By Jason Crane
At the Aurora city government City Council meeting Tuesday, through the Zoom video conferencing platform, the City Council listened to an update on the community listening sessions and approval for funding of Aurora’s Hesed House improvements. See below.
The first of five community listening sessions on policing and City progress was October 8 at New England Church. Four more are scheduled: Thursday, Oct. 15 at St. Therese Church, 271 N. Farnsworth Avenue; Thursday, Oct. 22 at Main Baptist Church, 814 E. Galena Boulevard; Thursday, Oct. 29 at Impact Church, 4054 Fox Valley Center Drive; Thursday, Nov. 5 at Society 57, 100 S. River Street.
Each 90-minute listening session is set to begin at 6 p.m. with mayor Richard Irvin, Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman and/or Deputy Chief Keith Cross and other City officials. The session October 15 will be conducted with full Spanish translations. Due to capacity limits to accommodate social distancing, registration is required for each meeting. Residents can register for a session at www.aurora-il.org/CHANGE.
The first phase of the CHANGE Reform Initiative has advanced with actionable items such as body cameras, a civilian review board, executive action items and responses to recommendations gathered during the initial meetings. Presentations and updates can be viewed at www.aurora-il.org/CHANGE.
• Unanimously approved was a resolution approving a grant agreement with the County of DuPage and the acceptance of $1,000,000.00 in CARES Act Funds to be disbursed to Public Action To Deliver Shelter, Inc. (P.A.D.S.), doing business as Hesed House, for eligible COVID-19 related-expenses.
Alex Alexandrou, city of Aurora government chief management officer, said, “I am pleased to report that the DuPage County Board, this morning, voted 17-1 in favor of granting the city of Aurora $1 Million in CARES Act Funding for the benefit of Hesed House.”
A letter from the City of Aurora government to the DuPage County Board shares some background:
“The allocation of $1 Million in CARES Act funding from DuPage County to the City of Aurora will be for the benefit of Hesed House. Hesed House is the 2nd largest homeless shelter in the State and the only regional shelter in the DuPage County area. Prior to COVID, Hesed House traditionally handled approximately 250 men, women and children per night. To comply with IDPH COVID requirements, Hesed House’s occupancy was reduced to 103, but through their own efforts that number has been raised to 165.
“COVID is causing an increased wave in the number of people/families in need of their services. Calls for housing assistance have increased by 600% this year. With winter around the corner, it is expected the nightly need will exceed 300 men, women and children.
“Before COVID started, Hesed House purchased an old warehouse across the street from its existing facility. The plans were to someday use the warehouse to meet the increasing needs for their services. The projected cost of the total conversion will be in excess of $9 Million.
“Hesed House does not have the funds to cover the construction costs, or the need from the unexpected surge in homeless demand today caused by COVID. In addition, it is expected that after the “freeze” on foreclosures and evictions is lifted, even if COVID is brought under control, the demand for Hesed House services will continue to rise.
“To meet the demand today caused by COVID, Hesed House needs to immediately expand its shelter into the un-winterized warehouse at 680 S. River Street in Aurora to provide for appropriate distances between residents which prevents the spread of COVID. The funding from DuPage County will allow Hesed House to provide these improvements to the west portion of the warehouse and allow Hesed House to start meeting the needs of the homeless population during this time. In addition to construction costs, this allocation will allow Hesed House to afford the startup costs associated with running a homeless shelter.
“The winterization project involved in these improvements needs to be started as soon as possible to accommodate guests before the winter weather sets in, and to meet the CARES Act spending deadline. These renovations will be completed before December 30. By providing the funding directly to the City of Aurora, the City will ensure timely and proper completion of the project, and complete compliance with all CARES Act requirements before the end of the year.
“Men, women, and children of all ages seek help daily for a variety of reasons. These reasons have been exacerbated by COVID. In addition to the many people who already use Hesed House services, Hesed House now sees approximately 16 newly homeless individuals each week – that is one new homeless individual every 10 1/2 hours. Unfortunately, this number is expected to increase.
“Finally, Hesed House utilizes approximately 7,500 volunteers per year to assist at the shelter. Funding for this winterization project will ensure a safe and appropriate environment for volunteers to return to assist and support staff and homeless guests. Thank you for your consideration of this critically needed and time sensitive request for Hesed House.”
• Unanimously approved was an ordinance approving a revision to the Greenfield Partnership Plan description on 13.8 acres for the property at 2372 W. Indian Trail, the former Lowe’s and Cosmopolitan Market on the City’s West Side.
The plan would allow the building to be used for a subscription-based, ready-to-eat, refrigerated meal service company. Office space will make-up approximately 35,500 square feet of the building. The remaining 100,774 square feet will be used as a commercial kitchen, packaging, and storage area.
Factor 75, Inc. opened a facility in Burr Ridge a little more than one year ago and already is near to capacity.
The Aurora facility will be five times the size of the Burr Ridge facility and managers are planning to be live in December.
Factor 75’s plans for reuse of this building that has sat vacant for several years will bring approximately 230 employees to the area, which should provide additional business to the neighboring stores and restaurants.
Factor 75 representatives stated that based on their experience at their current facility in Burr Ridge, their use does not produce any noxious odors or other environmental hazards because it is limited to food preparation, packaging, and storage. Traffic impact to surrounding areas should be minimal. The site sits right off of major arterials, is already used for truck traffic with the adjacent warehouse uses, and the previous uses required truck deliveries. The petitioner expects truck traffic to be limited to 6 a.m. to 5 p.m.. There is ample parking spaces. The site has 520 spaces.
• Unanimously approved was a resolution directing the preparation of an ordinance establishing a civilian review board to review matters involving the police department.
This is to lay the foundation for the creation and implementation of City policy with respect to the establishment of a civilian review board (“CRB”) and to direct the preparation of an ordinance creating a CRB and defining its powers and duties.
The City of Aurora’s CHANGE (Community Helping Aurora’s Necessary Growth and Empowerment) reform initiative was created in June in response to the national civil unrest and national calls for change in policing. The CHANGE reform initiative focused on strengthening police and community relations and accountability through a multi-phased approach of reviewing law enforcement policies and procedures and exploring new implementations.
• Unanimously approved was a resolution Authorizing the Amendment of a Sales Tax Reimbursement Agreement with Pacific Square DE, LLC.
City of Aurora government officials are requesting authorization to amend the existing Sales Tax Sharing Agreement with Pacific Square DE, LLC. The amendment adds additional time for sharing sales tax revenues from 10 years to 17 years, and raises the revenue cap from $4 Million to $6 Million. Amending the sales tax agreement will provide a greater opportunity for the Windfall group, owners of Pacific, to earn more of their total incentives from sales taxes and commensurably less from more challenging incentive options such as TIF. Sales Tax sharing was part of a potential three tiered incentive package (approved by City Council on February 27, 2018, R18-048 to include Sales Tax Sharing, a Business District and a TIF)) for the new owners of Pacific Square as an inducement to move forward with their renovation, reposition and expansion of the former Yorkshire Plaza shopping center located near the northwest corner of New York Street and State Route 59. The sales tax sharing agreement was approved by City Council on March 12, 2019 (R19-0145).
BACKGROUND:
With the retail market nationally in rapid decline and vacancies at (the former) Yorkshire Shopping Plaza chronically in the 50% range, the City entered into agreements with the Windfall Group, the new owners of the center that has since been rebranded as Pacific Square. Based on a potential $100 million dollar investment, the City Council authorized the review and creation of redevelopment agreements to include incentives up to 15% of eligible developer costs incurred by Pacific Square. (City Council Resolution R18-048). The City’s commitment of up to 15% was based on the final costs of three potential phases of development and could involve hotel tax, food and beverage tax, sales tax, TIF, etc…
Since this initial approval the City has approved a Business District with a tax rate set at 0.25% of sales, and has renegotiated the Sales Tax Sharing Agreement involving Best Buy and other tenants of the Mall. (R19-0145)
Windfall is an international business with a variety of interests with a demonstrated expertise and significant portfolio in real estate. Windfall Group’s vision was to reposition the shopping center by concentrating on securing Asian themed vendors that mix seamlessly with other more traditional stores in a mixed-use project to include rehabilitation, releasing and rebranding the existing mostly vacant retail, and adding offices, residential and new retail components all consistent with the previously approved Route 59 Corridor Plan approved by City Council.
Over the last year, Windfall Group has made tremendous progress in renovating the center. For example, many new businesses have moved in, new facades, new signage, new landscaping, and a realigned parking lot have also been completed. Recently, the center’s new anchor, Park to Shop grocery had a very successful grand opening. According to Windfall Group, there is a lot of excitement building at the center and they are hopeful that all stores will be filled in the near term
Although the developer originally proposed a future stand-alone office tower, and a mixed-use (ground floor retail with residential above) future phases are still being explored by Windfall Group. Based upon changing market demands for different land uses, the developer is not in a position to identify what uses, or what timeline, the next phase will be. The economic landscape has changed since the project began over two years ago, and as a result, the City and the Windfall Group continue to work together to support the center’s renovation.
While the exact nature of the future phases are being studied in depth by Windfall, certain realities have presented themselves that have enabled us to make this recommendation. Of the three tiers of incentives originally outlined:
The Business District is in place that enables Pacific Square to charge additional sales taxes of up to 1% that can be used to defray the cost of development. However, competitive forces have limited this tax to only 0.25% which will limit the incentive dollars available to Pacific Square.
The City originally committed to a Micro TIF that excluded the “L” shaped retail center. After review by Kane McKenna and Associates and based on the restrictions of being no more than 15 years with no unrestricted residential components, a TIF is not seen as viable at this time. Staff may continue discussions with District 204 regarding a property tax rebate at a later date.
This leaves the Sales Tax sharing option as the best and more certain way to get these incentives to the developer. All dollars that are shared will be created from revenues at Pacific and will not come from other sources. The amended sharing agreement is structured to preserve the City’s existing sales tax collections and allow Pacific Square to collect the increment above this amount for a period (with 2018 unchanged as being the base year) of seventeen years (up from ten years) to a maximum of $6 Million (up from $4 Million) whichever comes first.
Staff members anticipate that this project will increase the City’s overall tax base, and executing the amendment to the sale tax sharing agreement will continue to move things forward and is consistent with the City’s original target incentive of 15% for the total project. The estimate for the total project development has now been reduced to between $39.0 and $86.0 million depending on the final configuration of development, and allow the owners of Pacific Square to plan for, and implement a future phase(s). Examples of potential future phases after improving the “L” shaped building include a variety of uses including standalone or mixed-use buildings consisting of hotel, retail, office, and residential.
The City Council gave consent to the following agenda items:
• Unanimously approved was a resolution authorizing the Chief of Police to sign an updated Memorandum of Understanding between the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), and the Aurora Police Department (APD).
• Unanimously approved was a resolution authorizing the Director of Purchasing to enter into a professional services agreement with Associated Technical Services LTD, Villa Park, IL for water main leak detection services in the amount of $244,760.64.
• Unanimously approved was a resolution approving the extension amendment of the contract agreements with AT&T for three years to expire 10-16-2023 in the amount of $34,741.00 annually that will be paid in 12 monthly payments.
• Unanimously approved was a resolution authorizing the director of Purchasing to adopt unit prices for the purchase of large Sensus water meters.
• Unanimously approved was a resolution authorizing the Director of Purchasing to accept per ton dump fees from Waste Management of Illinois for the disposal of non-special and special excavated soil.
• Unanimously approved was a resolution accepting the improvements and maintenance security for Rainbow Child Care Center – 1553 Ogden Ave.
• Unanimously approved was an Ordinance Designating the City of Aurora Lake and Galena Tax Increment Financing District Redevelopment Project Area.
• Unanimously approved was an Ordinance Approving the City of Aurora Lake and Galena Tax Increment Financing District, Redevelopment Project Area Redevelopment Plan and Project.
• Unanimously approved was an Ordinance Adopting Tax Increment Financing the City of Aurora Lake and Galena Tax Increment Financing District.
• Unanimously approved was an Ordinance Designating the City of Aurora Lincoln and Weston Tax Increment Financing District Redevelopment Project Area.
• Unanimously approved was an Ordinance Approving the City of Aurora Lincoln and Weston Tax Increment Financing District Redevelopment Project Area Redevelopment Plan and Project.
• Unanimously approved was an Ordinance Adopting Tax Increment Financing for the City of Aurora Lincoln and Weston Tax Increment Financing District.
Mayor of Aurora Richard Irvin presented proclaimations for the following:
A proclamation honoring October as Down Syndrome Awareness Month accepted by Kathryn Smith, Board Member of Gigi’s Playhouse in Aurora.
A proclamation honoring October as National Disability Employment Awareness Month accepted by the Aurora Advisory Commission on Disabilities.
The City Council honored winners of Aurora National Night In spirit competition.