Moving

I am moving this over to Wordpress. www.indg.wordpress.com ...in Downers Grove

I am keeping the same name, but I just can not get the "more" function to work properly here, and over there it is easy.

I would like to see DGreport, Elaine Johnson's much larger effort, be a success, and will always try and contribute to the dialog there.

Schillerstrom to DG: it is good to be king

After a half year of asking and being ignored, the Downers Grove Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DGACOCAI) Legislative Council met Monday with DuPage County Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom, looking to get a commitment that part of the $20 million in newly minted sales tax revenues ($40 million next year) could help move the Belmont Avenue underpass forward.

As reported by Mayor Sandack and Commissioner Waldack, and verified by several others: it’s good to be King (Bob)…

Waldack painted a fairly grim assesment of DG’s prospects of getting any of those millions earmarked for transportation. Sandack put a game face on and vowed to keep pushing forward looking for money solutions, and DG business leaders and elected officials hung it out there trying to get an $8.5 million shortfall covered so the funding can be locked in for good and the project can finally, after 10 years, finally begin.

Schillerstrom pretty much said “I’m all for it, I’m all ears, cooperation is important.” But offered no concrete commitments for even Dollar One of the $40 million (each year) sales tax bonanza rigged up by Gov. Blag to bail out public transportation.

Why? Because DuPage County Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom got three little words put into the transportation bill, “and public safety“, and that means he doesn’t have to use the tens of millions of dollars, earmarked for transportation projects, on actual transportation projects-like the Belmont underpass.

Now, he can spend it on his favorite pastime, making county government bigger.

Faced with an out of control budget due to so many facets of poor public policy and disgraceful public management that minds numb merely contemplating the scope, DuPage County Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom did what any self respecting king would do: he changed the rules and looted the treasury for his own needs . The County Sheriff and the county Prosecutors office will be able to keep themselves fully staffed. No job cuts or budgets trimmed now that there’s all this money-supposedly for transportation-that they can now use to make government bigger and fatter.

This year, a $20 million windfall; next year $40 million. That is a lot of taxpayer cash to cover up some pretty big problems at County. But not a dollar, not a dime for a transportation project that is crying out for funding. So the Blemont Avenue underpass, after 10 years, in view of the finish line to get it locked in and get it going, is stopped short and is gasping for wind.

And DuPage County Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom, as he drove by, said he was all about cooperation, but hasn’t offered any real help to get it done.

But he waved as he drove by…

No more flag lots

Council voted unanimously tonight to amend the muni code so as to ban further flag lots in Downers Grove. Commissioner Tully said he was looking forward to this day for seven years, and he had much to do with shepherding the ban through to approval.

Pierce Downer’s Heritage Alliance came out early in support of this ban, citing four main reasons, which we wrote up and sent in to the Village Manager for inclusion in the public record.

My comments tonight are as a director of the Pierce Downer’s Heritage Alliance. We have written a letter, agreed to unanimously by the board, to support the ordinance before you tonight banning flag lots from Downers Grove. It’s nice for us all, residents and government to be together on the right side of this issue at hand here tonight.

The stated purpose of flag lots in our current code – to provide best use for irregularly shaped lots – is no longer applicable. The historical use of flag lots – to provide rural areas with development opportunities – no longer applies here either.

By eliminating flag lots the village will realize several benefits:

• Trees will be preserved that would have fallen from construction. This inadvertent but welcome presage of a private tree ordinance would prevent unwarranted clear cutting of property for what council clearly acknowledges is unwarranted development. As supporters of our nature areas and for supporting education about our surrounding nature, such as the Little Sprouts Park District program for 1^st graders we help fund each year, PDHA are pleased by this tree preservation.
• Stormwater problems will not be aggravated in the neighborhood by removing said trees, and also by making a large percentage of the former backyard impermeable, as well as paving an impermeable driveway of considerable size. “Do no further harm” should be a watch phrase of future development, and this is a strong clear first step to codify that simple yet laudable goal.
• Property values will be enhanced rather than reduced, as the neighborhood character is protected rather than compromised. Deep lots with private back yards have a proven extra value. A large backyard area also adds desirable character to a neighborhood. Having a house next door or two doors down in the neighborhood’s backyard area reduces privacy, reduces value of the neighbors’ property and the EAV of the entire block, and negatively impacts the character of the neighborhood.
• As Commissioner Neustadt has already ably pointed out, the safety of the particular flag house, neighbors houses, and the neighborhood are compromised with unwarranted flag lot development.

Pierce Downer’s Heritage Alliance has provided a letter to the Village Manager which, while it need not be read here now, we would request be placed in the public minutes, as written, to show our unanimous support for what staff is recommending, for the language of the ordinance amendments as presented before council for your consideration and, hopefully, for council’s passage tonight.

On behalf of the Pierce Downer’s Heritage Alliance, I thank you for your time, consideration, and hopefully for your approval of this ordinance tonight.

So that was a win situation for both residents and government. A hat tip to staff for being responsible to the public trust.

X Chords

The University of Illinois a capella group The Xtension Chords (known as the X Chords) are competing Saturday night in the midwest ICCA semi finals at Northwestern University. My son Brian is in the group, as is Phil and Paula Vettel's son Ed. Brian went to DGS, Ed went to DGN; both sides of town are represented by this very talented, funny group.

The X Chords are not supported by the U of I, they are mostly not music majors; they just like to sing, are good at it, and enjoy it. They all crashed at our house last night. I fed them all breakfast at the crack of 11:00am, and will be cheering them on tonight.

UPDATE: X Chords finished second in the competition. Northwestern's Purple Haze advances to the finals competition in April.

Climate Change Seminar

The Northern Illinois Conference of United Methodist Churches will sponsor an informational seminar on Global Warming in response to the current scientific data indicating that climate change will have a significant impact on human kind. Anyone interested in understanding more about global warming are invited to attend.

An array of subject matter surrounding the issue will be presented by well qualified speakers.

• Dr. Jan P. Hessler, Research Professor at IIT will address the science of Global Warming and Solutions,
• Rebecca Stanfield, State Director of Environment Illinois, will speak on Climate Hazards,
• Brian Urbaszewski, Director of Environmental Health Programs, Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago, will address the Public Health Impact,
• Christy Smith of United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) will give perspective on disaster relief, and
• Dr. Jonathan Dean, Associate Pastor at Downers Grove First United Methodist Church will speak about the Theological Basis for Addressing Global Warming.
• Participating in an action panel discussion and question and answer session will be Rebecca Stanfield, Environment Illinois, Lonnie Morris, Sierra Club, Rev. Clare Butterfield Executive Director of Faith in Place, and Dave Schulz Co-chairperson of the Environmental Stewardship Committee at Downers Grove First UMC.
  

The event will be held on Saturday, April 19, 8:30 AM – 1:00 PM, at First United Methodist Church, 1032 Maple Ave., Downers Grove. The event is free of charge, but attendees are asked to pre-register for planning purposes by calling the church office, 630-968-7120.

Things We Left Behind

Relative Measures Per Resident Part Two

I rarely get many comments, but DGDood scraped a nerve here, saying in comments:

You should post this over at DGreport. More people need to see how we overpay. One reason local government wants to get this big stormwater public works project going is so they become indispensable cogs in that gravy train.

and three days later:

You still haven't put this over at DGreport. Chicken? Don;t want to upset anyone? I'll do it if you won't. Where did you get the info?

This is where reports are put on-line at Daniel Hynes Office of the Comptroller. Municipalities are required to file annual standardized reports. It piqued my interest because DG has yet to file their 2007 report.

My original intent was to examine how very high debt like Hoffman Estates can effect budgeting due to TIC's (Total Interest Cost)of carrying debt. I found the tangential staff comparisons interesting because some municipalities like Wheaton seem to get by with less.

2006	Wheaton	Downers Grove
Population*	55,416	48,274
Total Appropriation	83,669,691	78,362,884
Total Debt	52,455,000	50,526,332
Interest Payments	2,032,558	1,807,619
Principle Payments	2,345,000	650,000
Employees FT	274	360
Employees PT	106	75
Employee Cost	18,020,489	31,617,304
EAV	1,807,481,291	2,057,634,957
Miles of Streets	165	165
Land Area Sq. Miles	11.52	14.4
Acres of Parks	800	600

There could be further breakdown to find where the differences are by department, but I do not have a driving interest in stirring that pot.

Be my guest DGDood. Do your own research and blog it wherever you like.

Somebody is getting it right...

On March 10 at the village council workshop, staff will forward new language and changes to Section 20 of the municipal code that will effectively end the practice of "flag lots" in Downers Grove.

Flag lots are usually permitted in rural and developing municipalities to allow development of back-land areas while still maintaining their rural character. We have long since passed that point, and flag lots have created the unusual presence of homes seemingly in other peoples back yards. While the flag house usually faces the rear of the house in front of them, they also impinge upon the backyards of homes to either side, and these are usually the residents who show up at Plan Commission meetings protesting flag lot partitions.

The last flag lot was approved in DG over 5 years ago, and the council has has consistently voted not to approve requests for flag lot splits.

While I have spoken about staff's inability to craft good ordinances, it does not take much to see that the changes and deletions requested by staff here are spot-on. Very targeted in what they are trying to accomplish, the code language is clear, to the point, and beyond debate.

There appears to be a strong rational basis laid out in the background information provided by staff. That is also a good sign; changes that have a strong rational basis hold up under court challenge.

Someone is on their toes here, clearly thinking ahead. Eliminating flag lots eliminates the possibility of large homes in backyard areas causing new water problems for the neighborhood. It also eliminates the need to take out large areas of backyard mature tree growth-trees that help us in many ways. All good.

Heritage Tree Ordinance Part 4

For staff who wants it put off because they are just too busy, they sure got busy in just one week.

UPDATE & RECOMMENDATION

This item was discussed at the February 26, 2008 Workshop.

Staff recommends approval of the motion to delay further discussion of this matter until the summer of 2008 as part of the Strategic Planning process. Based upon the Council’s discussion staff would propose the following prior to Strategic Planning:

• Scheduling a presentation at a future Workshop meeting by the Morton Arboretum to provide information to both the public and Council regarding this matter; and
• Schedule and promote a virtual town hall meeting on the Village website to allow for public comment regarding private property tree preservation; and
• Schedule and promote a town hall meeting to allow for public comment regarding private property tree preservation.

The good news is Morton Arboretum will make a presentation. They have advised most communities who have a Heritage Tree Ordinance (HTO), and will provide a ton of information on the benefits of large trees, why they should be preserved, why a village tree canopy is important enough to be critical, and why even private property trees should be preserved.

The next step is for the Council to determine if there is consensus to direct staff to prepare a private property tree preservation ordinance for consideration. Staff would ask for a minimum of 90 days to prepare a recommended ordinance. Policy details that would be established in a recommended ordinance include:

• Definition of Heritage trees (e.g. Heritage trees could be defined as the oldest, largest and most important native component of the Downers Grove urban forest such as oaks and sugar maples over 24 inches in diameter and hickories over 18 inches in diameter)
• Determine relevance, if any, of tree canopy coverage
• Creation of a public hearing process for private property Heritage tree removal in the absence of building construction activity
• Determination of what level of private property improvements/building construction activity would trigger Village review of a privately prepared Tree Survey and Tree Preservation Plan (for the purpose of identifying Heritage trees and the impact of private property construction activities on said trees – such surveys and plans are prepared by a private, licensed arborist)
• Determination of application fees for Village review of Tree Survey and Tree Preservation Plan
• Codification that removal of private property Heritage trees would be permitted, however property owners would be subjected to a financial penalty when removing Heritage trees
• Determination of appropriate financial penalty for removal of Heritage trees.

The bad part is then it is up to staff to decide what gets covered, and whether what Morton will tell them has any relevance to what staff wants to see in an ordinance.

Also note that now they have actually gone ahead and chummed the waters with references to fines and procedures that residents must follow: well, you all can read the above and the whole text of the green sheets here, and listen to what council had to say on Feb 26th at the workshop, or read it here in the minutes, and listen to what they said here at the council meeting on March 3rd.

Those who stand guard for private property rights will be well advised to begin circling. I will be thrilled if we ever have an HTO that prevents unwarranted* clear cutting of property by developers. Instead, here we go; a major undertaking for writing a complex ordinance that creates new processes, new procedures, new responsibilities for residents, new fines, all that directly impact the resident-where there is no problem.

And that, in a nutshell, is the problem. If council sticks their head in the sand and does not define what the ordinance needs to cover, and instead allows staff to put forward a complex convoluted ordinance, they will get it wrong: they have a strong recent history for getting it wrong. Putting this off to the strategic planning process (no longer being considered for the TCD3 citizen summit?) moves it to an already crowded agenda with a short time frame from start to finish.

In order to have an effective HTO that addresses our needs and does not trash resident rights, we will have to turn out and be heard. We will have to do the heavy lifting again, just to make sure we do not get trampled in the rush to do nothing.

* un·war·rant·ed (ŭn-wôr'ən-tĭd)
adj. Having no justification; groundless: unwarranted interference.
See Synonyms baseless, indefensible, undue.

Relative Measures Per Resident

I got the idea for this from Evanston Now, who ran a significantly more in depth analysis among Evanston and two nearby communities.

This is the populations as per the official 2000 census. The populations for all 5 communities, according to the individual websites, have remained relatively constant, and roughly similar.

This graph shows the 2007 total appropriations for each community. Note that Hoffman Estates has a large appropriation to service huge debt. DG is pretty middle of the road here.

The above shows the appropriation expressed on a per resident basis. Given most of these communities have a similar package of services, except for the shuttle, it is a reasonable measuring yardstick to see how we stack up. This does not include any of the $75 million initial stormwater borrowings that could occur this year.

Again, here we are in the pack. Note that Hoffman Estates has almost a quarter BILLION dollars in debt. That will also be us in a couple years if we go 'all in' on the stormwater plan.
Expressed on a per resident basis.
This graph shows the Total Staff Payroll for the communities.
Not only does Downers Grove pay more for similar sized staffs,
once the per resident costs are factored in, our village government staff costs are by far the highest of any similarly sized community.