VILLAGE OF TOWER LAKES

BOARD MEETING

Date: August 17, 2009

Time: 7:30 pm

Location: Village Hall

1) Roll Call, Pledge, and Sign-In: Meeting called to order at 7:30 pm. President Leitner, Trustees Merkle, Parro, deVries, Bolger and Rolfs (late 7:40) present.

Also attending: Treasurer Rolfs, Village Clerk Parro, ZBA Chair Gold, Bob Brown (Plan Commission), Hal Neimer, Mark Higginson, Karl Krebs (Manhard), Janet Agnoletti (BACOG) and Kurt Thomson (BACOG).

2) Building and Zoning: ZBA Chair Gold presented a variance requested on behalf of Mary and Harold Neimer, 229 W. Lake Shore Dr. The residents seek variations to construct a new house following the teardown of their existing lakefront house: Sections 10-6-5 and 10-1-3 relating to maximum building height. Requirement is maximum height of 27 ft. calculated by the average of the four corners of the house. The proposed height is calculated at 29.75 ft. or 2.75 ft. over the maximum allowed.

The new house on Lots 98, 99 and 100 will consist of an upper and main level of 2,986 sq. ft. and an unfinished walkout lower level of 1,780 sq. ft. on a combined lot size of 17,908 sq. ft. A new septic system will consist of a 500 gal. septic tank, 500 gal. aerobic unit, 1,000 gal. lift station and a mound system. Approvals have been received by Lake County Health Dept. and Lake County Stormwater Management Comm.

The property’s irregular and unusual topography, specifically the steepness of the dropoff, presents more than mere inconvenience in conforming to the maximum height of the new house, creating a hardship for the petitioner and meeting the criteria for the variance, in the opinion of the ZBA.

A motion to accept the ZBA’s recommendation that Mary and Harold Neimer be granted hardship–based variances to zoning ordinances Section 10-6-5 and 10-1-3 to allow for a maximum building height of 29.75 ft. was made by Tr. Merkle and seconded by Tr. deVries followed by unanimous vote.

A motion to adopt an ordinance granting the height variation to Mary and Harold Neimer for their proposed new house at 229 W. Lake Shore Dr. was made by Tr. Bolger, seconded by Tr. Merkle, followed by unanimous vote.

3) Public Comments: None.

4) Treasurer’s Report and Payment of Bills: A motion to approve the payment of monthly bills as presented was made by Tr. Parro and seconded by Tr. Bolger followed by unanimous vote.

5) BACOG: BACOG Executive Director Janet Agnoletti made the second and final part of a presentation on BACOG’s initiative to research and map area aquifers. Also presenting was Dr. Kurt Thompson, geology consultant to BACOG.

6) Approval of Minutes: A motion to approve the July 2009 minutes with deletions at items 6 and 7 was made by Tr. Parro and seconded by Tr. Rolfs followed by unanimous vote.

7) Utilities Management: (i) After discussion among VB members, a decision was made to authorize Manhard to complete all engineering on the list of high priority water projects and to continue the stimulus package application process. Even though the odds of success are low, almost all the money will be applicable to projects needed anyway. A motion to authorize Tr. deVries to instruct Manhard to proceed with engineering work and file the application for stimulus package with expenditures not to exceed current contract was made by Tr. Parro and seconded by Tr. deVries followed by unanimous vote. (ii) All water meters have been switched to touch pad readers. (iii) 3 liens were filed for non-payment of water bills. There was discussion about how the credit card option has helped some residents make payments but we are not currently passing on the $10.00 per transaction cost. No decision was made.

8) Budget and Finance: No report.

9) Police and Public Safety: (i) Police report is on file. (ii) The duties of Mala & Mike Filippell on the EMA committee have been redistributed to other members. No replacements have been named.

10) Roads: (i) Repaving project is to begin this week and is scheduled to be completed by Sept. 25. (ii) More tree pruning is in progress, especially in North Lake.

11) Grounds: Grounds sub-comm. met to plan improvements to Village Hall area landscaping and to discuss coordination of future flower planting with TLIA Beautification Comm. and local garden club. $2,000 was allocated to additional Village Hall landscaping project.

12) Stormwater Management: East Tower Dr. drainage project is complete except for repairs to grass. We incurred additional cost in an effort to save the Oak tree on the southwest corner of East Tower and Devonshire. West Lake Shore Dr. drainage project is complete except for repairs to grass. This project will come in under budget as some elements were not as involved as first estimated. Projects on Esther, Leon, East Gateway and Rolling Green will commence soon and will coincide with street repair and repaving programs.

13) Health and Sanitation: (i) Tr. Bolger met with VA Bateman to discuss Garbage Tax Levy. Options for next steps were debated. (ii) Mosquitos: the dry weather has allowed us to go without adult treatments since 4^th of July holiday. With wet weather on the way we will likely have more treatments around the Labor Day holiday. We will be under budget for mosquito treatments this year.

14) Urban Forestry: Tree ordinance revisions still under consideration; debating enforcement issues.

15) Administration and Legal: No report.

16) Old Business: No report.

17) New Business: (i) All records stored in the Village garage have been moved to a storage facility in Volo, IL. (ii) Building Inspector to inspect the Village Hall to determine what short term repairs are needed.

A motion to adjourn was made at 10:36 pm by Tr. Parro and seconded by Tr. Bolger, followed by unanimous vote.

Respectfully submitted,

Marilyn Parro Village Clerk