Economic Development Commission — Skokie, IL
Date: 2024-08-21

Village of Skokie
 Economic Development Commission
 Wednesday, August 21, 2024
 8:30 A.M.
 Skokie Village Hall, 5127 Oakton Street, Skokie IL, Conference Room D&E



I. CALL MEETING TO ORDER / DECLARATION OF QUOURM

II. APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES FROM MAY 15, 2024

III. INTRODUCTIONS
 a. New Member – Maegen Akers, Westfield Old Orchard
 b. Members of the Economic Development Commission

IV. OLD BUSINESS
 a. Economic Vitality Strategy Update - Recap update process
 b. Economic Vitality Strategy Update – Further Scope Discussion
 c. Skokie Green Business Program Update

V. NEW BUSINESS
 a. Presentation – Out of Space Skokie – Event recap
 b. Economic Vitality Division Recent Activity Report

VI. COMMUNICATIONS
 a. Village Staff
 b. EDC Members

VII. PUBLIC COMMENT

VIII. ADJOURNMENT




The next regular meeting of the Economic Development Commission is scheduled for
Wednesday September 18, 2023 at 8:30 A.M. in CONFERENCE ROOM D+E at Skokie
Village Hall, 5127 Oakton, Skokie, IL




Document Number: 615281v2 1
 Economic Development Commission Meeting Minutes
 Date: May 15, 2024


EDC MEMBERS PRESENT: Howard Meyer, Vice-Chair,
 Barbara Carley Steve Franklin,
 Jeremy Gleason, Brian Levinson


EDC MEMBERS ABSENT: Michael Rosen, Chair,
 Alexis Barbour, Marc Battista,
 Scott Gendell,


STAFF PRESENT: Michael Lorge, Corporation Counsel
 Johanna Nyden, Community Dev. Director,
 Rod Tonelli, Economic Vitality Manager,
 Marlene Bargamian, Administrative Asst.


(I) CALL TO ORDER
 A quorum being present, Vice-Chair Meyer called the meeting to order at 8:45 AM.

(II) APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES FROM APRIL 17, 2024
 A motion was made to accept the draft minutes of the April 17, 2024 meeting. The
 motion passed by unanimous voice vote.

(III) INTRODUCTIONS
 Members gave short introductions. Howard Meyer chaired this meeting in Michael
 Rosen’s absence.

(IV) OLD BUSINESS
 a. Economic Vitality Strategy Update
 Rod Tonelli distributed and summarized the Economic Development Strategy
 Update process for the group. The last time this was done was 2017 and quite a
 lot has changed. There has been an explosion of small business development
 since COVID. He requested members of the Economic Commission to serve as
 liaisons from July through November in 4 groups strategies; business attraction
 & retention, small business development & entrepreneurship, talent attraction
 & workforce development, visitor attraction, and art, culture, & entertainment.
 They would come back together by the end of the year to review and formalize
 actionable and measurable findings for Village Board adoption in Spring 2025.

 Steve Franklin was wondering if Skokie’s policies and procedures are too slow
 and cumbersome to stay competitive when compared with how fast new
 businesses and restaurants open in other nearby communities.


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#619533 – Economic Development Commission Meeting Minutes – May 15, 2024
 Barbara Carley wants to see engagement with consultants, developers and
 brokers and suggested offering a concentration of activities to identify what we
 have and what types of businesses Skokie wants.

 Howard Meyer stated that Old Orchard has a new manager; inquiry should be
 made as to how they recruit for new businesses.

 Rod also spoke of the efforts to revitalize the Main Street corridor. He said that
 you need to start out with lower tier places to fill the vacancies first and then
 move on from there. Ms. Carley agreed.

 Steve Franklin mentioned the many major buildings that are “ghosts” like the
 Bank of America locations. Mr. Meyer added that the Economic Development
 plan is offsetting with Cook County’s plan of giving incentives for keeping
 properties vacant. He cited a scenario: if a business gets money to remodel and
 then doesn’t get enough funding to operate and has to close, a new business
 comes in and gets new money again.

 Brian Levinson and Barbara Carly added that flexibility needs to be built into
 zoning because you don’t know what something will turn into in 30 years. It
 needs to be re-worked to make new businesses function in older spaces.

 b. Business District Litter Management Plan
 CD Director Nyden brought up the discussion from December. Howard Meyer
 allocated it as a future agenda item to discuss plastic bag bans. Lisa
 Sanzenbacher could give a presentation. She also mentioned that Illinois is
 moving to ban styrofoam next year.

(V) NEW BUSINESS
 a. Skokie Green Business Program
 Lisa Sanzenbacher, Village Sustainability Coordinator, updated the group about
 the anti-litter pledge for businesses. Carol is working on a “Shop Small – Think
 Big” program.

 Lisa also spoke about the Village’s monetary support to economic development
 and the need to reduce greenhouse gases to be carbon neutral by 2050. Green
 Business Programs are not new but new for Skokie. It doesn’t need to be a
 certification program but rather a checklist. It should be easy, not financially or
 time crippling. A first step would be to create a task force of volunteers who
 would target 20 small businesses to help work through the checklist. Training
 of volunteers could take place in June; completing checklist items from July to
 November; with public recognition at the end of November.

 Barbara added that we should coordinate with local utility companies to find
 ways to be “greener” like a voluntary energy assessment that would analyze
 utility usage. She also mentioned a recognition of “greenest business of the
 year”. Lisa has already reached out to Nicor and ComED.

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#619533 – Economic Development Commission Meeting Minutes – May 15, 2024
 Mr. Meyer offered that businesses are changing the way they operate. Dunkin
 Donuts is slowly moving away from plastics which are so bad for the cleaning
 systems. He also mentioned that Skokie should take the lead to make cigarette
 butts bio-degradable.

 b. ISTP Update
 Barbara mentioned that “Out of Space” tickets are on sale for July 26 -28
 before leaving the meeting at 9:56 AM.

(VI) COMMUNICATIONS
 a. Village Staff
 After Memorial Day, the car shows and Wednesdays on the Green returns.

(VI) ADJOURNMENT
 Vice-Chair Meyer adjourned the meeting at 10:00 AM.



 Respectfully submitted,
 Marlene Bargamian,
 Administrative Assistant




 Page 3|3
#619533 – Economic Development Commission Meeting Minutes – May 15, 2024

Economic Development Commission Meeting Minutes
 Date: August 21, 2024


EDC MEMBERS PRESENT: Howard Meyer, Vice-Chair,
 Maegan Akers, Alexis Barbour,
 Marc Battista, Barbara Carley,
 Steve Franklin, Jeremy Gleason,
 and Nathan Norman


EDC MEMBERS ABSENT: Michael Rosen, Chair,
 Scott Gendell, Brian Levinson, and
 Trustee Pure-Slovin


STAFF PRESENT: Michael Lorge, Corporation Counsel
 Johanna Nyden, Community Dev. Director,
 Rodney Tonelli, Economic Vitality Director,
 and Marlene Bargamian, Administrative Asst.


(I) CALL TO ORDER
 A quorum being present, Vice-Chair Meyer called the meeting to order at 8:32 AM.

(II) APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES FROM MAY 15, 2024
 A motion was made to accept the draft minutes of the May 15, 2024 meeting. The motion
 passed by unanimous voice vote.

(III) INTRODUCTIONS
 Members gave short introductions and welcomed Maegan Akers and Nathan Norman as the
 newest members of the commission. Richard Requena, a reporter from Pioneer Press, also
 attended the meeting.

(IV) OLD BUSINESS
 a. Economic Vitality Strategy Update – Recap update process
 Rod Tonelli had several 1-on-1 meetings with members to determine what sub-
 group each commissioner would be linked to. He encouraged those who haven’t
 completed the worksheet to do so & send it to him. Business attraction is different
 to each sector and geographic area. If assistance and guidance is needed, refer
 to workforce stakeholders to join the table. Vice-Chair Meyer suggested Gina
 Speckman from Chicago North Shore Convention & Visitor Bureau to be added.

 b. Economic Vitality Strategy Update – Further Scope Discussion
 Rod will be having a meeting next week with Michael Rosen to finalize section
 liaisons and put the roundtables together. Last year, this process was outsourced
 but this year it can be done in-house and save the money for development. The
 analytical details will be farmed out to a consultant.



# 621824 Economic Development Commission meeting minutes August 21, 2024
 c. Skokie Green Business Program Update
 Guided by the Sustainability Plan best practices, the Village has partnered with
 SEDAC and a checklist has been created. They are in the final stages of
 assessment for the Skokie businesses that signed up. This is not a time-
 consuming certification program; even a small interest can get a business
 recognized.

 Nathan Norman suggested as the final step, the Sustainable Environmental
 Advisory Commission and Village Board could recognize participants with a
 badge that can be placed in a business’s window. It was discussed that ballot
 boxes could be placed at various locations or something similar to the Business
 of the Year with voting online.

 Mr. Gleason added that McGrath Subaru participated and has made many
 changes especially to their lighting system.

(V) NEW BUSINESS
 a. Out of Space Skokie – recap
 Originally held in Evanston at Canal Shores, this year’s outdoor event was moved
 to Skokie’s IS+TP as the Evanston site was not available. It was very successful
 and well attended by immediate area residents, and visitors from Chicago,
 Indiana, & Wisconsin. Turnout numbers (9,000) were the same when comparing
 the 4-day events held in Evanston to this year’s 3-day event in Skokie. Food
 trucks were added since there was more room to spread out and there was good
 presence at local area businesses as well as increased transit numbers. Skokie
 would like to consider the tech park location as an alternative or additional site.

 Mr. Gleason commented that Subaru would like to partner for a music event with
 the IS+TP. Mr. Meyer reminded the group that Subaru used to be active with
 Wednesdays on the Green and maybe they will contemplate involvement again.

 b. Economic Vitality Division Recent Activity Report
 An agreement was made to turn the property at Babb Street and Louise into a
 51-space parking lot for downtown businesses.

 A small business downtown merchant’s group to start to help them succeed by
 offering training sessions on social media and marketing.

 There are 16 new businesses downtown; 6 opened since the last EDC meeting
 including Enclave and Slyce.

 Track the Torch and Tour de Skokie events were aimed to attract foot traffic and
 engagement to downtown businesses.

 Re-imagining Main Street for redevelopment kicked-off with Meet Up on Main St.

(VI) COMMUNICATIONS
 a. Village Staff




# 621824 Economic Development Commission meeting minutes August 21, 2024
 Developing the area around the Swift and Skokie Boulevard re-branding it as
 “Swift District” including the buildings along Oakton and Searle Parkway. Demo
 old buildings to make way for new development with residential over retail.

 Skokie Boulevard is a challenge to move people around. The parking lot by
 Walgreens could be a micro-transit mobility hub with buses, EV charging stations,
 bike trail, and vehicle parking; possibly for zip cars too.

 b. EDC Members
 Barbara Carley announced that UL had their grand opening at IS+TP and
 Singerman completed the remodel.

 The hospital is growing and hiring. The $4M ER remodel project will be done by
 September 2025.

 Steve Franklin commented that a traffic count at Old Orchard was listed as 8.7M.
 Macy’s is investing in an interior remodel now and will be moving forward with
 exterior improvements. Barbara added there will be a Sip & Shop event in
 September offering 5 free drinks.

 New businesses are opening at Old Orchard.

 Nathan talked to residents at a Devonshire block party to get some perspective
 from their point of view as he emerges into Skokie.

 Howard Meyer spoke about the Chamber having a busy calendar this summer.
 There are grand opening events every week. They are celebrating their 100-year
 anniversary.

 Marc offered that SBEC classes will be offered at the Des Plaines campus.
 New health care classes for radiology and surgical technicians as well as a non-
 coding AI program.

 Jeremy spoke about Subaru looking for property to expand their service
 department.

 Commissioners wanted an update on the hotel and Annie’s Restaurant property.
 Litigation is still on-going but getting the hotel back on track is the focus. The
 Annie’s building is coming down when the site is redeveloped.


(V) ADJOURNMENT
 Vice-Chairman Meyer adjourned the meeting at 9:51 AM.




 Respectfully submitted,
 Marlene Bargamian,
 Administrative Assistant


# 621824 Economic Development Commission meeting minutes August 21, 2024