Redevelopment Advisory Committee
Approved
I. Call to Order
Committee Chairperson, Edenausegboye
Davis, called the meeting to order at
II. Roll Call
Committee Secretary, Linda McDonald, conducted roll call.
Present: Bud Aungst, Kim Curry-Evans, Edenausegboye Davis, Chris Ganson, Edgar Hilbert, Mary Lou Lackey, Nou Lor, Linda McDonald, Sandy Redmond, Eric Straub, James Taylor, Rose Thomas
Absent: None
Staff Present: Tricia Stewart, Chris Pahule
III. Welcoming Remarks
Edenausegboye Davis welcomed members of the community to the March 9th meeting. She reviewed procedures with regard to speakers being recognized by the chair, the use of speaker cards and the 3-minute limit for speakers from the public.
IV. Approval of the
Straub noted that follow-up items should be recorded in future minutes. The minutes were unanimously approved.
V. Redevelopment Items
A. Residential Vacant
SHRA
staff recommended that the RAC approve the release of an RFP to solicit the
development of eight Agency-owned residential vacant lots in
RAC members asked several questions. Staff explained that that proceeds from the sales will go back to the fund originally used to purchase the lots. Most of the lots were purchased with Oak Park Low/Moderate Housing funds. Two of the eight lots were purchased with tax exempt bond funds and therefore the Agency cannot receive payment for those two lots. In order to try to preserve long term affordability, a 45-year regulatory agreement will be placed on the home. Following the disposition of the land to the developer, the developer will be required to obtain permits, complete construction and sell the home to an income qualified individual within approximately 12 months.
Members of the public spoke on this
item. Two residents, who live adjacent
to the vacant lots in question, stated they are interested in purchasing the
lot next to their home. (Tricia Stewart
will follow up with these residents and inform them about the RFP process.) Staff responded to these neighbors explaining
that one of the goals of this RFP is to increase and preserve the
housing stock in
A motion was made to approve the
release of a RFP for the eight vacant lots with the condition that one resident
on the RAC and one resident from the neighborhood be included in the review
panel of the RFP. The RAC stated that a
preference should be given to
B. Liquor Store Acquisitions – Tricia Stewart
SHRA staff recommended that the RAC
approve the funding for and acquisition of Day’s Market (
The $1.1 million will include the
purchase of both properties and both businesses (the property owners and
business owners are not the same). Also
the funding includes allowances for moving, re-establishment, lease buyout,
residential relocation, legal consulting, appraisals, etc. If the businesses
are to be relocated, the community asked that those businesses not be relocated
in
Police Officer Kyle Jasperson noted that prostitution, loitering, gambling, murder, assault and drug dealing are all taking place in or near these two markets. He gave the following crime statistics:
§ Since September of 2004, there were 96 entries in the crime log for Washington Market. The intersection in front of the market had 457 entries. (This was compared to the Serve-rite Market two blocks away that had Zero entries in the market and 17 in the intersection.)
§ Day’s Market had 40 entries for the market and 144 entries at the intersection.
There was public support for this proposal.
Speakers cited numerous incidents and members of groups such as the Oak Park
Drug-Free Zone Council, Oak Park United Against Slumlords, Oak Park Business
Association, and others expressed support. There was a request for a timeline
on this project. (Tricia Stewart will
follow up at the April RAC meeting with a rough estimate of the timeline for
acquisition of the markets.)
A motion was made to approve funding for and acquisition of Day’s Market and Washington Market. The motion was approved unanimously.
C.
1. CDBG Funding: The President has proposed budget cuts to the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program. This program provides a funding for many projects in the redevelopment areas. Staff asked that a RAC member volunteer to send a letter on behalf of the Oak Park RAC to Congress representatives to request that funding not be cut. Kim Curry-Evans volunteered.
2. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard/Broadway Development Project: This is a mixed use/mixed income development at the southeast corner of MLK and Broadway. The developer is A.F. Evans and the project is in the beginning stages. At this time the developer has released a Request for Qualifications to solicit a community organization to act as the project’s community liaison. The RAC will be updated on this project on a regular basis.
3.
Design Review Guidelines Update: The Design Review Guidelines are being
updated for residential structures and new guidelines are being created for
commercial buildings. These guidelines will help ensure that
4.
South
VI. Informational Items
WALKSacramento in
VII. Communication from RAC Members and Public on Items Not on the Agenda
A. Linda McDonald announced that the McDonald Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning parking lot renovation project, funded in part through SHRA’s facade grant program at 3618 Broadway broke ground Monday, March 7th.
B. Eric Straub announced that he is no longer on the committee for the MLK/Broadway project.
C. Edenausegboye Davis thanked Tricia Stewart for sharing the notes from the RAC teambuilding session.
D. Ron Emslie questioned how three months ago SHRA valued the lot next to the Post Office at $120,000 when the vacant lot sold years ago for $75,000.
E. Samuel Vasquez and several other residents raised concerns with regard to poor street drainage, flooding and standing water (with the potential for mosquito breeding and West Nile Virus) on residential property. In addition, there are new drains with sharp edges that cause tire damage. As a representative of Oak Park ACORN, he appealed to the RAC for resources to address these concerns. He suggested a partnership with OP ACORN, SHRA and the RAC. While generally supportive, RAC members noted that normally drainage problems are handled by Public Works and standing water/mosquitoes are handled by Vector Control.
F.
Another resident spoke about several code violations in her neighborhood
and noted that the City was not responsive. RAC member Bud Aungst invited her
to attend the Oak Park Neighborhood Association meeting the first Thursday of
the month at
G. The public would like to see more information from our agenda packet.
Staff noted that if a member of the
public would like to see a copy of a staff report or item outlined on the
agenda they can email
H. A member of the public had difficulty hearing the proceedings and requested there be a microphone at the next meeting.
VIII. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at