Kankakee Times

Village of Bradley Planning & Zoning Commission met July 2.

Here is the minutes provided by the commission:

Mike Smith, Chairman Ryland Gagnon, Joanne McGinnis, James Guiss, Mike Dauphin, Clark Gregoire and Barbara Wheeler

Meeting 6:30pm

Chairman Smith called the meeting to order, we said the pledge of allegiance, roll was taken with all seven members present.

Motion to approve the minutes from June 6, 2019, motion to except by Dauphin 2nd by Guiss, all in favor.

We had no correspondence/Public Communications

Chairman Smith stated the Planning and Zoning Commission have two items on the agenda tonight.

a. Special Use Permit for a Planned Development to operate a Strong Neighborhood House at 259 S. Special Iso D LaSalle Avenue. Applicant: United Way of Kankakee and Iroquois Counties

b. Amendment to the Village of Bradley Zoning Ordinance - Section 60–199 ( ) (2) regarding the surfacing of parking areas and driveways

Chairman Smith opened the meeting for Neighborhood House at 259 S. LaSalle Avenue all notices and mailing were in order.

Tiffany DeRocco was sworn in on behalf of the United Way of Kankakee and Iroquois Counties, Tiffany stated they were asking for a Special Use Permit for their first Strong Neighborhood Project in Bradley at 259 S. LaSalle, She handed out a quick overview, they have also hosted two community outreach nights, they hosted community conversations on June 20th and hosted one a week before that going door to door knocking on doors and inviting them to talk to them before they launch the Strong Neighborhood Project. 

Tiffany stated the reason they are starting this project: In January of 2016 United Way Partnered with the Erikson Institute in Chicago and implemented the EDI know as the Early Development Instrument. 

The Kankakee School District, Bradley School District, Bourbonnais School District as well as two private schools participated. The kindergarden teachers took a survey of every child in their classroom, six hundred and ninety-one (691) students were surveyed on how well they are developing in five (5) different domains. 01. Social Competence, 02. Emotional Maturity, 03. Language and Cognitive Development, were a few of the different areas they were focused on 

In our Planning and Zoning packet were maps, she stated in sections seven and eight there are two areas that fall in Bradley. It shows that we have children that show vulnerability. We want to run community resources out of this house that are specifically tailored to those that live in the neighborhood. 

This Strong Neighborhood project is modeling off of another Strong Neighborhood project in Rockford it had implemented in the last four (4) years and they have seen tremendous results. 

It's been a beautiful relationship between United Way and the Police Department and their municipalities.

Q. Chairman Smith, What type of organizations will be using this place? 

A. Tiffany, The United Way will be on the lead of any organization that will utilize the property, we are hiring a community impact coordinator, you can expect programs such as the Helen Wheeler Center, Jackie Haas asked if they could reserve one of the evenings for family members to come in and receive Mental Health? 

Possibly hosting Job Fairs, having businesses come in and talk about how you are going to dress when you are going to apply for a job.

Q. Chairman Smith stated one of the requirement we need to look at is it it's in the best interest of the neighborhood, So what are the hours? 

A. 8:30am through 4:30pm Monday through Friday to start with, as we get the programs built up you might see a shift to evening programs because thats when family's are more so available and especially children because thats when their out of school and those are the individuals we want to participate in this program. The programs will not go later then 8:30pm. 

Q. Gagnon, could you explain to the commission how you choose the people that live in this area that could use you help so we can understand the program better? 

A. Tiffany, the program is one hundred and three (103) questions, questions like do they console another child if the get hit or hurt, do they go up to that child and say are you ok, do they show respect to authority figures wether that be a teacher, yourself or a police officer. Other aspects of physical health and well-being, do they show up for school, are they dressed appropriately for the weather that their in, that might be some indicators that something is happening at their home life. Data has shown us that the first five years of a child's life are signifiant on the impact of the rest of their life. 

It is their vision to expand this program out to surrounding communities, the Village of Bradley is a great central access point, if you look at Kankakee County in general a lot of our Human Services sector is located right in the heart of Kankakee and i think it would be great if we could expand that out right where the house is located.

Q. Gagnon, how do you get the people that need the help to come to the programs? 

A. Tiffany, one thing that helps is having food available and getting to know their parents and have an open dialog with them and providing them with things they might not have on a regular basses and become part of their family as we build out this program.

Q. Gregoire, Do you know how many family's are in that area? 

A. Tiffany, 42% are in Evergreen Acres.

Q. Chairman Smith, A this point it's more of a concept then a program, we already have job fairs on Rout 50 that does that and a few doors down we have the Park District with activities for children, I have concerns if I was in the neighborhood about what actually was going on there, I don't know if it's AA meetings or if it's for Drug Addicts to come there, or if it's for battered women to come there, your giving us a concept.

Q. Wheeler, how is this funded? Through tax payer money? 

A. Tiffany, No, paid through partner agencies like all the rest.

Q. Wheeler, how involved do they get with the family? 

A. Tiffany, they have focus areas to best address their needs.

Q. Why a house in the neighborhood, why not a business? A. Tiffany, when you want to be successful you really need to focus in on it.

Q. Wheeler, how far are you thinking about venturing out into the community? A. We could also venture across Rt. 50 to that community.

Q. Wheeler, have they done their homework on the types of people that are in that neighborhood, there's all kinds of predators and your going to have children there, I'm just concerned because in a office setting area there are lights and the police monitor them more then in a single family neighborhood. 

A. Tiffany, they are going to put cameras up around the outside of the house as well in every room of the house, and they have had conversation with Chief Johnson of the Bradley Police Department so they would be aware of activities going on there.

Q. Wheeler, what about the traffic flow? 

A. Tiffany, the Park District said they could park up the street on the other end of the block on their property, they don't foresee more then ten people at a time but they could bus people in.

Q. Gagnon, If there is one child that does not have a ride home, who is going to be responsible to make sure that child gets home safe? 

A. Tiffany, I think the parent would be responsible for pick up and drop off of the children.

Q. Gagnon, who is going to be the person to make sure every last person gets home safely? 

A. Tiffany, A United Way staff member and also reach out to the local Police Department as well, everyone associated with the house will have background checks.

Q. Commissioner Gregoire ask what kind of security doors will you have, at the Park District you need to be buzzed in, we have a lot of children there. you never know who is going to come to that door. 

A. Tiffany, Thats something we are going to have to address.

Public Comment: 

Jerri Burton was sworn in, stated she lived in Bradley for 30 years, she lives across the alley and they have never had any problems, she thinks it's a good idea.

Chairman Smith read the requirements from the Zoning Handbook.

See the four (4) staff recommendation from Pam Hirth Staff Memorandum attachments.

We had much discussion, the Special Use request started talking about children, then moved to Job Fairs and possibly bussing people into the area, we are concerned about all the other agencies partnered with the United Way and any other programs that might be utilized at the home in this single family residence area, the details need to be more specific

a Motion to table the request for more information until August 6, 2019 was made by Gagnon, 2nd by Guiss roll call vote 7 yes O No.

Motion to close the Public Hearing McGinnis, 2nd Guiss, all in favor.

Second Item: 

b. Amendment to the Village of Bradley Zoning Ordinance – Section 60-199 ()(2) regarding the surfacing of parking areas and driveways

Pam Hirth Village of Bradley Community Development Director explained the intention of the changes in Amendment change.

See Pam Hirth attached Staff Memorandum for detailed information.

Village of Bradley Attorney stated we need to look at the Code and get some more details pertaining to apron.

Motion by Gregoire 2nd by Guiss, roll call vote, 7 Yes O No, to table and continue until the August 6, 2019 6:30 to define which Code covers the Right of Way.

Motion to adjourn Guiss, 2nd Dauphin, all in favor.

The findings of these meetings will be presented to the Mayor and Village Board for their consideration at the July 8, 2019 meeting in this room at 6:30pm.

https://il-bradley.civicplus.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_07022019-621