
Originally Posted by
middlein87
Just streamed the video. That was a saucy ending!
So Trustee Senak, during the roll call vote, gave a speech that ended with him (verbally) resigning and walking off the dais. He never stated his vote. And the Village Attorney stated that there are a few hoops to resigning a trustee position, including that it must be done in writing, and so it technically isn't official yet. Thus his vote was recorded as an abstention.
Some takeaways in case people don't want to listen to the whole thing:
The TIF incentive back to the developer was increased from $800K to $1.36MM in consideration for some addtitional brick along hillside, an increase in a horizontal length of limestone that breaks up the facade on the south an a portion of the east faces, and loss of rentable space in the Northeast and Southeast corners of the fifth floor. The developer agreed to knock these two corners down to lessen the imposing feel of the building as you first approach. But the rest of the fifth story is still in tact.
The Diocese lawyer (the land is owned by the Diocese of Joliet, not St. Pets), said that they are in support of the project but takes no positions on building height/looks, etc. She also stated that they were open to a land swap of the western portion of the Village's thin lot that goes all the way to Glenwood in exchange for the Church-owned parcel due north of the two-story office building on Hillside. That would have allowed the development to spread westward and (maybe?) go down to four stories. But that concept was touched on earlier in the meeting and later again as one of many options discussed and discarded.
Interestingly, the owner of the aforementioned office building on Hillside said he'd never been approached to sell his property. I thought that was kinda weird. Makes me wonder if Z+O Architects had ever been approached. But even so, getting that office building lot and doing the Pets land-swap would have made this thing look very different.
In the end, I still think this thing is too tall.