VILLAGE OF LONG GROVE        

Long Grove Plan Commission

January 18, 2005 Special Meeting Minutes      

                                                                                                                                          

 

Chairman Present:  Fred Phillips.

 

Commissioners Present:  Nicholas Fasano, Tobin Fraley, Robert Jenkins, Lisa Phillips and Karen Schultheis.

 

Commissioners Absent:  Ed Acuna, Joe Di Iorio and Michael Dvorak.

 

Also Present:  Village Attorney Julie Tappendorf and Village Planner Edmond Cage.

 

1.      Call to Order

       Chairman Phillips called the meeting to order at 8:03 p.m.

 

2.      Affordable Housing Planning and Appeal Act and the Discussion of How the Village of Long Grove can Effectively Comply with the Requirements of this Act.

Village Attorney Tappendorf introduced the new draft Affordable Housing Plan that the Plan Commission had received in their packets.  The plan is similar to the previous version with some changes.

 

Commissioner Fasano asked how the 10% requirement would be met.  Village Attorney Tappendorf answered that as the Village of Long Grove cannot require 10% of proposed developments be affordable housing because the Village of Long Grove is not a home rule community.

 

Commissioner Lisa Phillips asked how the Village would meet the 15% requirement for new development.  Village Attorney Tappendorf answered that the 15% is of the entire development within the Village and is not required on a case-by-case basis.

 

Commissioner Fasano asked about incentives to facilitate affordable housing and Commissioner Jenkins answered that incentives currently exist in the form of open space with allowances for density bonuses.

 

Village Attorney Tappendorf noted that unincorporated areas could be annexed into the Village of Long Grove and can be counted as affordable housing if the units qualify under the definition.

 

Commissioner Schultheis noted that developers can get incentives and benefits for this type of development and asked if the Village gets any incentives from the State for allowing such development?  Village Attorney Tappendorf responded that the Village does not get any incentives from the State.

 

Commissioner Lisa Phillips noted that the homeowner makes no investment benefit for living in an affordable housing unit.  Resident Richard Koenig noted that the public can either buy affordable housing units or buy no housing units within that definition of price range.

Commissioner Lisa Phillips asked where the current affordable housing units are located.  Village Attorney Tappendorf answered that the numbers come from census data.  Village Planner Cage noted that there are some units along Route 83/60 area and possibly some units within the Historic Business District on the 2nd floor of the buildings.

 

Commissioner Fasano asked if the affordable housing incentives be born by the Village residents.  Village Attorney Tappendorf answered possibly or possibly through grants or special service areas.

 

Commissioner Fraley noted that new residential subdivisions without elements of affordable housing could make the Village be in violation of the required affordable housing percentages and Village Attorney Tappendorf answered that this was indeed possible.  Commissioner Fraley asked if the value of the affordable housing units increases with inflation and the cost of living increases.  Village Attorney Tappendorf answered that the Illinois Housing Development Authority could include these increases in their defined affordable housing level amount.

 

Commissioner Fraley asked what would happen to the Village if no affordable housing plan is adopted.  Village Attorney Tappendorf answered that this situation would require the intervention of the Super Zoning Board and if their was no affordable housing plan in place then the Village would probably lose some legal cases because of the lack of a plan.  She also noted that senior housing could also meet the affordable housing requirement.

 

Resident Richard Koenig noted that the hardest question is how to amend the Village Code to accommodate affordable housing and make it apply to everyone.  The broad scale of the topic is often a hard problem to address.

 

Commissioner Fasano has some concerns with property values and how the affordable housing legislation would affect property values within the Village.

 

Commissioner Lisa Phillips has some concerns with possibly watering down the effectiveness of the comprehensive plan and could the Long Grove Station be a potential location for affordable housing.

 

Village Attorney Tappendorf suggested that two possible affordable housing locations could follow the comprehensive plan subarea plans which were approved in 1999, and be the Long Grove Station area and the Route 53/Hicks Road location.

 

Commissioner Lisa Phillips also suggested the triangle area located by Old McHenry Road and Route 53/Hicks Road location as a possible location.  There was some discussion about other potential locations such as along Route 83 and the potential of annexing some other locations into the Village to meet some of the requirements.  Village Attorney Tappendorf noted that the three potential locations would provide some direction within the plan.  The Plan Commission thought that 3 locations would provide direction within the draft plan.

 

Resident Richard Koenig had some areas of concern with the order of the goal section of the draft plan.  The Plan Commission after some discussion felt that the order of the goal section was appropriate as was drafted.

 

Commissioner Lisa Phillips made a motion to approve the draft Village of Long Grove Affordable Housing Plan dated January 18, 2005 to include the changes recommended within the meeting.  Commissioner Schultheis seconded the motion.  Ayes, all.  Nays, none, motion carried. 

 

 

 

3.    Adjournment:  Next Regular Meeting, Tuesday, February 1, 2005, at 8:00 pm

Motion to adjourn by Commissioner Fraley, seconded by Commissioner Jenkins,  Ayes, all.  Nays, none.  Motion carried.  Meeting adjourned at 9:55 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted by,

 

 

Edmond Cage, Village Planner

Village of Long Grove