A Joint Review Board in Geneva Tuesday unanimously recommended a tax increment financing district for 297 acres on the far southeast side of the city.
The area is generally bounded by Roosevelt Road, Fabyan Parkway, the border of DuPage and Kane counties and Kirk Road.
Cathleen Tymoszenko, Geneva’s economic development director, said the area is part of the Southeast Master Plan, which the city has been planning “for more than 50 years.” The plan itself goes back to 2012.
The TIF district is anticipated to help finance development of the area that neither all public, nor all private, funding is able to do, she said.
“This is the bridge needed to move long-range plans to implementation,” Tymoszenko said.
The Southeast Master Plan includes land annexed into Geneva as well as properties identified for annexation eventually in boundary agreements already in place with West Chicago and Batavia.
The TIF district would take in 297 acres, some 211 of which are part of the Midwest Industrial Funds planned industrial park development at Route 38 and the Kautz Road. The development would include the development of the extension of Kautz Road from Route 38 to Fabyan Parkway.
Geneva’s Planning and Zoning Commission recently recommended the development, which would be zoned for light industrial.
The current plan shows four development parcels with eight buildings, as well as parcels for stormwater facilities and an electric substation.
The TIF district overall would include 20 parcels on the 297 acres, most of which is currently home for commercial development, or is vacant, according to Caitlin Johnson, vice president of SB Friedman Development Advisors, the city’s TIF consultants.
She said the area met qualifications for a TIF district due to lack of growth in the equalized assessed value in the area, deterioration of infrastructure on improved parcels, inadequate ability to serve undeveloped parcels and buildings not being up to code or showing deterioration.
Johnson also said the property contributes to flooding downstream.
She said the property meets the main test for a TIF district, that but for the creation of the TIF district, the development would not happen.
The TIF district redevelopment project and plan shows that up to $185 million of improvements in development of the 297 acres could be eligible for TIF funding.
Several residents spoke before the Joint Review Board opposing the TIF district for the area, saying they did not believe it met the “but-for” test, and questioning whether the area is really blighted.
One resident said he questioned whether the land has contributed to any flooding issues.
“It was farmed for many years, and if you have flooding issues, you cannot do that,” he said. “There is no flooding on this property.”
Other residents said they feared the planned industrial park development will result in warehouses, adding to a glut of warehouses in the area.
The Joint Review Board voted 5-0 to recommend the establishment of the TIF district. The board is made up of all the taxing bodies in the proposed area.
Voting for it were representatives from the city of Geneva, the Geneva Library Board, the Geneva School District, Waubonsee Community College district and the citizen that is a member of the board. Absent were representatives from Geneva Township, Kane County and the Geneva Park District.
The Joint Review Board only issues a recommendation; the full Geneva City Council has to vote on establishing the TIF district, which it plans to do on June 17.
A public hearing on the proposal is planned for June 3.
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