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2002-03-20 - Plan Commission - Minutes Board or Commission: ❑ Plan commission Document Type: 0 A e g nda 0 Minutes Meeting ate: 03/20/2002 Type of Meeting: ❑ Regular Meeting REGULAR MEETING BUFFALO GROVE PLAN COMMISSION March 20, 2002 Proposed Cosmic Zone family entertainment center, Buffalo Grove Town Center, 350 McHenry Road (former Cub Foods building), Amendment of the Planned Unit Development (P.U.D.) in the B-5 Town Center District—Workshop #2 Buffalo Grove Park District—Learning Center (golf dome), 801 McHenry Road—Amendment of Special Use concerning proposed extension of use Workshop #1 Riverwalk North, east of Milwaukee Avenue north of Riverwalk Drive Amendment of a Planned Unit Development (P.U.D.) and Preliminary Plan in the B-3 District—Workshop #1 Chairman Ottenheimer called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. in the Village Council Chambers, Buffalo Grove Municipal Building, 50 Raupp Boulevard, Buffalo Grove, Illinois. Commissioners present: Chairman Ottenheimer Mr. Samuels Mr. Trilling Ms. Dunn Mr. Feldgreber Mr. Panitch Mr. Smith Ms. Bocek Ms. Kenski-Sroka Also present: Mr. Mike Rylko, Executive Director, Buffalo Grove Park District Ms. Martha Weiss, President, Park Board Mr. Don Hedlund, Vice President, Park Board Mr. Dan Schimmel, Director of Recreation and Facilities Mr. Dale Ducommon, Superintendent of Parks Ms. Debi Kamick Mr. Ron Lunt, Hamilton Partners Mr. Bill Johnson, C.J. Properties Associates Mr. David Olsen, The Jenkins Group Mr. Tim Beechick, Hamilton Partners Mr. Jeff Braiman, Village Trustee Mr. Robert Pfeil, Village Planner Mr. Greg Summers, Associate Village Planner APPROVAL OF MINUTES—None COMMITTEE AND LIAISON REPORTS Commissioner Smith attended the Village Board meeting on March 18, 2002 where the Avis condominiums and rectory project was approved. There was also a pre-application conference on Prairie Center which is a commercial endeavor on the southeast corner of Prairie Road and Route 22. The endeavor consists of a Dairy Queen with drive-thru, a new gymnastics center and a 2-story office building. This was referred to the Plan Commission with aesthetics as a main issue. PROPOSED COSMIC ZONE FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT CENTER, BUFFALO GROVE TOWN CENTER (FORMER CUB FOODS BUILDING), AMENDMENT OF THE PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT (P.U.D.) IN THE B-5 TOWN CENTER DISTRICT --_WORKSHOP #2 Chairman Ottenheimer recused himself from this portion of the meeting by virtue of the fact that he is a principal with economic interests in this development. Commissioner Feldgreber stated he is also recusing himself from this issue. Ms. Kamick stated they will not be changing the entrance and the exterior of the building will not change except for the signage. Ms. Kamick presented slides of various other facilities to show similar looks for the proposed proj ect. Ms. Kamick stated their definition of a family entertainment center is based on the ILA definition which is a unique community based recreation entertainment destination which contains bowling and other uses not limited to the following, including video arcades, laser tag, restaurant and lounges, batting cages, and party rooms. Commissioner Smith asked what the situation is with the owner of Town Center. Ms. Kamick stated there were 11 issues to be addressed and they are now down to 1 issue. The lease has been finalized with Super Value and the principals and things are very close now. Commissioner Panitch asked exactly where smoking will be allowed in the facility. Ms. Kamick stated smoking will probably only be allowed in the concourse or lounge area. Commissioner Panitch asked where alcohol will be allowed. Ms. Kamick noted it will be allowed beyond the concourse up to the lanes. She noted there are absolutely no food or beverages allowed at any time in the bowling area. That is basically to protect the floor and the bowlers. Commissioner Dunn asked what parking standards are being used to determine if there is enough parking here. Ms. Kamick stated it is stated in the report that KLOA has been approached. The issue that is undeterminable at the moment is due to the fact that the definition of the use has not as yet been established and they have no guidelines as yet to follow. They are also looking at a unique situation. They have looked at the standards set as far as what was initially done when the building was planned for the area. What they have been trying to show is that there are 415 total spaces. For the food store itself, 256 spaces were allocated. What makes the most sense is using the best case scenario of a full house and every possible body that can fit to capacity into the facility. With the number of people per car as set by the standard, they fall right into the proper numbers. Commissioner Dunn asked how people will be charged for the various activities. Ms. Kamick stated everything is a separate item and there will be a station and an attendant in each area. Commissioner Dunn asked where the daycare will be situated. Ms. Kamick stated that will be established once they get into the final floor plan area. Commissioner Kenski-Sroka noted the presence of billiard tables which she thought were to be excluded. Ms. Kamick stated she had not realized they planned on doing that and had incorrectly stated they would not be included. Commissioner Bocek stated this is a very appropriate use for this facility. Vice Chairman Samuels asked if any of the materials that are presently in the Cub Food facility will be reused. Ms. Kamick stated that would depend on how the plan lays out. More than likely most of that stuff will have to go. Vice Chairman Samuels asked for an idea of what is being contemplated for ceilings, flooring and wall coverings. Ms. Kamick stated some of the buildout will be done by the contractor and there are portions of the buildout, specifically the bowling lanes, that will be done by whoever is contracted with. Vice Chairman Samuels stated he has no problem with the use if it will be a facility that is going to hold its own in terms of having a first class atmosphere. Ms. Kamick stated they are looking to doing things first rate. Vice Chairman Samuels stated he is much more likely to approve of an amendment to the P.U.D. to allow a use that is conditioned on those elements than to just have a blanket acceptance of the use. Without tying it somehow to the level of the finish and the amenities that are being provided. Vice Chairman Samuels stated he would like to see all of the actual plans and materials at some point. Commissioner Bocek noted that what is being asked for is at least a minimum quality standard definition. Commissioner Samuels stated he is looking for reassurance that if they are going to allow 30 arcade machines in an area, the area would be something other than a simple open floor with painted walls and a warehouse ceiling. Commissioner Trilling asked if they have prepared an analysis of peak demand in other areas of the center versus peak hours at the proposed facility. Ms. Kamick stated they have not as yet. Commissioner Panitch asked if limitations can be placed on the type of arcade games are placed here. Ms. Kamick stated it is their intention already to restrict any violent games. Vice Chairman Samuels stated he would not like to be the censor for the games. Commissioner Panitch stated he feels that there is too much proposed for this facility. He asked if the text amendment needed to be discussed now. Mr. Pfeil stated staff would draft a text amendment at the same time that a specific P.U.D. amendment would be considered. He said that the amendment could probably be fairly general and would not necessarily list specific uses. Vice Chairman Samuels asked if there were any comments from the petitioner regarding the language of the ordinance. Ms. Kamick stated the Schaumburg ordinance seems to go into two definitions. On amusement and recreational services it has a tendency to be mostly about outdoor activities but does include bowling alleys. Amusement device also includes the arcade and laser tag. There it seems to overlap as far as definition on both. Commissioner Dunn asked Mr. Pfeil to see if there other municipalities which censor the type of machines that are allowed and if restrictions related to content are legally defensible. She also suggested checking other municipalities to see how the layout of machines and spacing is done. She suggested that a polling of the commission might be a good idea as far as a definition of a family entertainment center. Commissioner Panitch stated he believes they are including too many of the elements. He would like to have the language of an ordinance limited to a certain number of uses instead of all of them. Commissioner Smith asked for some preliminary information on the security that is being offered. Ms. Kamick stated they have been in close contact with the Buffalo Grove Police Department. In addition, they will have their own security forces within the building. The exterior will be under constant watch as will parking lot perimeters. Commissioner Smith stated he disagrees with Commissioner Panitch and actually likes all the uses Ms. Kamick noted they have amended the definition as used by ILA. They specifically define a family entertainment center with one key element, which would be specifically a bowling lane or something like that and the addition of three or more additional facilities. She stated they are looking at things that are obviously restricted by the space that a building or area will allow or that local zoning ordinances will allow. The whole idea is to maximize space and get as many things to do within that space. Commissioner Trilling stated design criteria is obviously very important. He further noted petitioner should look at the parking and comparing peak demand at the other uses. He asked if by amending the Special Use, it pertains only to this building or if it can be conveyed to other buildings within the Town Center where this is now a permitted use. Mr. Pfeil stated that a special use would pertain only to this particular piece of real estate, but it would tie to the real estate and not necessarily to the operator. The operator could change and assume the right to operate the facility. Commissioner Kenski-Sroka asked if the ILA has any parking statistics to draw upon. Ms. Kamick stated no. Mr. Pfeil stated it is necessary to look at the context regarding the parking. This is basically a shopping center and that is how the parking was originally provided. It meets the basic shopping center standard of 1 space for every 220 square feet of building floor area. What is necessary is an analysis of peak conditions for the proposed entertainment center. A traffic consultant should provide an analysis of the parking demand of the entertainment center and relate this to the parking demand of the other uses in this part of the Town Center shopping center. Vice Chairman Samuels suggested the traffic consultant all survey some similar facilities that are fairly close by. He said that there should be no prizes offered for the skill games. He also suggested tying the size of this building into the language of the ordinance. Trustee Braiman noted there have not been many other projects that have dealt with interior aesthetics, yet most of the questions for this project have dealt with that subject. Vice Chairman Samuels stated they are asking for a brand new use here. His concern is that they do not strip out the building and then put a bunch of things inside it. He stated the use is very integral with the level of the facility itself. Commissioner Smith stated he feels this project is ready for a public hearing. He stated there will be traffic information then and what will be going inside. Commissioner Bocek stated she agrees with Commissioner Samuels. Ordinarily she would agree that it is not within the authority of the Plan Commission to comment on interior aesthetics. However, in this particular case it helps to define the kind of clientele and whether or not this is truly a family entertainment center. Commissioner Kenski-Sroka stated she agrees with Commissioner Smith. She noted her problem with this is that we are holding this petitioner to a different standard than others and this project needs to move forward to public hearing. Vice Chairman Samuels stated he sees a difference here because the use is new and it is also going into the Town Center. He stated he feels the willingness to amend the Special Use in Town Center to accommodate those uses is very much tied to what the facility will be like. Commissioner Panitch asked whose responsibility the interior layout will be and what the standard of the materials will be like. Vice Chairman called for a polling as to whether this project was ready for a public hearing or needed another workshop. The polling was as follows: Public Hearing: Panitch, Bocek, Dunn Trilling, Kenski-Sroka, Smith Regular Meeting: Samuels BUFFALO GROVE PARK DISTRICT —LEARNING CENTER (GOLF DOME), 801 MC HENRY RD — AMENDMENT OF SPECIAL USE CONCERNING PROPOSED EXTENSION OF USE—WORKSHOP 91 Ms. Martha Weiss stated she is representing the Park Board for the purpose of requesting a modification to the Special Use for the extent of time the golf dome can be used and to allow it to stay up the entire year. She noted they are currently approved for use for 180 days per year, and the District is requesting an additional 74 days of operation for a total of 254 days annually. She stated that the Park District is responding to the needs of the residents and changed conditions in terms of increased demand for recreation space. Since the District erected the dome, the annual cost of taking it up and down has doubled. The material of the structure has been damaged from the "wear and tear" when it is removed yearly. Ms. Weiss further stated they had hoped to have a community center at this time where they could have their indoor teams practice. Unfortunately they do not have that and they have looked around for other available space. They would also like a place where summer camps could gather in rainy weather. Mr. Rylko stated they have had two meetings with the Village Building Department, Fire Department and Planning staff regarding the maximum capacity of the facility. They are all in agreement that maximum capacity is 200 which was the original maximum allowed when the Village issued permits for the facility. Mr. Rylko stated they are asking for an amendment to the special use to expand activities to include community-based recreational activities and programs in addition to the driving range and golf lessons. Proposed activities include indoor practice areas for soccer, baseball and softball. Those uses would be before the golf season, after the golf season and limited use during the golf season at about 7:00 on a Saturday night or after 6:00 p.m. on a Sunday evening. Mr. Rylko stated chances are they would not use the facility during June, July and August as the facility is too hot without air conditioning, but they would like to have the flexibility to do so if the weather was cooler several days in a row. Mr. Rylko noted they could have one larger soccer field footprint in the facility (160 x 175) or two downside fields at 155 x 68. They have discussed the option of putting batting cages on the concrete area when the facility is not being used for golf. Commissioner Smith noted his only concern is with the number of additional days being requested. He asked if this had been discussed with the Fire Department. Mr. Rylko stated they had spoken with the Fire Department and they have stated 242 days would be fine. Commissioner Smith asked if they would have a problem with limiting the number of days to 242. Mr. Rylko stated no. Commissioner Feldgreber asked if the dome is UV protected. Mr. Rylko stated yes. Commissioner Feldgreber stated he is concerned that after another 5 to 6 years of use, the dome may turn yellow and glow even more. He asked about plans for Safety Town. Mr. Rylko stated Safety Town will be at the Learning Center this summer and then it will be moved to a new permanent site. Commissioner Trilling asked if the dome is making money now or breaking even. Mr. Rylko stated it is not making a profit. Commissioner Trilling asked if by allowing this to go forward, it would substantially improve the bottom line. Mr. Rylko stated that is the Park District's goal. Commissioner Trilling asked how long the dome would last if left up year round. Mr. Rylko stated the life expectancy of the dome is 15 to 20 years. Commissioner Trilling noted there is a certain amount of wear and tear on the dome when being taken down and put up but there would be some additional amount of wear from the elements if it is left in place year-round. Mr. Rylko stated it takes more wear and tear going up and down than it would leaving it up. Commissioner Trilling stated his only concern would be not to have the dome look like a patchwork as damaged areas are repaired over the years. Mr. Rylko stated they take great pride in their facilities and they would not want to have a patchwork quilt there either. Commissioner Trilling asked if they would commit to replacing the dome when it becomes aesthetically necessary. Mr. Rylko stated the board and staff would be committed to that. Commissioner Panitch noted the Fire Department had indicated only 242 days for the facility and he wondered where the 12 extra days would be used. Mr. Rylko stated they would probably use them in September. Commissioner Panitch asked if the current hours of the golf facility are being shortened with this proposal. Mr. Rylko stated yes. He noted they now operate Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and Saturday and Sunday 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Commissioner Panitch asked what would be done with the double deck. Mr. Rylko stated that would remain. Commissioner Samuels stated he is concerned because originally aesthetics was a very significant issue. It was presented with a dome that would be opaque. In due course, the non-opaque dome when up. It was represented that that was a mistake and it would be replaced after the first season with the proper kind of dome, which never happened. It was then claimed it was less money to heat the dome because the sun radiated some heat in there. Now, again we want to keep it up because of financial conditions. Mr. Rylko stated that after it was up for one season they found only one complaint from one resident on Harris Drive. They polled the Village which did not seem to find it that obnoxious and obtrusive. They also went to visit another facility that does have the opaque lining and it seemed as if you were in a very confined space. The sunlight does, in fact, help with the heating of the dome and for these reasons they decided to leave the dome as is. Commissioner Samuels stated if you take the cost of putting the dome up and down, plus the extra ventilating needed, it would be spending money when no additional money would be coming in from the activities to go in there during non-golf times. Mr. Rylko stated that was incorrect. He noted they would be running workshops and clinics and renting it out for private practices. They would build in to the program fees for those private practices. Chairman Ottenheimer commented that it is his understanding that there is a need for indoor practice facilities and therefore he assumes that there is demand that the Learning Center would serve. He asked if there have been any market studies done regarding this demand or has anyone approached the Park District relative to these facilities or is this just a concept. Mr. Rylko stated based on the demand they have at Cooper Junior High School where they rent out space, they are very aware of the need and demand. Chairman Ottenheimer asked if any economic studies have been conducted relative to the projected revenues that could be made by leaving it open year round and not having to spend on putting the dome up and down. Mr. Rylko stated 65 percent of the time the dome will still be used for golf usage. He noted the staff had done an analysis based on year round use and based on 254 days and it will turn a profit, which is their goal. Chairman Ottenheimer asked for comment on the life safety issues raised by the police and fire departments. Mr. Rylko stated traffic and parking should not be a problem at all as they are still at the same capacity for a maximum of 200 for the whole facility. The four side doors all have push buttons and pull stations behind them, which were originally required by the building department. Commissioner Dunn asked what issues the Board wanted looked at and addressed. Mr. Rylko stated at that time the life safety issue was the biggest issue. Mr. Braiman stated the biggest issues were the life safety and the fact that the ordinance provides for a temporary structure only being up for 180 days. Therefore why should this structure be allowed to go beyond that. Chief Tom Allenspach noted that the Fire Department wants to work with the Park District to find an acceptable plan for extended use that is consistent with the Village's codes. When the dome was originally approved it was a temporary structure and by code could only be up 180 days or less. If the Park District wanted to construct a dome to stay up year long, it would fall into a different code category and would be an entirely different structure than the temporary dome. There is no practical way to alter the temporary dome to comply with the applicable code requirements. One requirement is a fire sprinkler system. Chief Allenspach noted that the Fire Department has determined that 242 days or 8 months is the maximum use that the Village can allow for the temporary structure in terms of code issues. He said that the dates that the facility is used need to be specific so that an adequate monitoring program can be established by the Fire Department. He commented that the uses proposed by the Park District are acceptable. However, if other uses are proposed, then the Village's Building and Zoning Department and Fire Department should be involved in the approval. Commissioner Samuels asked if the 180-day limit for a temporary structure is part of a national fire code. Chief Allenspach stated it is a BOCA national code. Chairman Samuels asked if there are any code items that the Village grants relief to. Chief Allenspach stated every building is different and they look at the construct and the use and they do trade-offs. One must make the use and design of the building work so that the fire department is comfortable as well as the owner and the people who work and visit those buildings. Every construction project has some trade-offs with the codes. This is an acceptable trade off, given the structure and what is to be accomplished here for the community. Commissioner Samuels asked what is being traded off here. Chief Allenspach stated the trade off is they would be comfortable with leaving it up and limiting its use to 8 months, with defined non-use months. Commissioner Samuels asked how the call is made for the additional use time. Chief Allenspach stated that while they are bending the code here, they are not basically saying it is ok to put up membrane air inflated structures for any use in the Village. Commissioner Samuels asked if there is any special consideration for this proposal as it is a public agency. Chief Allenspach stated no. Commissioner Feldgreber asked if 62 additional days would help to get this operation into the black. Mr. Rylko stated they hope so and they will have to adjust their prices. Commissioner Samuels stated he had previously noted that the cost of keeping the dome open and staffing it would make this only a break-even operation. Mr. Rylko said that the Park District is projecting a better than break-even situation if the facility can operate more days per year and not have to be taken down and re-installed every year. Chairman Ottenheimer stated they certainly do not want to sacrifice life safety issues for economic issues. He noted that the use will have to comply with the Fire Department's recommendation to limit activities to 242 days per year and close down between May 15th to September 15th. Mr. Rylko stated they would appreciate that flexibility. Chairman Ottenheimer asked if that would be workable. Mr. Rylko stated yes. Ms. Weiss noted the business is only three years old and they are hoping it will be profitable in itself just by word of mouth. Mr. Rylko stated that unfavorable business and economic conditions have hurt travel and recreation businesses over the past seven months, and business at the dome facility has also been affected. Chairman Ottenheimer asked if it was fair to say they would be willing to modify their request to accept the recommendations of the Fire Chief. Mr. Rylko stated yes. The Plan Commission recommendation was for a public hearing. RIVERWALK NORTH, EAST OF MILWAUKEE AVENUE NORTH OF RIVERWALK DRIVE — AMENDMENT OF A PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT (P.U.D.) AND PRELIMINARY PLAN IN THE B-3 DISTRICT—WORKSHOP 91 Mr. Tim Beechick stated they have three goals to accomplish tonight. One is to describe the overall proposal for this site and to provide some rationale for what they are proposing. Thirdly, they would like some feedback from the Commission. Mr. Beechick stated the site encompasses 16.9 acres. Approximately 15 acres is currently zoned for 150,000 square feet of office space and within the Village of Buffalo Grove. This is the area net of the proposed restaurant site, which is not in the Village. It is in unincorporated Lake County and comprised of 1.9 acres. He stated their proposal is for consideration of a rezoning of the 15 acres along with the annexation and zoning of the 1.9 acres of property into the Village. Mr. Beechick stated this plan is different from what is on the books which is for two office buildings including 150,000 square feet total area on 15 acres. They are looking at approximately 400,000 square feet of building area with this plan. However, the types of uses being introduced are complimentary from a traffic standpoint. Circumstances and conditions and characteristics are different today from what they were in 1990 when this property was originally zoned. There are a lot of characteristics that allow for a revisit of the impact of traffic as it relates to this particular project now as opposed to when it was originally zoned for the type of density in 1990. In addition, the plan also calls for an additional access to Milwaukee Avenue at the restaurant site. In 1990 the plan did not have that as it was not part of the land area they were working with. In order to alleviate traffic movements to and from this property they have an additional site to work through from which to access the property. Mr. Beechick stated there was a traffic report filed and the impact of this overall project amounts to about 230-260 additional traffic movements over and above what was originally proposed in 1990 during peak hours. That amounts to 4 movements every minute through the signalized intersection at Riverwalk Drive and Milwaukee Avenue. The impact to that intersection from a signalization standpoint amounts to a level C which is very manageable relative to a traffic movement. Mr. Beechick stated they have taken a hard look to justify the increase in density coupled with the types of different uses. Complimentary traffic use is the name of the game when trying to build density and not have a negative impact. This is the benefit they see with the residential development of 90 apartment units and the 160 room garden style hotel as part of the development. Mr. Beechick stated the traffic study that was prepared was done based on traffic counts that were taken in November of 2000 and they have just recently received new counts and will be providing updated studies to the planning department. There is a slight benefit to the new numbers. Mr. Beechick noted they have an 8 story, 158,000 square foot office building located at the south end of the project just off of Riverwalk Drive. They also include a 90 unit residential apartment development that would be 6 stories of dwelling units and 2 stories of parking underneath the dwelling units. They also have a 160 room, 6-story hotel planned and an 8,600 square foot restaurant pad that would be located off of Milwaukee Avenue. Those comprise the building pads that are being proposed. In addition to that, they have a large green space at the north end of the development. That area comprises the necessary area set aside for the flood basin and water retention. It would be dry detention basin, which is a significant amount of land area when looking at the overall plan. Mr. Beechick stated there is a major rework of the FEMA map that will be necessary to obtain from government approval before they can move forward on this project. They are working on this now. The Village engineering staff is aware of this and realizes this is a long process. However, they all feel that the amendment should not be an issue with FEMA. Mr. Beechick noted the office market is not in good shape right now. This seems to be cyclical and they do believe that with what they have in place now at the corner, it really sets the stage for additional expansion of that type of product in the nearby area. They believe it is important for them to secure a site on this parcel of land that will allow for expansion of office space development. Therefore they have proposed the development of this 158,000 square foot office building. Mr. Beechick noted the hotel market is also not in great shape now. However, the location is very strong as it relates to visibility, exposure and proximity to commercial business travel. They would like to see the integration of this type of amenity as part of the overall Riverwalk development because of the fact that it does provide an added plus for office tenants and users are looking at a particular project. Mr. Beechick stated they are proposing a 6 story residential unit that would be rental units. He stated they feel this opportunity is favorable for them and the community. This is a unique location for a mid-rise, upscale apartment development with the Lake County Forest Preserve as a backdrop. The location is excellent relative to the proximity to shopping, major work employers in the area, convenience for access to major interstate systems. The type of units would be more along the lines of the up-scale, high rent area. The best comparison would be at Deerfield Road and Waukegan Road. The rents at this development are very favorable and strong and this trend is moving west to this community. At this time there is also a very low vacancy rate and the average period of time for leasing of rental units is about 13 units per month. The typical leasing target is about 10 units per month. The type and overall height of the building would be something new to this community. Mr. Beechick noted a potential for extending Riverwalk North Drive that would go beyond their property line and ultimately line up with Johnson Drive off of Milwaukee Avenue. This is something that has been discussed with staff and something the Village would like to ultimately accomplish knowing it is something that would come down the road if and when the property to the north does become accessible for purposes of including this improvement drive to connect to Milwaukee Avenue. They are showing it on the plan but are not committed to being obligated to do this. It is only a potential for doing same in the future. Commissioner Bocek stated overall the restaurant, hotel and office space are very complimentary in use. She asked if the proposed parking structure is designed for the entire complex to use. Mr. Beechick stated it would be exclusively for the office building. Commissioner Bocek stated it seems the parking for the multi-family is a little light. It would not allow for a lot of guest parking. Commissioner Smith stated he is very excited about this project which should be a great addition to the Village. He asked what the vacancy rate is for the Riverwalk buildings. Mr. Beechick stated one building is 100% leased and the other building is about 86% leased now. Commissioner asked about the phasing for this whole project. Mr. Beechick stated the multi-family development would be the leader of this project because of the fact that that market is running strong now. He stated they do not have a specific order of development, but assuming market conditions that would be the most favorable start of development. There is no time frame commitment on the balance of the development. It all depends on market conditions and what can be done to move forward. Commissioner Smith noted his concern with parking for an 8,600 square foot restaurant. Mr. Beechick stated one of things they may want to reconsider is the sizing of that building as they are also concerned with parking and most of the restaurants today are within 5,000 to 7,000 square feet. Commissioner Smith noted he would think parking for a 160-unit hotel may also be a problem. Commissioner Samuels asked what was the rationale behind specifically excluding a hotel in previous plans. Mr. Pfeil stated the annexation agreement was probably more restrictive than necessary, but in the original presentation in 1990, there was no specific plan for a hotel. The Village not convinced that a hotel would be feasible at this location. A hotel was contemplated farther north at Deerfield Parkway on the Santucci property. There was a question as to market saturation and feasibility. Conditions have changed over the past 12 years, and it now appears that a hotel is a feasible use for the Riverwalk property. Trustee Braiman stated at one time when Hamilton Partners came before the Board after the first tower, the Board suggested building another Hamilton Hotel there. Although the exclusion of a hotel is in the annexation agreement, he does not believe anyone on the Board really is concerned about it. In fact the Board referred this matter knowing that there would possibly be a hotel there and there has been no dissent from that. Commissioner Samuels asked about the flood plan situation. Mr. Beechick noted that the current FEMA map delineating floodplain on the property will be amended because the elevation of the property has been changed. There has been mass grading re-work to raise the property above the floodplain defined by FEMA Mr. David Olsen stated the flood plain as it originally existed was located in a different area. The flood plain has since been recalculated and has increased in size. The flood plain also extends back over what is the right of way for North Riverwalk Drive. It extends back off the corner of the restaurant site. In an effort to consolidate all that land and make it usable, for the restaurant as well as the extension of North Riverwalk Drive, they created a larger flood plain area and molded it around the parking lot and the multi-family area. Commissioner Samuels asked if that is something that will be done by way of engineering the property or something they are trying to convince the Army Corp about. Mr. Olsen stated the property was originally mass graded with dry detention basin. They are going to expand that area and that will free up areas now that are considered in flood plain given the new elevations that the Army Corp is working with. By doing that, they will be able to free up that particular property that they need in order to extend the drive all the way to the north end of the property to make the entire restaurant site usable. He stated they are using the existing elevations but are widening the area that is necessary in order to accommodate the property that would be questionable if they were to remap this. Commissioner Samuels stated that for the future he will still have to talk about traffic at Lake Cook Road. Commissioner Kenski-Sroka stated it would be helpful at the next workshop to have some information regarding the kind of occupancy expected at the residential building and the possible number of children that can be expected and the effect on the school districts. Commissioner Trilling noted this spot is fairly isolated as far as other residential areas and his concern would be for provision of facilities for possible children on site. Commissioner Panitch suggested it would be his suggestion that the residential be the piece that gets eliminated as it is relatively isolated. Everything else seems to flow very nicely on that site and the residential is the kind of thing that seems out of place. That would also provide more space for detention and parking. Chairman Ottenheimer stated the specific information needed for the next workshop is: 1. Parking issues 2. Engineering plans 3. Demographics on the residential development 4. Restaurant CHAIRMAN'S REPORT Chairman Ottenheimer stated they would like to organize a workshop for Plan Commission members only so they can review processes and procedures, specifically, how to address aesthetic issues in a more efficient manner. FUTURE AGENDA SCHEDULE Mr. Pfeil stated the next regular meeting is April 3, 2002. PUBLIC COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS—None STAFF REPORT—None NEW BUSINESS—None ADJOURNMENT Moved by Commissioner Smith, seconded by Commissioner Dunn and carried unanimously to adjourn. Chairman Ottenheimer adjourned the meeting at 10:50 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Fay Rubin, Recording Secretary APPROVED BY: LESTER OTTENHEIMER, Chair