New tax and parade for downtown Elgin, group urges

Attracting Judson University students to downtown, as well as creating a special taxing district and moving the Fourth of July parade there, are initiatives in the works by an Elgin group.

That's what Deirdre White, executive director of the Downtown Neighborhood Association of Elgin, told the city council Wednesday.

Judson's new student orientation now includes an introduction to downtown Elgin, White said. Also, the association is working with the university on creating a "swipe card" that students can use to pay for goods on campus as well as at downtown restaurants and businesses that are members of association, she said. "That will encourage them (students) to come to downtown Elgin," she said.

The association has submitted a proposal to the city manager's office to bring the parade back to downtown Elgin from the northeast neighborhood where it has taken place for about a decade, White said. "It's beautiful in the neighborhood, but it's offering little to no economic development or benefit to the downtown area," she said.

White said she hopes a plan to create the new taxing district, called a special service taxing area, will come to fruition in June. Downtown has more than 400 properties whose owners would pay an extra tax to fund services and programs of their choosing to be provided by the association.

The association currently has a $135,000 yearly contract with the city of Elgin funded mostly by the Central Area Tax Increment Financing District, where additional property tax money that would have been distributed to local governments from improved property values is instead funneled back into the development.

The association is calculating how much the new tax would amount to, White said. "The majority of (property owners) have been for it," she said.

Councilman Terry Gavin, however, said he has received a few emails from some who are against it.

In the next few weeks, the association will make a formal proposal to the city council to create the new taxing district, which entails at least one public hearing and approval by the council, White said.

However, special service taxing areas cannot be created if an opposing petition is submitted with signatures of at least 51 percent of registered voters in the taxing area and at least 51 percent of property owners in the area. That has to happen within 60 days of the public hearing.

Downtown Elgin has 168 storefronts, of which 34 are vacant, leading to a 20 percent vacancy rate, White said.

Eleven of the vacant storefronts are being developed, so if all that comes to fruition, the vacancy rate would be 13 percent, she said. Eight properties have been vacant for more than a decade.

"While we definitely see that we need to improve the vacancy rate," White said, "we are not in a critical situation in downtown Elgin."

The retail vacancy rate for downtown East Dundee is 10 percent or below, village administrator Robert Skurla said. Geneva's downtown retail vacancy rate was 7.4 percent at the end of 2015, said communications coordinator Kevin Stahr. In Naperville, the vacancy retail rate hovers at about 5 percent, said Christine D. Jeffries, president of the Naperville Development Partnership. Algonquin doesn't calculate its downtown vacancy rate, Assistant Village Manager Mike Kumbera said.

The association's initiatives and marketing campaigns have increased foot traffic and sales to downtown establishments by 25 to 300 percent with events such as "Window Wonderland" and the pub crawl, which last year included non-drinking establishments such as a cafe, tattoo parlor and popcorn shop, White said.

The association organizes the summertime Harvest Market, which now offers food trucks, White said.