By Marney Simon | Enterprise Staff
A plan to utilize tax increment financing (TIF) to redevelop the Boulevard site and parcels along U.S. Route 30 is expected to receive approval later this month.
The village has been working on a development plan to create a TIF district along U.S. 30, between Renwick Road and Spangler. The eligibility study and redevelopment plan were developed by SB Friedman and presented to the full board of trustees on Oct. 1.
“Since 2013, the village has identified the need to investigate creating a TIF district for the Route 30 corridor. The village previously engaged SB Friedman to do something similar, but they found that there were some due diligence items to be finished,” Economic Development Manager Jake Melrose told the board this month. “Unfortunately, those items, most of them were beyond the village’s control, so it took some time for those to be accomplished or completed, but they have done so since March or April of this year. So, the village in May authorized SB Friedman to conduct the eligibility study and prepare a redevelopment plan.”
Melrose said the study indicates that the area qualifies for TIF district designation.
The study found the corridor to be a “conservation area” which in TIF law means it is an improved area that has deteriorated to the point that it risks becoming blighted if deterioration is not abated.
The proposed TIF district consists of 37 tax parcels, 26 improved and 11 vacant. The proposed district covers 210 acres, which includes 24 buildings and 154 acres of vacant land, including the Boulevard site. The former Clark station is not included in the district, as that parcel lies inside the city of Joliet municipal boundary.
A TIF district is a way to allocate a portion of property taxes for redevelopment uses. TIF works by “freezing” the amount of taxes that taxing bodies within a district can collect at current year’s amount. As property taxes rise, the taxing bodies collect the same amount year after year, with the additional increments placed in the TIF fund. Those funds can then be used for infrastructure improvements and other incentives to attract business.
Per the report, property value currently is not growing along the corridor, and land values actually declined for three of the five periods studied for the eligibility study.
The study noted that 25 of 26 occupied parcels in the proposed district suffer from either building deterioration or surface infrastructure deterioration.
Additionally, 77 percent of the parcels inside the proposed TIF have inadequate storm water management, and several structures are non-conforming use, with 15 buildings not operating with current building code and in need of updating should rehabilitation efforts happen.
The eligibility study showed that the redevelopment project area has not been subject to growth and development through private enterprise and would not reasonably be anticipated to be developed without the use of a TIF district.
By law, TIF districts are limited to a 23-year life span but can be expanded for an additional 12 years by ordinance.
The proposed redevelopment is expected to cost $45 million over the course of those 23 years.
On Aug. 24, the joint review board, including members from Joliet Junior College, The Plainfield Public Library District, Plainfield School District 202, and the village issued their approval of the project.
The village held a public hearing on Oct. 1. There were no comments at that hearing.
The board unanimously approved a measure to direct the village attorney to prepare the proper ordinances to adopt the TIF plan.
The board is expected to approve the TIF district later this month.
The TIF redevelopment plan is available on the village website, at www.plainfield-il.org.