Winnetka Council Roundup: Stormwater Plan Dominates Meeting

Missed the  meeting on Tuesday? Patch has you covered.

The Winnetka Village Council worked through a short agenda in about an hour and a half Tuesday evening.

Stormwater Engineering Evaluation Program for Homeowners

As promised at the Sept. 20 village council meeting, officials discussed the parameters of a program for homeowners to have their property evaluated for flood risk and prevention possibilities.

Earlier:

The village could take two routes with the program, according to Steve Saunders, public works director and village engineer.

1. Offer a list of engineering firms that could do the analysis, a route that Wilmette takes. There would also be the chance to negotiate a bulk rate with those firms to drive down the cost for homeowners.
2. Follow Glenview's example and offer a voucher for part of the cost of the property assessment.

All trustees agreed that a program is necessary, while most agreed to explore a future seminar for homeowners about best practices when it comes to flooding prevention. The area of contention for the evaluation program came down to the creation of a village-paid voucher program to offset costs. Village President Jessica Tucker said discretionary money for the program would likely have to come with the next budget cycle.

Trustee Richard Kates disagreed with offering vouchers, and said the bulk rate would be enough of an incentive.

"This is not a suburb where we need to subsidize everything that residents know they should do," Kates said. Trustees Arthur Braun and Gene Greable disagreed, and said that the village should help homeowners in the tough economy.

"It's compassionate to provide a little money," Greable said. "We are talking minimal costs...and I think we should do this now."

In the end, all trustees agreed to explore having a seminar, and agreed to have a program, but will revisit the idea of vouchers or a bulk rate for the property engineering evaluation at a future meeting.

BP Special Use Permit Adopted

At the council's Sept. 6 meeting, the special use permit for the BP station at 1025 Tower Rd. was introduced, following a more than hour-long discussion of what conditions to place on the operator.

The permit will allow the operator to expand the convenience store within the station.

Village Attorney Katherine Janega came to the meeting this week with the drafted permit ready for approval, with a few parts tweaked.

Instead of restricting deliveries between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., the council decided to allow "commercially reasonable efforts" for restricted deliveries, which gives the operator more leeway.

The landscaping conditions were approved, as was the village's payment of $4,500 to pay for the ballards to mark the entry to the station. The operator is also not allowed to sell hot food, and left turns out of the station are only permitted for gasoline delivery trucks and patrons towing boats.

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