Review/New Broker’s Event. Mr. Flynn reported on the Brokers Tour that was held on June 28. He noted that subcommittee chairmen, Tom Ouimet and Bob Swanson and he met following the event to discuss the outcomes. Twenty-one realtors took the tour. A survey was sent to all those who attended. Only three surveys were returned.
The general feeling from survey responses and from verbal reports by those who attended, was that the event was very interesting and helpful, although it was too long. The attendees also suggested that September would be a better time for a tour for residential brokers.
The subcommittee discussed having another broker tour in September, but suggested instead that the bus tour be held in October, not for residential brokers, but for commercial brokers. The commercial broker tour should focus on development opportunities and on- going projects. It should also have participation by one or two commercial developers. Bill Shiner and Jim Kozonis were mentioned. Bob Swanson will contact Bill Shiner for his input into the concept.
Mr. Flynn noted that the tour was difficult at times to provide information on properties as the bus moved quickly past the site. For the broker’s tour, it was suggested, that the bus linger at chosen sites in order to provide more information on the location and answer questions. It was also suggested that the bus tour be accompanied by a session in the Village Hall, presenting information boards about individual opportunity sites for development.
VII. Downtown North Planning Meeting Update. Larry Gallas reported on the steering committee that is working with the Farr Development Group revisioning downtown Mundelein between Route 176 and Hawley Street, from Route 45 to Morris and the East Hawley Street Corridor. The steering committee has met twice with Farr & Associates. The latest meeting was on July 21, 2016. At that time, the consultant presented four design schemes which all included a parking garage, a park and a site for the Performing Arts Center. The steering committee narrowed the schemes to three.
The steering committee also provided input on bike path configurations on East Hawley Street, on-street dining opportunities, building heights and street configurations. A public meeting is planned for September 20, 2016.
Larry Gallas, Dawn Abernathy, Amanda Orenchuk and Mike Flynn attended the steering committee meeting. It was noted that the site for the parking garage was eliminated from the west side of Route 45 and that three locations for the Performing Arts Center were presented: the Village parking lot at Park and Seymour, the Allanson recycling property at the northwest corner of Park and Seymour and the vacant lot south of the Village Hall. Additional details on the size and configuration of the Performing Arts Center were requested by the consultant.
VIII. Gold Star Nominations. Gold Star nominations were discussed. Chairman Gallas pointed out that at the August meeting the commission should be ready to review the criteria for Gold Star nominations and be prepared to nominate potential candidates. He suggested that the nominations be restricted to businesses that have contributed to the economic development of the community for some time. He noted that an award was given to Party Fantasy, and they are no longer in business. He suggested that ‘less is more’ and that recipients should be carefully selected. Mr. Flynn will send each member a letter of businesses that have received the award in the past and the existing program criteria. Tentative nominations were suggested for Shear Paradise and Tie Mart.
IX. Village Report. Larry Gallas drew the commission’s attention to a memo they received from Amanda Orenchuk regarding economic development. In the memo, Ms. Orenchuk presented eight areas where Economic Development Commission can take the initiative to encourage improvements and forge relationships with property owners. This information was intended to improve the understanding of the issues with these key properties which included Quik Pick Plaza, Deepwoods Plaza, Great Lake Music Plaza, Butterfield Corners, O’Reilly’s Route 60 location, Dover Straits, DiCarlo’s and signs set for amortization. Mr. Flynn noted that K9 Play Time on Washington Blvd. is expanding, Hong Kong Chop Suey’s parking lot renovation is under way, a food restaurant is planned for the old Avanti’s at 404 N. Lake Street, Inn and Out BBQ has opened in the Hawley Lake Plaza. BIG applications have been distributed to Lakeside Lanes, Excelsior Food Products, which is looking at the old Schafer Packing plant on Morris and to Flowerama. The next quarterly vacancy report from Lake County Partners will be available in September.
X. New Business. The new business list was distributed. Larry Gallas will visit In and Out BBQ, Donna Morrison will visit Fit Club 24 at 103 N. Seymour and Mike Allred will visit Tina G’s at 8 E. Park.
Gerry Brin reported on a site visit he made to Show Stoppers Pet Styling at 528 N. Seymour. In discussing the site visit, it was suggested that the Site Visit Survey form currently in use, which focuses on business satisfaction with Village departments, be modified to ask different questions that are more in-line with the focus questions that Amanda Orenchuk presented in her memo. The commission agreed that would be a good idea.
XI. NEXT MEETING. The next meeting was discussed. Larry Gallas will not be available for the August 25th meeting, nor will Mike Flynn. After some discussion it was agreed that the August 25th meeting will be held. Chairman Gallas asked Brandon Tole to preside over the meeting and Amanda O. to be the Village Liaison. The next regular meeting of the Economic Development Commission will be August 25, 2016.
XII. ADJOURNMENT. The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 a.m.
Respectively submitted by:
Michael Flynn Assistant Village Administrator
Alerts Sign-up