East Dundee considering commercial parking tax, Route 72 study

Two of East Dundee's largest land owners might work with the village to consider potential economic development along Route 72 — but village officials want to make sure they are reaping some of the benefits.

East Dundee is proposing a 10 percent parking lot and garage lease tax, which would apply to commercial parking lots that charge for vehicle storage, Village Administrator Bob Skurla said.

Joe Palumbo, of Palumbo Management LLC, for example, leases space on his property to independent contractors who need a place to park semitrailers, Skurla said. But the nearly 1,000 truck owners who rent these parking spaces don't pay any type of tax to help fund the village services they use, such as street and police services, he said.

A commercial parking tax would be a new source of revenue for the village, but President Lael Miller said he wants to be careful.

“I think there's a lot of people in the village that this would impact that I'm not quite sure we understand yet,” he told trustees Monday.

More than that, Miller said, he first wants to look at the big picture of how Route 72 is evolving east of Route 25.

The question on the table is this, Skurla said: What is the economic potential for that corridor, and how could the village benefit from encouraging future development?

“I think that there's a way the village is going to capitalize on this construction, on this progress, on the types of service-related businesses there, but I'm not really sure what that's going to look like yet,” Miller said.

Instead of immediately imposing the tax, Miller suggested the village consider hiring an outside firm to conduct a fiscal impact study along that corridor. The cost of the study, he said, would be split between the village and the two largest stakeholders in that area: Palumbo and Plote Construction Inc.

“It seems to me that there is a need for a lot of transportation-related businesses down there,” Miller said, noting that the economic potential could be different from the village's original plan for retail and commercial developments.

Service companies along that route include Castelli's Automotive, TLC Handwash & Detail, Big Wheels Truck Repair and Southern Cross Battery. Several others — including Enterprise Rent-A-Car — have expressed interest in opening there, Miller said.

“If the real opportunity is to create that into a thriving economic area as a transportation center that's going to work for decades to come ... I'd love the opportunity to understand that because that's the better thing for our community,” Trustee Rob Gorman said. “It only makes sense for us to work collaboratively on this.”

Peter Bazos, an attorney representing Plote and Palumbo, said both are open to discussing the details of a fiscal impact study. In the meantime, the proposed tax — which Bazos said the companies oppose — will remain on the table, Skurla said.

Trustee Jeff Lynam said the village's involvement in the study would be a waste of money. What happens to that private land is up to the owners, he said.

But Dan Shepard, of Plote Construction Inc., who brought the idea forward, said the study would allow all three parties to make the best use of that corridor.

“I wouldn't have proposed that if it weren't a benefit for us all,” he said.