And we will call the meeting to order.

Okay.

And we should take the role.

We'll start with role.

Okay.

There's some on the screen, too.

Yes.

So Mr.

Parker had a business conflict today.

And he is attending remotely.

Mayor Darcy?

Councilman Cardinals.

Ms.

Bottomly.

Here.

Mr.

Doris is absent.

He let me know that.

Ms.

Gruenberg.

Present.

Ms.

Howard?

Here.

Mr.

Martin.

Here.

Mr.

O'Hara.

Here.

Mr.

Parker.

Here.

Mr.

Pryor.

Mr.

Randich.

Mr.

Rico.

Here.

Dr.

Rouse.

Here.

Ms.

Viveros.

Ms.

Walker.

Here.

Mr.

Stunich is absent.

He let me know he would be he would not be in attendance today.

And Chairman Rolf.

Here.

Okay.

Great.

Next on the agenda is the approval of minutes from the September 3rd 2025 meeting of this comprehensive plan advisory committee.

Second.

Motion made and seconded.

Any discussion, comments.

Hearing none.

All in favor, signified by aye.

Motion carries.

Next we have citizens to be heard on agenda items.

This section is for anyone wanting to speak regarding agenda items and are allowed a maximum of four minutes.

It is not a question answer period.

And staff and the committee members do not generally respond to public comments.

Is there anyone here who would like to make a comment under citizens to be heard on agenda items?

Okay.

Seeing none, we can move on to old business of which there are no agenda items, which brings us to new business, of which we are here today to talk primarily well, two things.

But first is the engagement summary for the survey and community workshop.

So this was a document that was part of your staff report package.

So this is all this is for also the public to view.

And with us today, we have our consultant team.

Hi.

And they are here to help walk us through this document and offer some feedback on some highlights.

Thanks, Jane.

Okay.

At the end of phase two of the process, which is includes both the summary or the survey that we ran for uh approximately six weeks.

And the first uh public workshop in the October.

So uh Katrina is on with news, so uh maybe we'll just take a couple minutes, Katrina, and just hit the highlights of the public engagement summary.

Hi everyone, nice to see you again.

I saw many of you at the um public engagement event, and so we were really pleased with um the amount of promotion that Juliet was able to do to um encourage responses on the online survey and then also um encouraging attendance at the in-person workshop.

We had um a little over 2,000 responses on the survey, which is a really fantastic turnout.

And so um, because we got such high response rate, we feel very confident about kind of the feedback that we were able to get.

Um the summary includes both what we heard with the online survey as well as what we heard um at the workshop, and um, you know, a lot of what we were hearing, I think is reflected um in the report around housing and neighborhoods and kind of the keeping um kind of maintaining and visiting housing stock and neighborhood feel, kind of concerns about safety, um, desire for kind of cultural events.

So I would say, you know, kind of from my perspective, what we were really seeing is a lot of kind of quality of life that people desire to have opportunity to um attend events, to have things to do, um, high quality parts and amenities um in Juliet, and so there's a really a lot of opportunity um in the the plan to think about how to enhance what's existing or a lot of our pride and kind of the diversity in the history of Juliet and build on that for you know what's to come.

And so there's a really a lot of opportunity um in the the plan to think about how to enhance what's existing.

There's a lot of our pride in kind of the diversity and the history of Joliet and build on that for you know what's to come.

And so we have organized it in a way of kind of bulleting out some um key themes that we heard, and then also um summarizing uh from both the feedback and the survey based on topic, kind of some opportunities to consider and the is the um the plan process continues to move forward.

Anyone have any comments?

Uh have chance to digest the engagement summary.

I I just I have a just and again I'm not trying to be critical.

The report's great.

I overall it's great.

I just there could be a couple of things I'd like to get clear though.

I'm not sure on page 36.

Um I can't could that be right?

Uh number 24 where it says maybe I don't understand the is that saying like 56% of the respondents were American Indian or Alaskan or Yeah, I pulled up the um summary report here.

I have um an updated, I saw the the um Excel doc when the labels were put in.

I noticed that the um American Indian was miss mislabeled there.

So I have updated that here.

Okay, I've pulled it up on the screen.

I hope everyone can see.

Thank you.

So we'll ensure that the um the correct uh label on the bottom is reflected in the report.

And just as a follow-up, um I I was a little surprised by um and it is you know it it is what it is.

It was talking about the I'm sorry, no, I'm drawing up link.

It talked about the age uh range of people who completed the survey.

Yeah, it were there that many 18-year-olds that did that, or was that that was a mistake?

No, I I have updated the um the chart here, the under 18.

Okay.

So label we noticed that there was an issue with the pulling in from the Excel labels, and so I've made all of the updates here.

That the 45 to 54 was our most common age range.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be nitpicking, but thank you.

No, no, I'm glad pointing that out.

I appreciate you saying that, and I've I've pulled it up on the screen here to say as I was um preparing for today.

I noticed that uh labeling issue, and so I just pulled up um wanted to make sure we get that.

Thank you.

Yep, appreciate it for the record.

Appreciate it.

Yeah.

Is there also an update for how many people currently live in your household?

26.

Yes, I have that one.

Let's see, the two is the most common.

Okay.

So on the um demographic appendix piece, I'll have to send an update with the um the labeling there.

So the percentages are correct.

We just want to make sure that we get the labels pulled in properly.

There's also one on uh graph 21, how long had you lived or worked in Joliet.

Right.

And I think I've got you already got that one.

21, how long?

So the most uh the most people that responded is more than 10 years.

There were that many 18-year-olds that responded to the survey.

That would be a very, very specifically engaged population.

So you know, we put kind of these recommendations at the end, and you know, one of the things we we like to um think about is how we can engage the younger population as well, as they'll be the ones who are growing up as these um you know recommendations and plans kind of come to fruition.

So I would be curious too, kind of from your experience on the engagement, like kind of how we can uh you know, we'll be thinking more about how we can engage young people too.

Just like Leslie said generally, you know, it's it is um harder to get you know young people really to engage with the content in the way that kind of um what we typically see is kind of adult range um people at the event.

So I also saw that most of the students who responded were kind of stragglers from Joliet West.

Like we saw a lot of those students kind of wander in.

Yeah, it was as high as it was because they were there.

I think it matters though still.

As we continue to get some updates and making sure that all the labeling is correct, we'll be able to get the updated version sent out to the whole steering committee.

Oh, yeah.

It's also on the website, so we're gonna need to update that.

Absolutely.

And then I just I had a great time going through and reading it.

I don't know what it says about me that I enjoy reading a public engagement summary, but um it's probably telling.

Um I really enjoyed seeing some of the feedback, and it was nice to be able to see that the things that I've heard as a lifelong resident of Joliet and the things I've experienced seem to be kind of a shared experience.

It feels like we're on the right track, we're pushing in the right way, we have the right people in this room trying to help guide the process.

Um, one of the things I did want to talk about, and I know that Jane, you had requested some feedback on um what we thought, how the public workshop went.

Um, I wanted to just kind of get an additional clarification.

The online component of this was just like the boards were uploaded on the website, and then people could email comments, right?

Yes, I think that as we look at what our second public engagement and third public engagement look like, I would really love to see us do online engagement in really a more meaningful way.

I think that just having the things up on the website's fine, but if I, as a resident say, okay, I want to go check out, I missed the meeting.

There's only one day, there's only one time.

I'm gonna go to the website, okay.

I have to click on this, not have to zoom in on it.

Okay, now I have to open up an email, then I have to type an email.

Like that's too many barriers to try to get some meaningful engagement online.

I think that there's better ways for us to do that, and I think I'd really like to see us kind of tap into that.

Okay.

Boise, did you have something?

Yes, my uh comment was along the same lines as Lindo.

I like that we had the event at Joliet West because we saw a larger number of students, and they actually looked like they were going around and attending um each of the uh different opportunities.

So um I like that.

Um, even though we kind of guided them in, so I know we got a larger population because we were at Joliet West.

So looking at our next uh community meeting, having it at Joliet Central, and possibly reaching out to the principal ahead of time to see if we can get more engagement, I think would be advantageous.

Are there bulking issues with Joliet Central?

Just we well, we haven't out decided the location of the next workshop, so I have we don't know if it's gonna be at West again or if it's gonna be in different areas of the city.

So that's something that we're still seeking um feedback and discussion on with our consultant team.

I know they're meeting also to discuss and building in even potentially different alternatives with online.

So well, that is my feedback, especially from the residents on the east side for us to have it at a more central location, not on the west side.

Okay, did you guys have something where you reacting to that?

Oh, no, good.

Okay.

On page 34, um, number six.

I didn't know if that number was accurate either.

I saw that earlier.

Um 79% of people want to allow accessory dwelling units on their lots.

How many sounds great, but the question is not on the lot just as a strategy for kind of um bringing in more um more housing options to Joliet.

But like I said, we are have gone through the appendix and noted the um the labeling issue.

So I'm going through on the appendix and making sure everything is that is there.

I'm trying to pull up and see if I have it already updated here for you on there.

So we will we will make all the update on the appendix labeling.

Okay, but the the question was really around strategy, so not if like you personally would want to do that, but like would you support that as one of the strategies to kind of um enhance and diversify um housing and options than Joliet here?

Because this will make sure that it's updated there.

I just must be public for her, so I need to know if she doesn't have the inaccurate one.

So is it safe to say that you went through the whole summary and reviewed all of the information to make sure that the labels are correct because there might be other questions in that regard?

And if you've addressed it, unless there's something that's really standing out that you want to point out.

No, all the um summary information is correct.

I just noted in the um the appendix part with the labeling on the graphs that we needed to make some updates there.

Other comments?

I guess I have just one question.

In the case of the a lot of these dot placement ones, I think what we learned is everything is important, right?

We we we saw a lot of clustering on high importance, particularly like on the jobs one.

It was I actually like the visual of that with the spectrum, but it you know clusters toward everything's important.

So I'm curious how do we parse that?

Like what value do it do we we gain uh in terms of prioritization when it looks like you know everything's important?

Is there enough differentiation that you're seeing in those that says ah that this is a target, or is it just hey, everything's important and we we roll that direction?

Yeah, we so how we think about the the dot voting when we're um kind of analyzing that is we kind of um use this and visually break into uh sections so that we can kind of analyze the dot voting there, and as you have noted here, there is a lot of kind of importance for the types of strategies that we have um proposed here in the um in the public meeting for people to give feedback on.

And so what we do then is kind of take that and add the goals and objectives and the strategies are continue to be refined, kind of continue with data with um understanding of kind of partnerships and and the workforce network in this particular area.

Are there ones that um kind of stand out or are more um able to be advanced as as we move through the planning process?

But from the the public feedback, there was not one in this scenario that like clearly um was way far ahead of the others, and so that for us that would mean like thinking through are there then other data pieces or other information about um these strategies that we may want to continue could take into consideration as we think about priority, yeah.

I think we want to go there.

Sure.

Yeah, I think when we walked into the public workshop, we sort of knew that each one of these four pieces, uh these four elements were going to be important.

So we were looking for uh two things.

One is to confirm our assumptions, you know, based on the focus curves that we had, based on the early uh responses that we were getting from the survey.

So confirmation that these four elements were important was one uh one part that the second one was knowing that if we did get confirmation that these four elements were important to working in Joliet, then the next step of this process, as Katrina said, is prioritization.

So if one of these elements has more opportunity or you know can be incentivized, it's easier to fund, it's easier to implement, it's something that's really important right now, it's timely, it's relevant today, then that would bubble to the top.

So prioritization is the next step in this process now that we have confirmation that yes, these four elements are important to residents of Joliet.

Okay.

One other thing I'd like to uh comment on is along with uh Elaine, I noticed a lot of the comments uh around housing and the east and southeast side of Joliet aligns with a lot of what we have been saying for at least the past five years.

So it's not just um selective individuals who think that we need to definitely diversify housing, we need more affordable housing, we need commercial development.

So it's evident in our the plan uh that we're on the right track that what we're saying as individuals, a larger population is saying as well.

And I would say too, on top of that, the almost tie score between single family homes, of course, and multi-use housing was very interesting to me, and that is aligned with the ETOD plan and some of the recommendations that were made with that.

So I think there's a lot of opportunity there.

I mean, mostly in the downtown area, but I mean, if that's if that's an option for more housing, then I think it's give the people what they want.

You know, I think as we look through this plan and as we continue to refine it, the important ingredient is getting private investors, private capital in here to build the homes and the multi-use buildings, and so as we as we progress through this, that's that's where we have to identify the locations of you know.

I think going towards Brig Street, there's a lot of vacant land.

There's a lot of what are I referred to as blank canvas, and I understand what everybody wants, and then we have to understand how do we marry that to investors and and get housing in here that is affordable, and I call affordability in several layers.

It's not just this layer, it's like what about the doctors?

They're all they're all living somewhere else.

Why don't we want them in our community?

So we we need to make sure that we look at housing in in several stages.

And yeah, affordability is in different slices and different affordings.

So I agree, you know, we've got so much blank canvas east, we keep looking, we we built west, but we didn't look east.

So I think those are some of the things that as we move forward, we know that that's what the residents want.

We need to marry that to the developers to incentivize them to get them here and start building that way too.

I I feel the same way.

Mayor, one thing I know is once we have this comprehensive plan, that's going to be a great marketing tool for us to be able to present to the the developers and what it is that we're looking to do over the next 10 to 20 years.

So I do and all of that coupled with the review that we know needs to take place of city ordinances and zoning and the like that complements those demands, if you will, that are identified in the plan for housing at all price points because there's affordability is what your budget capable of handling.

I don't care about anybody else.

Can I afford to live in this house?

And I think those are things that we have to build into this.

That zoning is going to be very important.

We just need to revisit it.

It may not be wrong, it may need to be tweaked or it may need to be new.

Uh so that's all part of uh this and you can't do some of these things.

You can't get private investors if your zoning and ordinances are restrictive.

You need to be looking at those and saying, what are they in the present form?

What do they need to be to do and accomplish what this plan hopefully will set forth?

So we'll need to market this to the decision makers on the city level before we can market it to developers or investors who would be interested in building perhaps a multifamily housing and offering affordable options with private investment options.

All right, someone's not picking up what I'm putting down, but that's okay.

Other comments.

Because I think a lot of times when you look at the feedback and you hear some of the comments, we tend to be very insular where like we know the Joliet way, and we have a preference, and then like as far we reach, like we only reach to Naperville, we only reach to like those areas around us, but I think it would serve us some good to even present some examples of cities similar to Joliet and demographic and population and land availability so that our folks can see some other models and reimagine some things.

I think sometimes being in Joliet too long limits you.

I mean, if you look at some of the things that have been developed in Joliet over the last 10 years, I mean I've been here my whole life, so I went to Laraway.

I never imagined Laraway Road in 53 looking like it did when Amy passes and their family live there and we all went to school together.

It was just farmland us.

And I think that the same way, you know, we reimagined those things, we gotta have a greater imagination.

Like we can't keep doing what we've always done, and I think it would help if we can show some examples of some creative models.

So the the AFL CIO has a program where they work with developers.

So the AFL CIO works with uh the building trays, the union trades all across the country to develop uh medium to large scale or even smaller scale residential multifamily uh projects.

Currently, I'm sure you all heard the big project in Chicago was the 400 Lakeshore Drive project where the origin of the spiral was supposed to be built.

They're involved with with that development.

Um if you all like I can get a hold of our contacts here at Joliet.

He would uh Paul Nelson is his name, he'd be able to come in here and give us a presentation on the projects, not you know, not what they've just done in communities across the country, but more specifically here, you know, in Illinois and in the uh greater Chicago area.

Beautiful projects.

Yeah, Nora and I spoke about this a couple weeks ago.

Well, and we've been talking about this for years, and they're doing it in other cities too.

Like I think in Minneapolis, St.

Louis, um multiple unions use their pension funds to invest in excellent high-quality housing, and oftentimes it has a component of affordable housing built, you know, baked into the cake.

So it's an incredible opportunity.

So yeah, basically what it looks like.

It's like a one-stop shop, right?

You go to the AFL CIO, they you know, they work with the developers, they the AFL puts up the capital for the development.

Um we have all the contractors, obviously, we have the uh, you know, the the people to build these projects, you know, but there's like with 400 Lakeshore Drive, even though it's you know, in a very exclusive part of downtown Chicago, you know, that project has, I believe, 20% uh affordable housing attached to that project.

That's part of what they come in with.

It's not just you know, high-end uh housing, it's it's it's a mix.

And I think teachers unions also invest in similar kinds of uh this is just it's a great way to invest pension funds.

I mean, there's multiple ways to do it.

I think what what this does is it challenges those who wish to develop in our area to just have an imagination, like just to not do what you've always like.

There are there are tons of ways to do this that are both profitable, but and it still can make them attainable.

Um I think the city of Chicago is actually being very intentional with all of the housing development that's coming to Chicago, they require a percentage of it to be affordable.

Well, just I'm just gonna put a piece of realism on the table.

Um I came to Joliet 10 years ago, and my school district had 12,000 students pre-K to eight.

Here we are this year at 9,100 students pre-K to eight.

Um the birth rates have dropped off.

Um we only have 800 kindergarten students this year compared to about 1100 that we normally would have.

Um there's there's a serious decline when you look at children being born, being raised, uh, so families coming in to Joliet is an important piece to consider as opposed to just housing for the professionals.

We really need to make certain we're encouraging that notion of the young family coming in.

Young people are not having they're getting married, but they're not having kids because of the economy.

Um, I get that.

People aren't buying homes because of the economy.

I get that.

It's it's troubling, but when you look at the data around birth rates, and it's across the nation, but our birth rates in this area have declined dramatically.

I've only got about 900, 925 um first graders, about 950 third um second graders.

Um, you don't hit the thousand number until you hit my junior high ages.

And so that decline we're seeing in the school district pretty dramatically over these these 10 years that I've been here.

So Dr.

Rouse, is that decline also from people leaving this area, or do you guys just look at the birth rates?

Well, we look at the birth rates predominantly, but the um the realities of people coming and going.

We've always had a mobile, uh, there's a lot of mobility, but typically the mobility was within the city, movement between schools, but we're not seeing that as much because there isn't the availability in different places of for housing for them.

Um the the um area up on the in the forest park area that was you know demolished and not rebuilt.

Okay, that that we lost a whole bunch of families there.

You know, we've got the um uh the piece down by the river, uh one called evergreen walk, river walk.

There we go.

Um, and half of that's gonna be emptied out because of the they're not we're not rebuilding.

So, you know, where do those families go because there isn't options for them.

So there is some of that decline, um, but the birth rate issue is one that's even more profound.

Okay, and I think that's a national issue.

It is an international issue, really.

It really is.

It really is.

But but how do we there's still people out there who have young children?

But we have we're not attracting them either.

And economic mobility has declined significantly over the last let's call it five years and largely due to the housing challenges, right?

There's just not a lot of inventory, but for a place like us.

Okay.

So this happened post-08 recession as well, where mobility just got stunted because people you know were underwater and homes could move.

But in this case, like for us, it's particularly difficult because our attraction of young families from sort of the urban core um has been an engine for us for your students for a really long time.

And um when you have a situation where we don't have a lot of places for people in their 20s to live, yeah, and we we expect them to come back when they're 30-ish and having kids, but there's no home inventory and mobilities down, that's gonna punish us, and and it will your district for a period of time.

Absolutely, absolutely realistically, you expect that cycle to turn and them to come back, but you will have a lost period of time that'll be very difficult to recover.

Yeah, the the trending birth rates for the next five years are it's bad.

It's it is bad, yes.

It's not exciting.

So buckle up all good comments that we need to take into consideration as we look at this, and and that just simply highlights the complexity of the project at hand.

I mean, there's a lot of information that we have to garner.

There's a lot of information that we have to really review and determine what is the right strategy and can we do that?

And funding, whether it's private or public, can always be an issue on many fronts.

Um I was just curious if if our friends on the screen there have any other highlights that they wanted to point out as a result of looking at the survey summary and the workshop summary.

I mean we've had a chance to look at it.

We know the uh descriptors of all the graphs are being reviewed and corrected, and we'll get those shortly.

But was there anything else that really stood out to you?

Kind of using the other city model and work that you've done.

Is there anything that really stood out favorable or negative in terms of the information that you've accumulated for us through those two context?

I think that was it.

Okay.

But let's say I didn't know if you were gonna jump in Leslie back to the say I think what um really stood out to me.

I've heard the discussion among the committee here about kind of attracting younger families and working families, and what stood out to me were kind of the comments about the quality of life of the desire to have places for young families to bring their children to attend cold control events to um go to parks and have amenities.

I'll say like this is a very specific one, but the pool uh splash pad came up quite a bit as an desired amenity um in Joliet, and so kind of thinking about how does the city function in a way that is a desirable because people do have choice about where they come and you know, people a lot of people do want to come back and be close to home, and so how are we making um Joliet a place that has those amenities that people are looking for as they as they raise their families?

And it is a big question with the larger ecosystem that I've heard discussion around the um housing choice and affordability, but in some ways I think some of the asks or the desires are kind of like nearer term achievable things about how are we thinking about uh and green space and connecting to existing assets um in Juliet and continuing to make it kind of a desirable place um for people and some of the soft stuff too came up in terms of like what is the reputation of Juliet?

And some of the soft stuff too came up in terms of like what is the reputation of Julia?

What are what do people think about Juliet when they come and what can we do to kind of bolster that and continue to um grow pride in Juliet?

So those are the kind of things that set up.

Again, all good points that and again points to the just the complexity of what we're about doing here.

This is in the time that's been allocated.

Excuse me, to get it completed, is a direct correlation of how complex and thoughtful we need to be about this effort.

So one of the things that that I thought about and made comments on in the summary was were is there data supporting it, or are they simply perspectives that people have?

I hear perspective all the time about well, this unsafe area, that's an unsafe area, and there's no data to really support it.

People just feel that way because they're out of their comfort zone.

And uh hopefully this will help us pare down some of that information too, so that as we look at it, we can we can demonstrate that it is a good place to live, it is attractive, and it's going to get better, and if we don't believe that we got a different issue.

And so other comments that anyone has on the summaries and the discussion that's been taken place.

I'll just jump in then as we transition.

So, in terms of next steps, so the summary of what the engagement's been to date, married with the existing conditions report as well as our consultant team's expertise, and so Lamar Johnson Collaborative, along with their subconsultants, um with a variety of topic areas.

So the next step is they have taken all the information again, existing conditions report, the engagements that activities they've done to date, and then their expertise, and they have a draft which is um still going under internal review, but it's a vision, goals, and objectives document.

It's uh very it's a it's a weighty document, um, and this establishes again vision, goal or vision, goals, and objectives for each of these sort of big topic areas, so economic development, um, environment and uh natural resources, mobility and transportation that will be the primary focus of the next advisory committee meeting.

We expect that the document will be ready for review.

We're hoping two weeks in advance of your next meeting because if it really is there's a lot of information in here, um, and that document again setting the goals and objectives for this comprehensive plan is really going to allow us to dive into what are the next steps, what are the recommendations, uh, what are the strategies?

So that'll be the focus going forward uh after a next meeting, and then uh we'll talk about working groups in a second, but that'll be based on that as well.

So I don't know, Leslie and Katrina, did I accurately summarize the what's coming up next?

Yeah, sure.

Great, all right.

So, in a couple of the documents, oh, this is getting weighed down in the weeds, so please excuse me.

Blue font is very nice, but different printers printed out either it's readable or it's not because it fades with the type of printer that you have.

So, if some of that could be you know, put your banners in blue, and maybe the text that supports that is in black or or different color that will print because I printed one of these documents and it was so faint, and I have I still have 2020 vision.

I could barely read it, and so just thought I'd help everybody else with that.

Oh Jim, you're not the first to point that out.

So back, so we'll be working with the consultant team on the next deliverables with terms of the font color and then even font size because even though we want to print less, um, there's still often people who do print, and then they're struggling with the format because this is this is 11 by 17.

If you were to print this on eight and a half by 11, you can't read it.

So we'll be working with them on that.

Thank you.

So working groups.

All right.

Um, yeah, anything else before we transition to the next agenda item.

Okay.

Um working groups are going to be meeting.

There's two of them that'll be meeting the second week in December, and then the rest of them will be in January.

Um, thanks to everyone who've been working with me with coming up with the initial round of dates and now a second round of dates.

And again, the reason why we have now pushed the majority of the working group workshops into January is because we need the full vision goals and objectives document to be reviewed by this committee before we have those working groups.

So those working groups will be evaluating those goals and objectives, and we'll talk about more about again what they're gonna be doing about that in a second.

So that's that's why they've been shifted.

Um I have provided each of you a summary again.

This you this is shouldn't be too new because I said this a while ago.

Um what is new in here about the working groups is that one there was a typo, there is no uh the there's a working group on utilities and infrastructure.

So the first original one didn't have that.

Um working group for people, places, and belonging, which is a chapter of the future vision, goals and objectives document.

That working group title is going to be arts, culture, and heritage for the actual meeting that'll take place.

Um so just keep that in mind.

Um, and then within this sheet, what would be new is just again.

I think there's been a lot of questions about like what is what's happening, what is going to happen at that workshop.

So we've been working with our consultant team to answer those questions in in detail to offer a level level of comfort.

So the working group workshops will be validating the goals and objectives that again you'll be reviewing at your December committee meeting and identifying gaps.

Is there things that are missing from these goals and objectives?

Um, and are there key areas of importance again that are aren't there, or what or is and then building on that, what are your what are the priorities from the people who are in attendance at these working group workshops?

Um, and if there's time, so we're trying to limit these workshops to an hour and a half.

There will be also we're trying to gather information for preliminary um implementation.

So if this is the objective with you people in the room, what would be some things we should start looking at from your from their yours and their experience of how these objectives could be achieved, and each objective could have multiple different strategies and recommendations stemming from them.

So that would be what is occurring at the workshops.

My ask of all of you is that in a day or two, it could be even later today.

I have to connect with one other person.

Um there will be a flyer that goes out, it'll look similar to this, it has all the working group sessions listed where they're gonna be at, and start getting people to come to those.

So this will be open to the public, but we really want um you as advisory committee members to lean on your networks of what you think uh or who you would think would really be able to drive these workshops home in terms of topic matter expertise.

So this is what you know we've been hearing from you along that we want to gather more um expertise into this from also shared experiences from the community.

So um we'll be looking to you to push out the message.

I have so that's there's that.

I've had a lot of people uh want to lead certain working groups, and um we you know we have we have several working group topics.

So thanks to everyone who's agreed to chair um co-chair these working group um workshops.

Just because you're not a chair or co-chair doesn't mean that you can't go to that workshop and really drive you know the the content of that workshop.

Um I'll be reaching out to the co-leaders of each of these workshops to set up a time where we can again start crafting who are our targeted invites, and when I do that, I want to invite everyone.

If you really if you really care about that workshop, even if you're not the leader of it, please do give us that information as well.

So these are not exclusive.

So just because you're not the leader doesn't mean you're not very much welcome to drive um those workshops.

Any questions?

So the workshops, I have co-leaders.

Other participants are people that we simply invite.

Yep.

Okay.

Just want to make it also there'll be some key staff.

So for example, Paulina's back there, she'll be at the assuming your schedule aligns with the new date, the economic development workshop, our deputy director of engineering will be at the transportation workshop.

We have other key city hall staff who will be at the workshop for those topic areas.

Um but yeah, really leaning on people in the community who have topic matter expertise and even outside the community if you can get them to come to the workshops.

Okay.

I think that's important to pick up on Wendell's concept of if you know somebody that's got area expertise, and they're from somewhere else, and you think they may want to come because they're involved in some project somewhere.

Uh let them know about it because those perspectives can be helpful.

At a minimum, they'll challenge us to think are ours on the right track or not.

Uh so I think you know, getting that engagement is very important.

And you're gonna send that uh kind of the calendar out with the working groups and yeah, I have to just confirm the final dates with everyone.

Um, but I'm hoping to do that the next day or two.

Great.

Then we really start you start pushing out the message.

And this will be the first working group.

We anticipate there being one more series of working groups that will meet, but that would be after um the next public workshop.

Am I correct about that, Leslie?

Yeah, okay.

So Jane, um, when you visualize these working groups, how many do you see in the room?

Well there's seven.

So there's housing and neighborhoods.

No, how many people participants?

Oh, that's a good question.

Um I don't I think I think they're gonna be too big a problem and then too less a problem.

I don't think they're well, we I would be disappointed if we had less than 10 people.

Um I think we could reasonably get at least 20.

And I'm gonna you know, put on Leslie's hat, she likes to use this word.

This is an iterative process.

I mean, just because you didn't show up doesn't mean you're not your your input's not um gonna be part of the process.

Maybe we just need to connect with you in another way.

So I I think we need to plan for the 20, but we also need to be able to pivot to being able to accommodate larger groups.

So that's something that we're gonna work on in the next month in you know, leading up to the dates of those first working group workshops.

Got it.

Are we gonna be taking RSVPs for this?

Because if we really get a lot of people, like if we get 60 people that say, I cannot wait to talk about housing.

I think we would like to somehow new location, then I mean, like what level of like pivot are we talking about?

And I just want to make sure that from like a staff perspective, you guys are challenging me a late.

First, I think that would be an incredible problem to have.

Yeah, uh, I would love that one.

Uh we have multiple facilities that we could pivot to.

Uh I think there might be easily 60 people interested, but uh you'll have one date, and the cadence of everyone's life is challenging.

So of those 60, you know, based on all the uh horsepower that the city leveraged for the community-wide public engagement.

So I again would love to have 60 people show up, but I don't think there will be.

I think if 60 people RSVP, 20 people might show up.

So I do like the idea of having an RSVP capture to at least capture that.

At least and if we because that way we know so and so actually isn't going to be able to come, and then we'll just know to check on that person and their time too.

Jane, Jane, based on what you're trying to do, is it are you envisioning these to be like uh five o'clock, six o'clock meeting?

Are you oh yeah, there's six there's 6 30 p.m.

Oh yeah, there's six there's 6 30 p.m.

Okay.

Yep.

Um back to Elaine.

Sorry, I'll just they would so 6 30 p.m.

Um right now they're all slated to be in this in this room, which can accommodate a lot of people.

Um and to Dustin's point, I mean there's other even space at City Hall at 6 30 p.m.

that we could use too if this for some reason is is too many people.

Uh and then we have a backup location, uh, which doesn't accommodate more people, but it's just a backup location if this room was booked for some reason and we absolutely needed to have the working group sessions that on that date and time, it would be at the July Public Library downtown in their burnham room on the second floor.

So sorry, Nora.

No problem.

Um so I like the idea of requiring an RSVP to not only capture the contact information and to maybe urge them just a little bit more to attend.

There's just a little more skin in the game if you fill out a form.

Does the city have a designated sort of platform that you use for that kind of thing, or is that something you would want us to handle on our own, which is fine?

We've used, I mean, City uses Microsoft products, so we have been using Microsoft Forms to do RSVPs for those who are okay with me doing it on my own if I wanted to send something out, or would you prefer a user platform?

I would advocate hard for uniformity on this.

That's a good question.

Why don't we yeah?

Why I think we should use to have people RSVP and then you get to keep that information, not that I would hoard it, but you know, it goes right to the mothership then, so we can talk about that.

Uh for subject matter experts or uh the group that I'm on.

I am not that uh so could we kind of get assistance with uh inviting subject matter matter experts for absolutely okay?

Yeah, yep.

I'm also thinking on the forum.

Maybe there's subject matter experts on various topics that they would like to attend.

Do you like we could RSVP to multiple if they are willing to attend?

Yeah.

If I can just add a couple comments, yeah.

I think the term subject matter expert is uh subjective.

So having an interest in a particular topic area is enough is enough to be called you know to participate in this process.

We we want to sort of try to remove the barriers for folks that want to be engaged with the comprehensive planning process, and so um, you know, if there is an interest or even folks that want to learn about a particular topic area, um please encourage them to attend.

Folks are always welcome to attend more than one working group.

I realize that it's you know it could be it is a time commitment.

Um we also recognize that many of these uh thematic topic areas have intersections where you know housing and jobs may have an intersection or natural resources and transportation may have an intersection.

So you know, we are flexible within this process to be able to have some of those conversations also and are interested to know where those intersections are.

Um we're we're coordinating these working groups kind of in constructed silos, just to make sure that Jane said, you know, the goals make sense.

We didn't leave anything out, there aren't any gaps, and we're also interested to learn those unique perspectives around what's the most important thing, what are resident priorities?

And if there are subject matter experts, you know, people who have a particular expertise if a uh a topic area.

I mean, that's great.

Uh but again these are conversations that everyone will be able to participate in regardless of you know what degree you have in that particular topic area.

These are working groups that are they're workshops, they're flexible, and they're made for um active engagement of whoever wants to be in the room to have the conversation.

Yes, Jane.

Um will there be translation capabilities so that we can encourage our Hispanic population to attend and participate?

That is a great question.

We I don't have an answer for you yet, so we'll have to work through that.

As I know in the district we use the use headsets and do simultaneous translation, and it really helps our Hispanic families when they attend to be able to fully participate in the meeting.

So any other comments or questions about the working groups, these are all really good comments and questions.

Anything else?

All right.

Next up is staff reports.

So I have a couple things.

First, um, I think most of you have met him, but Francisco, hi.

He's uh he's joined our planning team, so he along with Ray, who's here, and um Helen Miller, they're the three city planners here at the city of Juliet.

Um Francisco will be interfacing um with you, especially regarding outreach and engagement as this plan continues to unfold.

So thanks, Francisco, for joining.

Um two, we're televised.

I should have made that announcement earlier, but um there was a desire to televise the comprehensive plan advisory committee meetings, so you are on TV.

Um third is the city council last night um approved a memorandum of understanding with the city of Julia with the Regional Transportation Authority, and that is to do equitable transit-oriented development zoning for the target area that was part of the ETOD plan.

So we will be moving forward with the regional transportation authority.

There essentially we got a grant when they are administering the funds for the procurement of a consultant who's going to help the city with um putting together a new package of zoning that would um vision what that would um carry out the vision for mixed use development, multifamily development in the downtown area.

Um so that zoning package will will still need to get adopted by the city council.

Um and I'll continue to update this committee as that project moves forward.

I don't anticipate that even starting until early next year, but we're moving on that as well, which is exciting.

Um fourth is next week on November 13th.

There is a community meeting number two for the Interstate 80 displays river bridge community plan.

So this will be the second community meeting.

What's new for this meeting is that it's virtual.

So if you are interested in participating and or just listening to that meeting, it'll the information for that is on the city's website and the project web page on the website.

So there's um information on how to register, it's via Zoom for that.

There's also information about that meeting on the city's Facebook page.

Um that meeting is it's the second meeting, so much like what we're doing here, that that the second community meeting is diving into the details.

So at this upcoming meeting, the we're asking the community to provide feedback on the a proposed trail alignment that would be going through this specific target area of the city, um, design amenities and features for that target area of the city along with this this trail, as well as other community needs that were identified through this process.

So we'll be acting asking for direct feedback.

Uh we had a steering committee meeting last night, and Diana's on the steering committee for this project as well.

Um there'll be an interactive component where people who attend the meeting can vote on their preferences.

So we're we're excited with that.

Um so if you're interested in that, that information's available.

Um then last excuse me.

Um what's the date?

That's November 13th.

Thursday, it's at 6 o'clock p.m.

It's slated to be 6 to 7.30.

Okay.

And the link is on the city web page.

The link is on the project web page on the city website, which is Juliet.gov slash I80 community plan.

And then there's this should be on our Facebook page as well.

Um, and then just as uh just I'll reach out about this to or more once I hear work with our consultant team.

But we are targeting um a community workshop in February, and we're looking at what that looks like, you know, based on also what we talked about today.

Um I know it's not gonna be the third week in February, so we're looking at the second week at this point, or the um, I think it's the fourth week of February, but we're really working with the team there to frame out what what that looks like and where it would be and all that.

Suggestion uh boys mentioned about the high school potentially doing it there again.

Maybe if we did it, like if we were able to do it at central, and then maybe have it like the first hour to to the students and then open to the public afterwards, kind of get the high school more involved, and we get them to participate as a an actual school event, you know.

Okay, a cool way to get that interaction from the kids.

Trust me.

Okay.

Um that's it for my staff updates.

Is there any questions or comments on the five things that I mentioned?

I think we ought to mention the river's edge tax credit.

Oh, yes.

Could be very beneficial to the city.

The application's been put in, and we're I'm gonna say pretty pretty darn sure that we're gonna get it.

And that's gonna be really helpful for the redevelopment of a lot of our downtown and four historical areas in particular for some of those buildings, but also it's uh 11 miles of our city, and it's kind of an odd shape, but it gives us a lot of opportunity, and a lot of other cities have benefited from it.

I know that Paulina gave a presentation on it last night, and I think you said there are cities that have upwards of six hundred million dollars in investment.

But you that has really generated a lot of action and private capital coming in to match these up.

So uh it's been long overdue, but it's now the application process did a great job.

Uh we're excited about that.

It's gonna really change the dynamics of a lot of our city.

Is there is there a way for us?

Like I think when we talked about early on on uh all these studies and just people having fatigue of like well, you know, you mentioned you know, you got the S planeswells, we got you know ETOD, we have the complan, we have rivers that's like is there a way for us to put some type of marketing piece to let them know?

Like, I mean, it's exciting stuff.

Like I get excited because I'm like, I see all the different, you know, with the choice neighborhood graph, river's edge, you know, ETL like today more than ever.

I think there's actually uh a possibility of things actually happening, right?

Because for many years, we always talk about it, we talk about it, we talk about it, and people have that fatigue like well, I participate not to happen.

But like the reality of like the next five to ten years, Juliet can look significantly different because of everything we have going on.

Um, how do we start to tie all that together so people understand that now like this is this is real, right?

Like, even though if you just attend the Death Plains one, but like you could also attend the comp plan once to also highlight that what's going on at the Death Plains, you know, plan and same thing for the downtown and for uh because again, all these are gonna support each other, uh being able to have like the River's Edge and and it's and it's throughout the city, right?

The whole entire city, so there's just some good opportunity.

I'm like, I'm excited for it, but like how do we let everybody else get everyone else excited?

So they don't they do show up, so maybe we do have that 60 plus people problem because they realize like wow, this is actually it's happening, right?

I think that's a really good point because I think about like our membership, and they all have different maybe interests of these projects that are going on in the city, and if we were able to just like have a menu or a you know, some type of one page explanation of all these projects that are going on, it would be really beneficial.

Okay, because there's so much good that's going on, and to be able to present it on a one-pager with a link to get more information on that particular project, okay.

Anything else about what's going on here with staff projects that we mentioned, the mayor I mentioned, Dustin.

Do you have anything to add?

Okay.

I'm gonna bring up another initiative that's in the works right now.

We met with uh and you're not here.

We met with mayors on the north side of our community, we're meeting with mayors on the south side of our community, and um we know that in the restructuring of the North Point Center Point Bridge Partners uh agreements, there will be funding to do a truck traffic plan.

And so we met with Ann Schneider and some leaders of Will County and the mayors are all getting together to look at this from a regional perspective, and again, we're we're doing a comprehensive plan for Joliet, but we also have the comprehensive plan for all of our touching partners because you know, we get all these jobs coming into our area, and some of the other communities will provide housing, and the real emphasis of this though is to try and come up with a plan for the truck traffic.

We got all the studies we need.

We I can tell you what the study says there are two man demands.

Too damn many trucks in our downtown everywhere else.

And so we have some figures on that, and it's uh seven figures.

It's uh seven figures, but on the other hand, um I know Jada's looking to put some money into it, and we're gonna approach those large partners in our community to help uh make this plan happen, and again, that will have a great effect, and it's part of what we're doing here.

So we've got so many layers of planning that we're doing that we should be able to come up with something, you know, if we get another 28 million square feet of warehouses out of the east side of 53 in the closed loop, they still have to get there somehow.

And they're not all using the Hobo Road Bridge, which you know, we really need to start to find what is a truck traffic plan.

And Doug, were you in that meeting?

I don't know if you're in that sure if I was in that most recent one.

Is that the one in Crest Hill?

Yeah, it wasn't in that one.

Yeah, were you there, Jen?

Yeah.

So there's a lot of exciting stuff going on.

We we've got so many I I think the layers are all gonna come together at some point where this is all gonna work out, and it's also part of what we're trying to accomplish.

So just throwing that out there, and when you say something publicly, then you have to do it.

So that that challenge is out there for all of our regional partners to uh help identify and give to IDOT.

This is what we need.

I don't think we need big trucks traversing our 100-year-old bridges anymore, but that's just me personally speaking.

How do we divert that?

I know Mayor Daly would have put truck gates up and close Biggs field one midnight.

I know we can't do that.

Anyway, just one more layer of what we're doing.

Well, and the great thing is um that the other um neighbors are experiencing the same issues, trucks barreling through their cities and downtowns and causing fatalities at this point now.

Everywhere, you know, but no one wants to reduce their consumption at all.

So I mean it all comes back to the consumer and the individual making those choices.

So if we all quit Amazon, if all the whole region if the whole country quits Amazon, we don't have a truck problem.

I don't see it happening.

We have other problems.

But it it's I think it's important to realize that we together as a group of communities are much stronger than any one of us alone.

Joliet's 21% of the population of Will County, just like Chicago's 21% of the population of the state of Illinois.

So collectively together, we in Will County have a lot of more horsepower than Jolietwood or Manhattan Wood or Romeoville or Prest Hill.

But I think this consortium is going to help us all find a better path forward for the inundation of the multimodal facility that's been here for 20 years, it's gonna it's not going away anytime fast.

So that'll help us in in this comprehensive plan study as well.

All we need now is a million dollars.

That's it.

You know what Robin Williams said on how to pay tax on a million dollars?

Well, first get a million dollars.

But we do have partners that'll help fund this.

Next on the agenda is member comments.

Well as or any upcoming meetings we should be all be aware of.

I do, but if anyone else wants to go.

Okay, because I always speak during this time.

Um there are a few items that uh have been discussed and been on agendas, uh specifically impacting the east and southeast side.

One of them is the data center.

Uh I've had several conversations over the course of the past month uh about this data center, and a lot of the comments that I'm getting from uh residents, it's not in favor of the data center.

Um I know this meeting isn't specifically uh focused on that type of project, but with us doing a comprehensive plan, I think something as large as the data center should be considered uh by this group because it will impact everything that we're currently working on.

So for uh that data center not to have been uh introduced in this group uh before it was put on an agenda.

I think that was a missed opportunity.

Um and just walker.

What what what were specifically the not in favor?

What part?

Uh the impact to water consumption, um, the impact to the electrical power that is going to be utilized, as well as how it will impact residents that are on the grid with the data center.

Uh there are other um communities that have the data center, and there's other citity cities that currently have the proposal of the data center, but are also highly opposed to that coming.

So it's not just uh what's happening here, it's other uh areas that's also having these same conversations.

Thank you.

Um is the data center proposed where was it proposed to be uh where on the south east side of Joliet?

The racetrack area.

Let me address that.

Um it probably shouldn't have been put on planning because there are it's in the very infant stages, and we know there's a lot of negatives.

We know there's some positives, but there's still a lot of homework to do on this, so um, I don't know that it should fall into the purview of this.

I think it should fall in the purview of what's good for the whole community is it is it a positive or negative.

But there is so much homework to do on it, and we have a lot of heavy lifting to do, and it should have never gotten on to planning without all the uh questions answered.

I mean so I would like to say that of the 41,000 acres of Joliet that's 800 acres.

I know it's a big deal, but we're we're so far uh down in the basement of trying to understand this thing that I can tell you we can't answer all the questions yet, but we're working on it.

And the thing I see that I don't understand is that they've got these poker chips all over the state.

I mean, everybody I know that's got a farm has a data center contract on it, just like solar was doing and and it's just amazing that they want the chips to fall somewhere.

And yeah, there's there's water issues, which now they've got a closed water system, okay.

But electricity is a big question.

So there are so many so many things to answer that um I think it should be in the purview of the city to bring it to the community positive or negative.

Yeah.

So and and you're right, it's a big part of this, but um, you know, we we're working through uh 2,000 plus acres of warehouse that to me is uh a bigger problem with this whole truck traffic scenario.

So it's a huge study we have to do.

And there's still a lot of unanswered questions.

So we will we are working on that.

Okay.

So if I if I could just do one more clarifying uh statement.

I I'll take responsibility for it ended up on the agenda.

That that's uh that's my fault.

You can blame me.

Uh and second, uh second, you will see it again because uh it was a procedural thing, right?

Like it was tabled specifically to November, so you'll see it on the November agenda because it was the motion was to table, and then it will go off, and you won't see it again until all these questions that are legitimate questions have been answered.

Uh so that's just a little bit of background.

So when it pops up, you say, I thought I said this.

You you did, but procedurally there was a motion to table to a specific meeting, and then they'll say we're gonna table it indefinitely, okay, and then it's gonna go.

Okay.

Well, these are just uh things that I am actively involved in our community, so I hear the comments coming from our uh neighborhood uh residents.

So it's not just me saying this.

Oh, it's for sure.

I just want to make sure that I use this opportunity to voice some of the concerns that we've had in our specific area from our residents.

And likewise, I want to make sure I use your voice to get out uh that it is going to be seen and then tabled indefinitely.

Okay.

Yeah.

This one definitely struck a nerve that even bigger than the sculpture downtop.

I got three phone calls of positive on the sculpture, but this one I'm getting beat up pretty good.

So yeah, I we're gonna measure 10 times and cut once on this one.

Yeah, but philosophically, I think it's an interesting question, right?

Like just like trucks, we're all using Amazon.

The trucks are gonna go somewhere, right?

We can say we don't want the data center here.

That's a legitimate I totally get it, right?

But using it.

But we're using it.

And because we control the annexation agreement, we can put whatever we want in that and let them say no to us, right?

And that goes with the water consumption.

We say you can only use you know 50,000 gallons of water today.

And if you can't do that, then you can go down the road.

That's fine.

You won't use our water.

We're in a position of power and control, right?

Whereas if you say no, we're just not going to do it, it's gonna go somewhere.

Maybe it goes to Manhattan, maybe it goes to Manuka somewhere, but you'll still have all those negative externalities you've have just uh kicked it down the road, and now you don't control anything.

Maybe they do use water, uh and maybe they do drain the aquifer, maybe those people do have uh a profound lack of access, like uh you read the same things I read.

Right now we can control that potentially if we wanted to.

But if we give up that control and just say no, it it'll it will go somewhere, unfortunately.

So just food for thought.

I'm sorry, yeah.

No, I just like with you know all the controversial topics out there, you know, there's always a lot of misinformation, and you know, we hear the same things like on the because we build these data centers, right?

And they're being built all over the place.

You know, Cook County, uh has got one that's gonna break around here soon.

Um the water, the noise, and the electricity is the three things that always come up, right?

Joliet's being looked at because it's uniquely positioned to handle you know all three of those.

It's not gonna be in an area where it's gonna, you know, residents are gonna be affected by noise.

We have the infrastructure as far as water, and we have the infrastructure as far as electricity.

Little county is the number one producer of electricity in the whole state of Illinois.

That's why it's an attractive place to look to build a data center.

Um, but what a lot of people don't understand is that Illinois is part of a 13-state coalition, you know, where we transmit electricity, you know, between states across states that depending on demand.

So whether you build a data center here in Joliet or if you build it in Indiana, which one is being built right now, it's doesn't matter.

We're still going to be affected by uh you know the the rates, the the utility rates because Comed or Amran or wherever you build it in the state of Illinois, if there's more demand being you know uh generated in Indiana, then guess where that electricity is gonna go?

And we're gonna end up paying for it.

So, you know, in my opinion, if we can control it, I think you Joliet is uniquely positioned, it's not like we're some small town that you know you have to bring you know water in from 50 miles away, or you know, we don't have the fiber capability, you know, to handle something like that.

All that infrastructure is already in place here.

So I think we need to educate ourselves and probably the public a little bit more on what exactly they are, what they do, like you know, Nora mentioned earlier.

If we know if we just stop consuming, this issue with the data centers is not going to go away because we use all this technology every day, and it's only continues to grow.

Whether it's the apps on your phone, the cow, the cloud computing, data storage, etc.

It's it's just gonna get more advanced, and it's to me this looks like more like an issue with infrastructure, kind of like what we have with our water issue.

You know, we're in you know, we've had this we have this uh Grand Prairie Water Commission where we're bringing water, you know, from you know, Lake Michigan.

Data centers to me are basically like the same thing.

We need this infrastructure, you know, to continue to operate the way we do.

Technology just keeps advancing, and unfortunately, whether you like it or not, you know, you have to keep advancing with it.

Otherwise, you just get left behind.

So it's just my thought, my opinion on it.

Some of the misinformation on that is is like you said, you know, their first proposal was they were gonna use the uh gray water coming out of the water treatment plant.

So it wouldn't have affected anything with it would have actually been a plus.

So they look at other um ways to do that, but it would not be like Michigan water or that type of water that would be cooling this thing if it were to happen.

So again, um water, electricity, and noise are the three biggest things that are coming out of it, and water is a non-event for us, that would actually be a plus if that's the proposal they go through with.

But these things are evolving so fast, it's like a plan six months ago is completely different than a plan today.

But we are beholden to the community to make sure we make the right decision as a city, and there will be a lot of noise.

I'll guarantee it.

There's gonna be a lot of against and a lot for.

So our job is just to weigh this thing as we go forward and make sure that the decision is best for the current 150,000 residents, and the future 250,000 residents with the water we're buying from Chicago.

So well, and if we're talking about diversifying our economic offerings, that would be it, wouldn't it?

I mean, bringing a lot of jobs and again, there's so many uh open ends on this thing right now, and I assure you that we will we will work diligently to make sure that it's done intentionally one way or the other.

Okay.

So another thing that has come up is the residents are noticing that there has been a reduction of uh industrial development on the east and southeast side, it has slowed down, so they did want to uh recognize and mention that.

Uh even though they were uh there were a lot of comments about the data center.

Um then uh one of the other things that has come up is will this committee um make recommendations for the east and southeast side uh development that may be required for the next 10 to 20 years.

Is this committee um going to actually provide some of that those recommendations?

Um what I've heard is that they uh a lot of residents are not hearing enough about the east and southeast side during our comprehensive planning committee meeting.

I would say um you're the voice to that group, and we absolutely know that there's a lot of blank canvas on the south and the east side, and we'll be very deliberate on how that continues to develop out.

Uh I used to refer to some of the stuff going on in the city of Dartboard zoning.

My buddy wants to put light industrial over here.

Yeah, what in a good spot for that?

You've got warehouses next to Forest Preserve, not the greatest spot.

So I can assure you that um we will be very deliberate on making sure that it's integrated for the quality of life.

We need to continue to move forward to again uh we need to increase our population a hundred thousand over the next 20 years, 25 years, and you don't do that just throwing darts at the board.

And then so, yeah, I again I say there's a lot of good campus on the south and east side to work with, and and we're all here to do that.

And thank God you know you're the voice to that that part of the community, and um so you know that sitting in here we'll we'll really keep our eye on it like everywhere in the whole community.

Well, I think it's important to note that this plan is going to kind of direct the entire city.

It's not gonna have west side, north side, east side, and it's gonna be we have a scope of activity that this is going to drive and objectives to make it a better place, a higher level of quality of life for everybody, housing that can attract people at all price points.

And I've said it before, and I'll say it again.

If it's if it's not good for everybody, it's not good for this committee.

Plain and simple.

I mean, as you look at things, there's always going to be pluses and negatives, but the pluses or the pros versus the cons, those need to outweigh the negative side.

And you might move forward.

No matter what we do, that we'll always be people that say you should have done this or you should have done that, to which I say come to the meetings and voice it because collectively we can come up with some really good points and opinions, and most of those are from the people who we interact with and we bring it here.

Clearly, that's why all of us are on this committee because we have that that range and that scope of activity.

Uh so but the one thing that I think it's important to understand is we don't drive the activity.

We drive the plan that provides the strategy that will provide the work plan, if you will, to the city staff who will execute it.

Uh no different than if you want to talk about employee benefits.

We could talk about them here, sure.

But we have no control over it.

So uh, but the comments might be helpful to staff to say, hey, we hadn't thought of that.

And so by voicing it here, we've done what we need to do.

And so good points that were made, and we know data centers are the current trend, and and with the technology continuing to evolve and accelerate, uh, those are going to continue to be important because we still need to make sure that the internet and Wi-Fi is available throughout our entire city, and I don't know that it is.

There might be a pocket here or there that's still uh waiting for that to happen.

Uh and so keep bringing up all the issues and thoughts that you have because that's that's why we're here.

Can I make a suggestion?

I think that you have a great opportunity.

I think the danger with a lot of the community meetings is they can just stop it being complaint sessions.

And I think that with technology and all of the things that we have at our available to us, you can turn those and from complaint sessions into vision sessions where people can reimagine and think through things.

Because I think what happens is a lot of the meetings stop at what people see as wrong, but they're still waiting on somebody else to figure out a solution.

I think you can turn those meetings into vision sessions.

I mean, you have the internet, you have social media, so an answer to every problem is within the reach of your phone.

So like challenge these individuals to reimagine.

That's that's why we've engaged people.

That's why we're having these community meetings and these engagement sessions, not so that we can hear complaints, but so that we can hear ideas and people can come with their imaginations, and I think it's our job as community leaders to shift people to show them something different and provide opportunities versus just saying, okay, tell me what's wrong.

My thing is tell me what's wrong.

All right, so how can we fix it?

What are you imagining?

What are you thinking about?

And I think that's how you can shift those meetings into something so that way residents of the Southeast side, what they realize is what they've imagined, not what somebody else has imagined for them.

One of the things that we are looking to do for 2026 is exactly that.

So we are going to focus on providing a solution for a specific issue that we have, and we're going to target all of our meetings to try and address that specific issue.

So looking at uh actually, hopefully at the end of the year we have a solution to a specific issue that's on the east and southeast side.

So we are absolutely looking to do that.

You know, one of the tools coming down the pipe too is the uh Urban 3 study that we're having done that that tells us what our now looks like.

How much canvas do we have open in every section of the city?

Uh and where can we re repurpose it?

What are we gonna do with it?

And that's that's the whole idea of this right here is what's our now look like and what's our next gonna look like with that.

So yeah, we're we're with you on that.

That's it.

What is that uh that study supposed to be completed?

We are going to uh have the principal uh here probably at the end of quarter one for what we uh so formal presentation at council and then a couple of community uh presentations as well.

Okay, look at that.

Any other member comments?

Um I would just like to plug a chamber event that's coming up that I think many of you would be interested in on November nineteenth.

We are hosting um our member luncheon at Hollywood Casino, and we will have Kevin Cross, the president of NBC Chicago.

Um he's gonna talk about the um how audiences uh consume content in today's evolving media landscape, um technology's role in improving viewer experiences and innovation, um, and just growth of streaming platforms like Amazon, Apple TV, Netflix.

Um I think it would be very interesting for a variety of um individuals and businesses.

He's also going to, if anyone was at our um anniversary luncheon last year, he is gonna be moderated by um Dave Kaplan.

Again, he's the radio and TV personality um uh with ESPN.

So if anyone doesn't have access to get um registration, just let us know, let me know.

Uh call our office or me personally anything else.

I make a motion to adjourn.

Well, no, almost okay.

Next on the agenda is public comments sections for anyone wanting to speak regarding non-agenda items.

There are a lot of maximum four minutes.

Is not a question and answer period, and staff and the committee members do not generally respond to public comments.

Is there anyone here would like to make a public comment?

Okay, Mr.

Randich.

I make a motion that we adjourn.

Second.

All those in favor of adjourning?

Aye.

All right.