Fox River Grove moves ahead with TIF study

Fox River Grove has commissioned a study to look at the feasibility of creating a downtown Tax Increment Financing district.

The village board voted Thursday to contract Teska Associates to conduct a TIF district study at a cost not to exceed $23,000. Teska has offices in Plainfield and Evanston, according to its website.

The initial area of study for the TIF district runs from Opatrny Drive and Northwest Highway, west of village hall, to School Drive and Northwest Highway, where the village’s current TIF district begins. However, the final TIF district area might be different, said Mike Hoffman, Teska’s vice president, who attended the meeting.

The agreement calls for the study to be completed within a year, but it will likely be done within four months, Hoffman said.

“We prefer to move as quickly as possible,” Hoffman told the board.

“We’re on the same page,” trustee Michael Ireland replied.

The $23,000 will cover all costs, including expenses for paperwork and mailings to residences and businesses within 750 feet from the proposed TIF boundaries, Hoffman said. Trustee Ireland requested the village not be billed for travel expenses, which Hoffman agreed to do.

There might be an extra $2,000 expense for additional analysis, but the village’s budget already includes a $25,000 expense for a TIF study, so no additional monies need to be set aside, village officials said

Ireland also said he wanted the board to be appraised of all developments in the process. “This board needs to be in this 100 percent, so that we’re not having side meetings in the back,” he said.

Hoffman said his company will conduct field work to examine which parcels are eligible to be included in the TIF district, and then will meet with the board to discuss the suggested TIF district boundary lines. “The board may have some different ideas,” he said. “Then we’ll create the redevelopment plan, and come back to the board.”

Once the redevelopment plan is approved by the board, there would be a meeting with the TIF district’s joint review board — comprising all the taxing bodies affected by the TIF district — and ultimately a public hearing, Hoffman said.