By: Diane Benjamin

Below are the only items on last night’s agenda. The meeting lasted 2 1/2 hours anyway.

Start with C:

From the meeting documentation – PDF page 30 https://www.normal.org/DocumentCenter/View/12612/Council-Packet–PDF

I don’t see the “fees” in the documentation, Stan Nord must have asked about them. He said $14,000 is all the Town wants for: (PDF page 32)

Stan questioned the amount since this is a large property. He wanted staff to review the fees because the Town has a history of charging subsequent property owners for fees they neglected to charge the original owner.

See the Town Code – PDF page 80. https://normal.org/DocumentCenter/View/7701/Chapter-07—Water-and-Sewer?bidId=

The fees for just tapping into the sanitary sewer system are spelled out. The rates range from $400 to $5000 an acre depending on what trunk line is being tapped. 65 acres even at $400 is much more than the amount this developer is being charged. Worse, staff couldn’t tell Stan what line they are accessing, it is supposedly a private sewer built 40-50 years ago. (This was stated well after most of the discussion) Of course the private sewer hooks into the Normal system. The meeting documentation doesn’t mention it. I didn’t hear a word about the 2008 approval that was never filed. I wonder what fees were charged then. There was likely no discussion in 2008.

See 43:00. It got contentious. Pam Reece claims this will spur development. Developers need to find private sewers to tap into – they can save huge bucks. Nord was the only No vote on approving this final plat.

Much more in Part 2. https://blnnews.com/2021/01/05/only-in-normal-part-2/