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Plano places 5th at home invite / 12 KendallCountyNow.com
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Santas walk for Suicide Prevention Services
Eric Miller - emiller@shawmedia.com
Area residents of all ages dressed up as Santa Claus recently and walked along Ill. Route 47 in Yorkville as part of a fundraiser for Suicide Prevention Services (SPS). The group walked from the Yorkville Bowl parking lot to Foxy’s Ice Cream Shop. Suicide Prevention Services offers assistance to individuals and families throughout the Kendall County area. The agency has established three hotline numbers to help those in need. The Depression Hotline is 630-482-9696, Suicide Hotline is 1-800-784-2433, and LifeLine is 1-800-273-8255. For more information, visit spsamerica.org.
Residents urge D-88 to trim impact fees City of Plano also has asked local taxing bodies to review costs By LYLE R. ROLFE news@kendallcountynow.com Glen Pfeiffer and his wife, Rene, want to build a new home in Plano to be closer to their grandchildren, they told Plano School District 88 Board members at Monday night’s board meeting. He compared the couple to an annuity – they are retired, don’t have any kids in school and guarantee the government an income of their taxes to help support the schools. Pfeiffer said they purchased a lot in the Churchill subdivision. He said they talked to Tom Karpus, city director of building, planning and zoning, and learned
it would cost $23,000 in fees to build a house in Plano. He added that $8,000 of these fees would go to the school district. “I think they should welcome retirees – give them an incentive to come here, not the other way around,” he said. Pfeiffer said he initially wrote a letter to Plano School Superintendent Dr. Hector Garcia and Plano Mayor Bob Hausler and was told later that the city, fire department and library board were all going to cut their fees. “We’re coming here hoping you’ll do the same. I think there’s a need for senior housing along Route 34,” he said. He noted that there is a housing development in
the city for age 55 and over. Pfeiffer said they had considered this area for their new home until they learned of the lot in Churchill, which he said is near their daughter’s home. “We’re hoping to get a little relief,” he said referring to the fees. Tim Campbell, board president, thanked Pfeiffer for his comments, adding that the board had permit fees on their agenda for discussion at this meeting. Garcia said the board began discussing their transition fees at the November school board meeting at the request of the mayor. He said the fees had been shared with the board and they decided to invite Karpus to this meeting to give them his perspective on the issue and answer questions. The city charges developers fees to cover the impact it believes new homes will have on the
school, library and fire district. The fees are then passed onto those agencies to be used in ways to offset those expenses, based on the number of new residents to come from the homes or the services they will require. But city officials are now concerned that the fees are out of line with neighboring communities, whose fees are less than Plano. This means developers may be building their new homes and subdivisions in the neighboring communities where they can be sold at a lower cost than in Plano because of its higher fees. Karpus noted that the subject of transition fees has been written about recently in the newspapers, adding that Oswego agreed to restructure its fees as a result of these discussions. Sandwich also has been reviewing its fees, and Yorkville has been working with the Build Pro-
gram, he said. He said they are recognizing the fact that local towns seem to be coming out of the recession and that people are going to become interested in building homes again. “All of our communities have a stockpile of lots in various forms of development. The city of Plano has about 400 building lots, usually with streets and water available. And the impediments we’ve had against building in the last few years appear to be resolving themselves,” Karpus said. Karpus said city officials brought up the issue hoping to spur some development and level the playing field between Plano and its neighboring communities by lowering its impact fees and asking the other taxing bodies to see what they could do about lowering their fees.
COUNTYWIDE
LOCAL NEWS
WHERE IT’S AT
Q&A with Santa Claus
One killed in car crash
Jolly ol’ elf talks about cookies, those red suits, the reindeer, and much more / Inside
Plano man dies in collision on Minkler Road in Oswego; police still investigating / 2
Forum.................................................... 5 Fire calls............................................... 8 Kristy Lawrie Gravlin......................... 9 Local news......................................2-10 Opinion.................................................. 4 Police reports...................................... 8 Sports..............................................11-12
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See IMPACT FEES, page 6
Vol. 40, No. 51 3 sections