River Forest officials will host a meeting at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 28 to address concerns of residents and business owners whose properties may be affected by a proposed tax increment financing (TIF) district on Madison Street.
The session, which will be at village hall, 400 Park Ave., will be the first in a series of mandatory meetings as the board of trustees continues to assess whether a TIF district should be created there.
Village officials will make a presentation about the Madison Street TIF, which has been under consideration since 2014.
Boundaries include all properties that front Madison Street from Thatcher Avenue east to Lathrop Avenue. This area includes the former Hines property; the Civic Center Authority building, which houses the Community Center; Good Earth Greenhouse and Café; homes; condominiums; and multi-unit buildings.
In all, 96 single-family homes, condominiums and multi-unit buildings and other structures are in the area, which takes in the 7600, 7700, 7770 and the 7900 blocks of Madison Street and the first blocks of Gale, Keystone, Park, Forest, Franklin, Ashland and Lathrop avenues. That information comes from a housing impact study, which the village was required to complete as part of the TIF process.
The study is required because of the possibility that some redevelopment activity could result in the displacement of residential units. The village has no current plans for displacement, according to the impact study.
Other meetings that must be conducted before a TIF district can be created include a Joint Review Board meeting, which must include all taxing districts affected by the TIF. That meeting is set for 2 p.m. on June 3 at village hall.
A public hearing on the proposed TIF will be held at 7 p.m. on July 12.
A vote by village trustees on creation of the TIF is set for July 25. A time has not yet been set.
Over the 23-year life of the TIF, an estimated $25 million will be generated for redevelopment-related costs, which could include land acquisition, infrastructure improvements, rehabilitation of existing structures and professional services.
Costs associated with relocating residents affected by TIF redevelopment also would be included in the budget, which was based on three hypothetical scenarios of the type of redevelopment — from multi-use with commercial or retail, to infill rehab, to a strip mall — that could take place along Madison Street.
Upon completion of the anticipated private development over the 23-year TIF period, the equalized assessed valuation could increase as much as $25 million, depending on market conditions and the scope of the redevelopment projects.
The most recent assessed valuation for the area is estimated at $9.724 million, according to the redevelopment plan and project report unveiled at a board of trustees meeting on April 11.
A TIF is a specially designated district used as a means of spurring economic revitalization by dedicating the sales tax and additional property tax revenues generated within that area for improvements. To qualify as a TIF, an area must have dilapidated or deteriorating property or declining assessed valuations, according to TIF Illinois, a coalition of firms specializing in the use of TIFs and other business incentive tools to stimulate economic development.
Plans for a TIF on North Avenue in River Forest will be taken up once the Madison Street TIF process is completed this summer, village officials said.
Madison Street would be River Forest’s second tax increment financing district. River Forest’s first included an area along Lake Street from Harlem on the east to Thatcher on the west. The River Forest Town Center commercial strips and village hall were built as part of that. That TIF expired in 2010.
