TIF district proposed for Elk Grove Technology Park
Elk Grove Village plans to create a special taxing district to pave the way for a new technology park and improve aging properties in the village's older industrial park.
The proposed 165-acre tax increment financing district would include the former Busse Farm between East Higgins Road and Oakton Street and surrounding industrial properties on the north side of town.
Real estate firm Brennan Investment Group plans to turn the 85 acres of farmland into the Elk Grove Technology Park, a development of high-end companies specializing in robotic, digital and automated manufacturing worth a potential $1 billion. The group is expected to present detailed site plans to the plan commission in two weeks.
TIF districts are economic development tools used by local municipalities to spur growth in blighted or underperforming areas - though they're sometimes criticized for siphoning tax dollars away from schools and park districts.
Increased tax revenues generated by new developments in TIF districts are diverted to a fund used to pay for improvement projects within the area. Throughout the 23-year life of the TIF district, other taxing bodies continue receiving tax revenues equal to the amount received before the properties went up in value.
Brennan Investment Group is asking for funds to build roads, sewers, water mains and street lighting for the development.
Officials also want to make the TIF funds available for nearby property owners in the village's original industrial park built in the 1950s. The value of aging properties along Higgins Road has dropped 20 percent in the past five years, Village Manager Ray Rummel said.
Under a redevelopment agreement approved by the village board, up to $285 million could be spent on projects in the TIF district. Rummel said he could not imagine a scenario where the village would spend this amount, and the village has previously reimbursed portions of TIF funds to other taxing bodies, he said.
"There's not going to be anything like that at all," Rummel said. "It's just impossible that it would be used."
The property is within the boundaries of Northwest Suburban High School District 214 and Elk Grove Township District 59.
Though District 214 is suing Mount Prospect over its creation of a TIF in the village's downtown, the district doesn't appear to be mounting a legal challenge in Elk Grove Village.
"We attended the Joint Review Board, listened to the information provided, and came to the determination that it met the eligibility requirements under state law," District 214 spokeswoman Jennifer Delgado said in an email.
The joint review board is a meeting of all taxing bodies within a proposed TIF district.
The village board is expected to vote on creating the TIF district during a meeting at 7 p.m. Nov. 14.