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1979-06-20 - Plan Commission - Minutes WORKSHOP MEETING BUFFALO GROVE PLAN COMMISSION Comprehensive Plan Parking Ordinance JUNE 20, 1979 Chairman Shields called the meeting to order at 7:45 P.M. in the Municipal Building, 50 Raupp Boulevard. Commissioners Present: Chairman Shields Mr. Harris Mr. Goldspiel Mrs. Sheldon Mr. Shifrin Commissioners Absent: Mr. Davis Mr. Button Mr. Glover Mr. Kelly Also Present: Mr. Bill Sommer, Assistant Village Manager Mr. John Marienthal, Trustee Mrs. Bobbie O 'Reilly, Trustee Mr. Bart Delaney, Planning Coordinator Mr. Jim Truesdell, Staff Planner GOALS AND POLICIES - COMPREHENSIVE PLAN Commissioner Goldspiel stated he would like to see the first goal to be the principle goal of our plan instead of the principle goal of Village govern- ment. He stated that the first goal should look at what type of community we want, such as, to provide a variety of housing and a high level of quality in government and community services. Basically, he said, he would try to set the character of the community. He said it does not say what type of community we want Buffalo Grove to be, and that he sees it as a residential community of high quality. After further discussion, Mr. Sommer stated he did not want to change goal no. 1, and that it was in there because they wanted to include the fact that we want to keep the kind of government we have now. Mr. Truesdell stated he agreed with Commissioner Goldspiel that there is no- thing in the plan that states anything about the type of housing we would like. Commissioner Harris said the plan says we want to do a fabulous job in indus- trial and business, but it does not really state if we want industrial or bus- iness and we haven't said what kind of community we want to be. Mr. Sommer said he does not think we are going to be able to get that done in the goals. Buffalo Grove Plan Commission Workshop Meeting June 20, 1979 -2- Mr. Sommer said we are not going to be able to say we want 25% of this type of housing, etc. Commissioner Harris stated that if that is what we want and we really want it, we are willing to pay what it costs to get this. Mr. Sommer said he did not think that is what the voters want. Commissioner Harris said the voters did not want higher taxes on some things but this is what they said they were willing to pay for because that is why they moved out here. Chairman Shields stated that instead of saying "full range", we should say "wide range". When you speak of a full range in today's dollars, what would be the bottom? Commissioner Sheldon stated that we have grown so rapidly that it is time we look at the type of industrial we want to have. It was mentioned that some people are not able to live in this community because of the price of housing. We should think of the people who are living in this community who, perhaps would like to be able to work in this community. It is time we looked at the things out community is lacking in the way of industrial and commercial, and also facilities for senior citizens and medical facilities. Mr. Sommer said he would like to get a general idea of what the Commissioners felt were way off base and then go over them in greater detail at the next meeting. Commissioner Goldspiel stated he would like to see a goal assuring harmonious development with incorporated neighbors and have some influence on incorporat- ed areas. He also stated he would like to see something on the establishment of public transportation as one of our goals. The Commissioners discussed the importance of goal no. 3 with regard to break- iftg:_down the isolation of developments. Mr. Delaney brought up three ideas he thought should be included. 1) do we want a statement on change in technology such as solar heating; 2) a state- ment regarding neighboring communities (which was brought up earlier) ; and 3) a statement on protecting existing residential. The question of continual up-grading was broughtup and Mr. Sommer replied that we are developing a housing maintenance code that would require you to keep your house up. Commissioner Sheldon stated she would like to see some discussion on No. 11 regarding utilizing land to its fullest potential. Mr. Truesdell stated this meant to use land to its most efficient use and to see that the road work, etc. is done. Mrs. Sheldon stated that maybe the fullest potential would be not to use it today. Buffalo Grove Plan Commission Workshop Meeting June 20, 1979 -3- Commissioner Shifrin stated that he noticed there is not a goal with respect to education. Mr. Truesdell said No. 2 refers to educational activities. Commissioner Shifrin said that appeared to be referring to park district. Commissioner Harris stated the Village can make sure there is land available to put the school in the best place, but as far as the quality of education, we cannot get involved in that. Commissioner Goldspiel said we can provide sidewalks so the school does not have to bus the children. Mr. Truesdell said he tried to include that under No. 6. Under the "policies" section, it was decided to change the word "should" to "shall", which is more emphatic. Under the Housing Section, it was discussed that we limit the density allowed and to set a ratio of multi-family to single-family. Mr. Truesdell stated he felt that would come under the land use . Commissioner Harris asked why we only require the higher density developer to donate to the parks and schools. Commissioner Sheldon agreed that it is in the single family areas where we have a problem with not enough parks. Chairman Shields called a recess at 9:00. The meeting reconvened at 9:35. Commissioner Goldspiel stated that in No. 10 of the Housing section, new is not necessarily better. Mr. Sommer said it would be changed to read, "new concepts shall be considered". Commissioner Harris said if we are going to include No. 2 of the Commercial section, we should revise the zoning ordinance. Commissioner Goldspiel said if the use is permitted in the zoning, you cannot stop it. Mr. Truesdell said he thinks you can limit the scale of development. Mr. Sommer stated that neighborhood commercial centers will not be designed in any way that will undermine the viability of the town center. Commissioner Harris asked how we enforce No. 6 under Office and Industrial. Mr. Truesdell stated that this was meant so that we would plan areas that can be realistically developed. Commissioner Harris stated that almost everything is marketable at some time. Commissioner Harris stated that in No. 6, he would like to change the word "and" to "or" because industrial sites do not have to have rail access. Commissioner Goldspiel asked, regarding No. 8 under Environment, how do you solve our problem with the Park District where they say they only want land of a certain character, and what do you do with all this land that is not buildable? Mr. Sommer replied that there are going to be areas that cannot be used. It is not feasible for a small village agency to take over several acres just because it is not buildable. Buffalo Grove Plan Commission Workshop Meeting June 20, 1979 -4- Commissioner Harris stated he did not feel it is necessary to always have two accesses to a development, e.g. Cambridge-on-the-Lake. Mr. Truesdell said there should be emergency access in case you cannot get through the other. It was decided that there should be two accesses, but one can be for emergency use only. The subject of curb cuts was mentioned. Mr. Sommer said he felt all curb cuts should be kept to a minimum on major high- ways, and not just commercial. Commissioner Goldspiel stated that, regarding arterials, he could see where you would not want to put too many driveways on them and not many streets, but on the other hand, he does not:;like the wall of stockade fences that you get. Regarding public transportation, when you wall off segments of subdivisions from an arterial such as Arlington Heights Road, you basically wall off public transportation. We need to improve access to arterials if we are going to expand public transportation systems. It was decided to leave No. 7 as is for now. Commissioner Harris stated he would like to see an 18th policy addressing it- self to the traffic problems such as what we have at Buffalo Grove Rd. and Dundee Rd. . We haven't learned from our past mistakes and are going to have an intersection just like that at Arlington Heights Rd. and Rte. 83. How do we solve the problem of getting in and out of the shopping centers? Trustee Marienthal said the problem is that Highway 53 terminates at Dundee Rd. and a lot of this traffic would be alleviated if it were extended 5 more miles. Commissioner Harris said we had felt it was advantageous to line up driveways which are across from each other, but maybe that isn't the way it should be done. Commissioner Goldspiel suggested saying we will monitor and review traffic situations continually. Commissioner Harris said he would like to correct some of the problems in the old areas too. Commissioner Shifrin stated he is concerned about school donations and there should be some statement to the effect that these policies will assist the schools in quality education. It was decided this was not the function of the Master Plan. Mr. Sommer stated he did not think No. 1 is a reasonable policy and is impossible. Commissioner Goldspiel added that he had seen somewhere that all development should be self-supporting, which is absurd. Commissioner Harris suggested we could create a balance by saying that when the taxes are getting too high, we Buffalo Grove Plan Commission Workshop Meeting June 20, 1979 -5- will not allow any more residential building until something comes in to offset the taxes. Mr. Truesdell suggested we could maybe locate developments in such a way that the balance would logically follow. Mr. Delaney stated that this would be true with commercial, but not with indus- trial. Commissioner Shifrin stated he would like to see a policy whereby the Village would work in conjunction with the School District in building a school that can be used for community use if the building becomes obsolete. The Village has numerous needs for community services buildings. Commissioner Goldspiel said our population forecasting is really important in this. Commissioner Shifrin said if you use advance planning, you can put up a facil- ity that can be used for multiple use. Chairman Shields suggested we could encourage them to build on commercial property. Commissioner Goldspiel reported on the Village Board meeting and said there was a substantial amount of Board members who felt commercial should not be built on the Happ Farm. Mr. Sommer said the Board needs a recommendation from 1 the Plan Commission on land use before the Annexation Agreement is considered. Trustee Marienthal stated the main contention was that they wanted to put up condominiums, and the garages would create a wall affect to those who back up II to that property. Commissioner Harris stated he would like to have the Dundee Road policy distri- buted with the next agenda. Mr. Truesdell said he found it interesting that Stonegate Apts. have a density of 25 and Cambridge-on-the-Lake have a density of 16. Commissioner Shifrin made the motion the meeting be adjourned. Commissioner Goldspiel seconded the motion. The meeting adjourned at 10:45 P.M. Respectfully submitted, Astrid L. Hasley Recording Secretary APPROVED BY: Patrick Shields, Chairman Buffalo Grove Plan Commission Workshop Meeting June 20, 1979