September Oak Park Business Association Meeting Notes

Oak Park Business Association Council
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
8AM Village Hall
 
Attendees:
Village Staff:  Tammie Grossman, Loretta Daly
Elected Officials:  n/a
BAC Chairman: Paul Zimmermann
Representing:
Arts District - Mark Finger
Chamber of Commerce - Cathy Yen
Chicago-East of Ridgeland
Chicago-Harlem – Jim Beckwith
Downtown Oak Park – none
Garfield-Harlem - none
Hemingway - Dan Haley
Lake-Austin - none
Madison Street - Linda Sahagian, Kim Rasmussen
North Avenue - Dan Finnegan
OPEDC - Viktor Schrader
Pleasant - None
Roosevelt Road – Paul Zimmermann
Southtown – none
 
Guests:  Steve Witt, Building and Property Standards; Christine Giornalista, Neighborhood Services
 
 
CAVEAT: THESE ARE UNOFFICIAL MEETING NOTES TRANSCRIBED TO ASSIST BAC ATTENDEES WITH COMMUNICATION TO STAKEHOLDERS.  PLEASE DIRECT ANY QUESTIONS TO YOUR BAC REPRESENTATIVE.
 
 
Village Staff News

• Christine Giornalista recently joined the Department of Development Customer Service as the Neighborhood Services manager.  She has responsibility for Housing, Community Block Grants and residential property maintenance and code inspections.

 
 
Last Phase Business Codes / IPMC

• Steve Witt walked the attendees through the timeline for the final phase of reviewing / changing / updating the Village’s building codes.

• In addition to the process already underway of adopting new building codes, staff is recommending that the Village adopt the International Property Maintenance Codes (IPMC) which covers maintenance standards for residential and commercial properties.  The recommendation is based on the objective of having a single source for all building codes. Adopting the IPMC and incorporating it into the municipal code, while still allowing for community-specific amendments, would streamline the code and make it easier to access, understand and enforce.

• The timing coincides with the Village’s new software and systems upgrade project.  If the Village decides to adopt IPMC by January, it will be more easily incorporated and configured into the new software.  The system is expected to be live mid-2015.

• Steve will create a side-by-side comparison chart to make recommended changes more clear.  Staff will also work to contact building owners, landlords (through upcoming landlord seminars in November), presentations as requested to Business Districts and other communication channels, such as Chamber and OPEDC email lists.

 
 
Taxing Bodies' Procurement Policies and Local Business

• The subcommittee is working to set an initial meeting date.  Currently, the subcommittee includes: Cara Pavlicek, Cathy Yen, Kim Rasmussen, Dan Finnegan, Tammie Grossman.

 
Retail Sales on “Public Way” / Outdoor Dining Ordinance

• Loretta will be preparing recommendations to present to the BAC before year-end.  Recommendations on Retails Sales on “Public Way” parameters are meant to be guidelines for Business Districts to work through and monitor within each district.  The recommendations addressing outdoor dining are meant to inform potential ordinance changes in 2015.

 
 
Food Trucks

• Loretta is reviewing the ordinances covering Food Trucks and will bring any recommendations for changes to the BAC by year-end

• Current regulations are limited but specify that a food truck may not be parked in a single location for more than 30 minutes at a time

 
Business Highlights as Part of VOP Board of Trustee’s Regular Agenda

• Village Trustees are encouraging businesses to introduce themselves via a few minutes on the regular Village Board Meeting agendas. 

• One business will be invited per meeting to share a short presentation (about 3-4 minutes). The presentation could include:  business description, how long the business has been in Oak Park, number of employees, recent investments in the business and why the business chooses to operate in Oak Park

• The Board requests that business district heads facilitate inviting and selecting businesses in their respective districts.    Business Districts are expected to have a “back-up” plan in place in case a selected business cannot present at the last minute.  However, for emergencies, the Chamber, the OPEDC and the BAC will have “off the shelf” presentations at the ready.

• Businesses are welcome to provide slides but not required to do so.  If slides are part of the presentation, the business will need to get them to the Village two weeks beforehand.

• Loretta suggested a tentative timetable for the districts:

• October 6 – Roosevelt Rd

• October 20 – Madison St.

• November 3 - Southtown

• November 17 – Arts District

• January 5 – Pleasant District

• January 19 – Hemingway District

• February 2 – Downtown Oak Park

• February 16 – Chicago/Harlem

• March 2 – Chicago/Austin

• March 16 – Lake/Austin

• April 6 – Harlem Garfield

• April 19 – North Ave

 
 
 
District & Association Updates from Attendees
 
Arts District: The former La Majada building is now officially for sale; the District’s “Basket Trees” public art is now on display; the Village is monitoring the Kleronomos properties
 
Chicago-Harlem:  “The Residences at Maple Place” is expected to break ground in October; the new tattoo business is open in the old Edward Jones space; the municipal parking lot has been resurfaced; the cosmetic dental business is now open
 
Hemingway: A pizza restaurant is planned for the old Oak Park Grocery space; Hamburger Mary’s continues to progress; the District is working on a project with the community to create Holiday Art around and on the lamp posts; Altierra’s Grand Opening is expected in October
 
Madison Street: The Madison Street Business Association is resuming its monthly meetings after an August hiatus; Jim Kaese will be retiring from Rush Oak Park Hospital, leaving an empty seat at both the MSBA and Madison Street Coalition tables;  Walgreens is having their grand reopening to celebrate taking on the corner property at Oak Park and Madison
 
North Avenue: PNC Bank is opening soon; the property at 6641 North Ave is now owned by the Village of Oak Park.  Judith Alexander of the North Avenue Neighbors Association is among those discussing possible streetscape improvements
 
OPEDC: properties on the block of Chicago where Bee Home is located are being redeveloped; Lincoln Properties met with the Pleasant District Association Board to discuss plans for the development at South and Harlem; the SoHo residential development is back on track
 
Roosevelt Road: decorative fences installed as part of the recent streetscape work have not worked out.  They will not be replaced.
 
Chamber of Commerce: OPRFHS approached the Chamber to help it connect with businesses that might be interested in advertising their existing free wi-fi to high school students looking for a place to do web-enabled homework; Chamber member restaurants have been invited to work with NPR-WBEZ to barter lunches for on-air mention during pledge week; the Education series is a current focus with a lunch and learn on using Quickbooks scheduled in October.
 
Next BAC Meeting: Wednesday, October 22 @ 8am Village Hall