Buffalo Grove board authorizes feasability study for Lake-Cook corridor TIF
Buffalo Grove trustees have given the green light to a study of a proposed tax increment financing district they hope could provide incentives for redevelopment along the Lake-Cook Road corridor.
On Tuesday, trustees authorized SB Friedman Development Advisors to complete the TIF feasibility study of the corridor bounded by Old Checker Drive on the north, McHenry Road (Route 83) on the east, Lake-Cook Road on the south and Arlington Heights Road on the west.
The corridor includes the struggling Chase Plaza and Town Center shopping centers.
The study, expected to be complete in a couple of weeks, will determine if the corridor meets state requirements for a TIF district.
TIF districts work by freezing property taxes within a designated area at current levels for 23 years. As the property is improved and its value rises, any additional tax revenue is funneled to a municipally held fund to pay for public improvements complementary to the private development.
"TIF allows municipalities to make improvements to overcome the extraordinary costs that all but prevent development and private investment from occurring, including addressing flooding and environmental issues, investing in new infrastructure, and assembling parcels into a single, larger parcel for redevelopment," Deputy Village Manager Christopher Stilling said.
Stilling emphasized that approving the study does not bind the village to create a TIF district. Once the report is complete, it will be made available for public review and a public hearing must take place before the village board votes.
"I think that with the high rate of vacancies along the Lake-Cook corridor, the low amount of economic development that we have seen since we have come out with our Lake-Cook corridor plan, the probability of declining property values within the Lake-Cook corridor plan in comparison to property values in the surrounding areas make it incumbent upon this board to at least launch a feasibility study into establishing a TIF district," Trustee Joanne Johnson said.
The village in 2018 published the 97-page Lake Cook Corridor Market Study and Plan, which calls for redevelopment of the 472-acre corridor with new retail, commercial, entertainment and residential elements.