There is now a new Tax Increment Financing district at Franklin Street and Brown Avenue that could help fund residential development in the area.
The village council voted on four agenda items Sept. 14 involving the Franklin-Brown TIF. One ordinance amended the Circle-Harlem TIF to remove a parcel to be included in the new TIF, another approved a redevelopment plan and project for the Franklin-Brown TIF, a third designated the Franklin-Brown redevelopment area, and a fourth ordinance adopted tax increment financing to the new TIF, which allows the village to fund new development there.
When a new TIF district is created, its property value is frozen and, as land value increases with development, the added property taxes go into a fund that helps pay for more development. One of the legal conditions of creating a new TIF district is that the proposed area will likely not be developed if not for TIF funding.
According to the village’s qualification report for the TIF, equalized assessed value of the proposed area has declined for three of the last five calendar years. To increase that value, the village hopes to develop on the land, though it is not yet at the development stage.
“The decisions we’re making tonight, this is the next phase of establishing the TIF project, establishing parameters for the TIF to now be open for developers to submit their interest,” Commissioner Michelle-Melin Rogovin said. “What we’re doing right now is all the things that finalized the opportunity for the village to now talk to people, but we don’t have a project yet.”
Though the redevelopment project area within the new TIF is currently zoned for commercial and light industrial use buildings, the village is aiming for a developer to create residential housing.
“We cannot prevent the seller from selling to another industrial user, but we’ve made it crystal clear, both [Village Administrator] Rachell [Entler] and myself, that the TIF is off the table for an industrial user,” said Steve Glinke, head of the village’s building department, at a public hearing for the new TIF on Aug. 10. The seller is a broker for the Suburban Lumber property, which announced in March it was closing operations after 80 years of business.
Notice of the hearing was given to the village’s other taxing districts. The village also convened a joint review board, which met on July 9 to review planning documents and proposed ordinances. They approved a resolution that recommended the village council approve the new TIF.
According to the Franklin-Brown redevelopment plan, it’s estimated to cost $16 million to demolish industrial buildings, prepare the site via environmental cleanup, install necessary public improvements like water lines, sewers and sidewalks, plus improve the facade.