City of Rockford Planning & Development Committee met April 27.
Here is the minutes provided by the committee:
I. CALL TO ORDER
Alderman Rose called the meeting to order at 6:48 pm
| Attendee Name | Organization | Title | Status | Arrived |
| Tim Durkee | City of Rockford | Alderman | Present | |
| Linda McNeely | City of Rockford | Alderman | Present | |
| Chad Tuneberg | City of Rockford | Alderman | Present | |
| Natavias Ervins | City of Rockford | Alderman | Present | |
| Bill Rose | City of Rockford | Alderman | Present |
A. Extension to the Intergovernmental Agreement between the City of Rockford and the Rockford Housing Authority for the continued use of 2221 N. Winnebago Street for the Resident Officer Program (ROCK House).
The staff report states that in 2017, the Rockford City Council approved two ROCK Houses within the City of Rockford to allow the Rockford Police Department to directly work with residents to find solutions to neighborhood problems and foster a law enforcement presence within the community.
The agreement between the City and Rockford Housing Authority (RHA) for the property located at 2221 N. Winnebago Street was entered on or about March 8, 2017 for a three (3) year term. RHA supports the extension. Rather than a one- year term, City Staff and RHA are proposing a two (2) year extension to the attached agreement. All other terms and provisions will remain the same.
Assistant City Attorney, Lafakeria Vaughn stated that all the terms are the same and this is extending the agreement for two years.
Alderman Durkee made a motion to approve the Committee Report and Alderman Tuneberg seconded the motion. MOTION PREVAILED 5-0.
RESULT: APPROVED BY COMMITTEE [UNANIMOUS]
Next: 5/4/2020 5:30 PM
AYES: Durkee, McNeely, Tuneberg, Ervins, Rose
B. Extension to the Agreement between the City of Rockford and the Winnebago Homes Association for continued use of 1007 15th Street for the Resident Officer Program (ROCK House).
The staff report explained that in 2017, the Rockford City Council approved two ROCK Houses within the City of Rockford to allow the Rockford Police Department to directly work with residents to find solutions to neighborhood problems and foster a law enforcement presence within the community.
The agreement between the City and Winnebago Homes Association (WHA) for the property located at 1007 15th Street was entered on or about April 21, 2017 for a three (3) year term. WHA supports the extension. City Staff is proposing a one (1) year extension to the attached agreement, pursuant to the same terms of the original agreement.
Assistant City Attorney, Lafakeria Vaughn, stated that all the terms are the same and indicated that this extension is for one year.
Alderman Durkee made a motion to approve the Committee Report and Alderman Tuneberg seconded the motion. MOTION PREVAILED 5-0.
RESULT: APPROVED BY COMMITTEE [UNANIMOUS]
Next: 5/4/2020 5:30 PM
AYES: Durkee, McNeely, Tuneberg, Ervins, Rose
C. Application for Better Utilizing Investment to Leverage Development (BUILD) Grant - Jefferson Street and Chestnut Street/Walnut Street/1st Avenue Enhancements 2020.
The staff report stated that the Public Works Department is requesting permission to apply for a federal grant program through the United States Department of Transportation. The Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant focuses on large surface transportation infrastructure investments that achieve national objectives and have a significant local or regional impact. The grant is awarded on a competitive basis with the maximum federal contribution of $25 million with the project sponsor providing the remaining match.
The City of Rockford, Region 1 Planning Council (R1PC) and Rockford Mass Transit District (RMTD) have entered into discussion on combining efforts to partner on sponsoring an application for BUILD funds for the multimodal enhancement of the Jefferson Street and Chestnut Street/Walnut Street/1st Avenue corridors. The City of Rockford would be the lead sponsor for the application.
The project would include purchase of electric buses with downtown circulator and the installation of protected bicycle lanes, streetscape elements, intersection/roadway improvements, and public transportation technological advancements along the entire Jefferson Street and Chestnut Street/Walnut Street/1st Avenue corridors from West State Street to East State Street. These new facilities would allow for better and safer multimodal east/west accessibility throughout the City’s downtown and enhance the existing downtown sidewalk infrastructure.
A preliminary estimate of cost for this project is $37.2 million. The BUILD grant allows for multiple phases of a project to be submitted over multiple years. Since the project’s cost estimate is above the maximum BUILD grant allowance, the application would span two phases:
Total Project Costs:
Phase 1 (Jefferson Street and Chestnut West State Street to 2nd Street) ($31.0 M Total):
BUILD: $25M (2.8M for RMTD including
Electric Buses)
· RMTD: $700K
· CITY (and other non-federal sources): $5.3M
Includes 20% match of construction and construction engineering costs
Phase 2 (Jefferson and Chestnut 2nd Street to East State Street) ($6.2M Total):
· BUILD: $5.0M
Includes 80% match of City construction and construction engineering costs
· CITY: $1.2M
Includes 20% match of construction and construction engineering costs
As a note, this project is not identified in the City’s UPDATED FY 2020-2024 Capital Improvement Program (CIP), however, staff would propose that future programs be adjusted to accommodate the local funding percentage in the event of an award of grant funding. One option to adjust the program is to delay the Church Street and Main Street Two-Way Conversion construction project as well as delay the Chestnut Street Bridge Active Transportation Enhancements. The City would also be seeking State funding opportunities to offset the City’s matching costs of this project. These options would offer the least impact to the CIP’s Arterial & Collector Street Repair Program schedule.
City Administrator, Todd Cagnoni said that you might recall last year that the City of Rockford applied for the same grant, which is a federal grant under the BUILD program. The City of Rockford is looking to leverage local funds with a federal match of $25 million. The first phase would be for $31 million and the second phase is for $6.2 million. This is a transformational project for downtown.
Jeremy Carter, Traffic Engineer, stated that in July of 2019 the City of Rockford applied for the same grant, however, the grant was not awarded. Mr. Carter stated that they are now requesting permission to resubmit the application for the grant.
Mr. Carter reviewed the presentation and stated that overall they are proposing a “road diet” on the roads within the project limits which is going to reduce down a lane along the roadway, which should increase the safety for all modes of transportation slowing down the cars so we have better speed management. Also, increasing the safety for pedestrians and bicyclists throughout our downtown. In addition, the project would propose to place streetscape elements and lighting improvement throughout our downtown on the corridors that would be downtown beautification.
Mr. Carter said that the City of Rockford's final portion of the project would be making ADA improvement throughout the downtown, making the downtown more accessible and bringing a lot of our ramps up to the most current ADA standards.
The RMTD project is proposing to buy three electric buses and then ultimately the creation of a downtown circulator route that would move throughout the downtown and would give quick access from one side of the river to the other.
The overall scope of the construction project is Jefferson Street from East State Street to West State Street then Chestnut, Walnut and First Street and then West State Street back to East State Street; creating a big loop.
Mr. Carter reviewed the benefits of the projects and stated road safety and crash reduction by doing the “road diet”, separated bicycle facilities that would improve rider comfort and increase pedestrian safety with full ADA compliance.
The roads are not in the best of shape and it would improve the roadway and the drive for bicyclists and motorists on the road.
Mr. Carter reviewed the environmental improvements of the project including multi-modal improvements divert intrazonal automobile trips; electric bus investments kick start sustainable public transit services and overall reduction in auto emissions.
Mr. Carter reviewed the proposed schedule of the BUILD grant. The applications are due on May 18, 2020, the expected grant announcement of the award in September 15, 2020, if awarded the City of Rockford would start design in early 2021 with construction beginning in the 2025 and completed in late 2026. The BUILD grant does have a deadline of September 30, 2027.
He reviewed the cost projections in detail, which are listed above.
Mr. Carter reported that last year after the City of Rockford was not awarded the grant, the Federal Highway Administration offered to meet with the City of Rockford to review why the City was not awarded the grant.
BUILD Grant 2019 Debriefing Notes:
666 Eligible Applications ($9.6 billion)
207 Applications Reached the Senior Review Team
55 Applications Awarded
Minimum: $2.3 million
Maximum: $25 million
Average: $16 million
The Federal Highway Administration stated that the City of Rockford needed to:
*Define the safety benefits of the project; the City will be increasing the safety analysis and looking at the crash data.
*Economic Competitiveness-The City will be looking at a way to trim some of the costs but still bring that $5.3 million match to possible raise the match
Higher Benefit/Cost Ratio
Local Match percentage
Mr. Carter stated that the City would be looking at having the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) be a sponsor of this project. The City was told it is always good to have your local transportation department supporting the project.
Group discussed at length. Alderman Hervey asked what the impact of this would be on the Capital Improvement Program (CIP). Mr. Carter said that staff is proposing that future programs be adjusted to accommodate the local funding percentage. One option would be to delay the Church Street and Main Street Two- Way Conversion construction project. Alderman Hervey also asked about the timeline. Mr. Carter explained in detail the reason for the timeline.
Alderman McNeely asked if the City knows how much the State would be contributing. Kyle Saunders, Public Works Director stated that the City had a preliminary conversation last week with IDOT and there is a follow up telephone call scheduled for tomorrow. After that we will be in a better position to gage what their sponsorship/interest as well as their financial support would look like.
Alderman Frost asked on last year’s process and whether the City's request made it to the Senior Review level. Mr. Carter stated that it is our understanding that the City did not.
Alderman Tuneberg asked if the City of Rockford has legislative support or backing in which we are utilizing our legislators that the City did not before. He then asked about the Jefferson Street Bridge because he thought at one point the City was planning on converting it to a two-way street.
Mr. Carter explained that currently there is not a plan to convert Jefferson Street to a two-way street. It would be very challenging for there to be a two-way conversion on Jefferson Street.
Mr. Cagnoni stated that the City communicated the project to the City's state delegation and they were very supportive of the project. The City is hopeful that if the City could not direct funding from IDOT, then there could be the possibility that working with the City's local legislators on a federal level should this be authorized by City Council, we would send letters.
Alderman Beach stated that there was some talk that there might be foot traffic from the Sports Factory back over to the west side to connect with the convention center.
He asked if we do not get this grant, how much money the City would spend between now and then thinking that the City might get it. Mr. Carter stated that the City would not even start on the design until the City gets the grant. It would be City of Rockford and R1PC staff time to complete the application.
Alderman Durkee said he believes that this a great project. He stated that to convey multi-modal traffic back and forth across the river is an important project to downtown. He thinks this is a good move and is supportive of this. He further stated that he believes that the City should rename Chestnut/Walnut/1st Street into one name. He thanked the City and R1PC staff for getting this put together.
Alderman Hervey asked why the pedestrian bridge is not being promoted to use as the primary route to getting people to and from the hotel and convention center to the Sports Center. The City spent a lot of funds converting that to the Rails to Trails Bridge.
Mr. Cagnoni explained that there are still issues with Commonwealth Edison regarding coming from the Rails to Trails Bridge on the east side of the river north. Many times the gate is up and locked. It is not a reliable access or connection at this time. Alderman Hervey suggested that the City should focus on getting this corrected because it makes the Rails to Trails obsolete. Mr. Cagnoni stated that the City has worked with ComEd on this numerous times and when there appears to be a solution, we hit another roadblock.
Alderman Rose agreed with Alderman Durkee and thanked the staff for working on this.
Alderman McNeely made a motion to approve the Committee Report and Alderman Tuneberg seconded the motion. MOTION PREVAILED 5-0.
RESULT: APPROVED BY COMMITTEE [UNANIMOUS]
Next: 5/4/2020 5:35 PM
MOVER: Linda McNeely, Alderman
SECONDER: Tim Durkee, Alderman
AYES: Durkee, McNeely, Tuneberg, Ervins, Rose
III. RESOLUTIONS
A. Application for the 2020 Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) Zone Investment Program Grant.
Kyle Saunders, Public Works Director reported that the Public Works Department as well as the Community and Economic Department team received notice of a funding opportunity for the Rebuild Illinois DCEO Opportunity Zone Grant Funds. This is the first year for this program, the grant submittal are due by May 7, 2020, and notices of successful grant applications are anticipated to be announced during the summer of 2020 for the current grant application round.
Staff is proposing to apply for approximately $2.1 million in DCEO Opportunity Zone Grant Funding to finance public infrastructure improvements along Seminary Street and Buckbee Street that is located in an Opportunity Zone. In this case, the City is looking to leverage this funding to support the planned infrastructure replacement of the bridge as well as the resurfacing of Seminary Street and about a mile worth of high risk water main replacement and the stabilization of the old Testor's facility at 620 Buckbee Street for either redevelopment or demolition in the future.
As it states right now, the City would be committing approximately $1.1 million in local funding and that is tied to directly to the road resurfacing out of sales tax and approximately $600,000 out of WRIA (Water Replacement and Improvement Account). Mr. Saunders stated that if you look at the total project costs, the City is around $4.5 million. The City is looking to leverage this at approximately a 3 to 1 ratio.
Alderman McNeely made a motion to approve the Committee Report and Alderman Durkee seconded the motion.
Alderman Hervey stated that Testor Corporation is still operating. She asked if they still own the building and asked why the City does not pursue this with Testor for the cleanup of this building. Mr. Saunders stated that this building is now owned by the Winnebago County Trustee.
Todd Cagnoni stated that he will trace down the ownership of the building, but he did not think that Testor was the last owner of the property that went into default.
Alderman Tuneberg stated that he is very excited about this DCEO Opportunity Zone Grant program because this area needs this opportunity.
Alderman Rose stated that there was a motion and a second. MOTION PREVAILED 5-0.
RESULT: APPROVED BY COMMITTEE [UNANIMOUS]
Next: 5/4/2020 5:35 PM
MOVER: Linda McNeely, Alderman
SECONDER: Tim Durkee, Alderman
AYES: Durkee, McNeely, Tuneberg, Ervins, Rose
Alderman McNeely made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Alderman Tuneberg. MOTION PREVAILED 5-0. Meeting adjourned at 7:20 pm.
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