DeKALB – The DeKalb City Council approved a rezoning request for the property located at the Northwest corner of West Hillcrest Drive and Blackhawk Road.
The property is the site of the planned construction of the Greek Life Center.
“We’re very, very excited about this project,” said Chief of Staff to NIU President Lisa Freeman and NIU political science professor Matt Streb. “We think this is going to be transformational for NIU, and I think it’s going to be transformational for that neighborhood. We’re really excited to get to work and do the hard work now of fundraising.”
The rezoning is a final step prior to closing the sale of the property to the NIU Foundation.
The property will be rezoned from light commercial to planned development commercial.
The sale of the property is expected to close Oct. 21.
UNION CONTRACT APPROVAL
The city council approved a collective bargaining agreement between the City of DeKalb and Council 31 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Union Local #813. The contract is effective from Jan. 1, 2025, through Dec. 31, 2027.
The new contract states that police telecommunicators will work 40 hours per week on eight, 10 or 12-hour shifts.
Juneteenth was also added to the union’s list of holidays.
Starting Jan. 1, 2025, employees will receive a 1% equity adjustment and a 3% cost of living adjustment (COLA). On Jan. 1, 2026, and Jan. 1, 2027, employees will receive a 3% COLA.
REPLACEMENT OF WATER MAIN
The city council awarded a construction services contract to Swallow Construction Corporation for $175,000 to replace a water main behind the 300 block of East Lincoln Highway.
The main is estimated to be over 80 years old and is the feeder line for the fire service connection to NIU’s facilities management and campus services building located at 148 N. Third Street.
The replacement is part of an annual water main replacement program that was recommended to the city by Burns & McDonnell, a construction consulting company, in 2015.
As part of the Water Replacement Program, the city has made $11 million worth of water capital improvements. This includes over 19,123 feet of water main replacements throughout the city.
APPROVAL OF LIQUOR LICENSES
The city council approved a low alcohol by volume liquor license for Flamingo Restaurant and Ice Cream located at 1029 Pleasant St.
The city will receive an issuance fee of $3,962 upon approval.
Renewal for Restaurant low alcohol by volume licenses costs $2,547 annually.
The city council approved a bar liquor license with supplemental licensure for video gaming for TE & OP LLC, Athena’s Palace located at 1704 Sycamore Road.
The business is one of ten approved video gaming establishments in DeKalb.
The current owners of Athena’s, Tonya Easley and Oscar Perez, are selling 100% of their interest to Pankajkumar Patel.
The city will receive an initial issuance fee of $11,319. The license has an annual renewal fee of $2,830.
The Illinois Gaming Board requires all video gaming establishments to obtain a liquor license from the city in which the business is located prior to applying for a video gaming license.
If approved for a video gaming license, Patel will pay an initial fee of $1,000 for a city gaming license.
The next City Council meeting will be on Oct. 28 in the Yusunas Meeting Room in the DeKalb Public Library.
