Economic Development Commission — Skokie, IL
Date: 2024-06-20

Village of Skokie
 Economic Development Commission
 Thursday, June 20, 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 – Nathan Norman
 b. Members of the Economic Development Commission

IV. OLD BUSINESS
 a. Economic Vitality Strategy Update - Recap of last month’s presentation
 b. Economic Vitality Strategy Update – Further Scope Discussion
 c. Skokie Green Business Program Update


V. NEW BUSINESS
 a. Presentation – Skokie and Downtown Skokie visitor data
 b. Main Street Project Update


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 July 17, 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




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