Wheeling neighborhood wary of latest TIF

Residents of Wolf Run Estates in Wheeling have reservations about the tax increment financing district the village wants to put in place around their neighborhood.

Homeowners in the secluded, 1950s era neighborhood off Wolf Road are fearful the village would eventually use the TIF district to condemn their homes against their will - even though village officials say that is not the intent.

The new TIF would entail 400 acres that includes Wolf Run Estates, and also the Wheeling portion of Chicago Executive Airport. The village held a public hearing Monday and the board is expected to vote on the proposed TIF Sept. 2.

Monday's public hearing also included the village's proposal to expand the current TIF district in place near Milwaukee Avenue and Lake-Cook Road. That TIF has led to the Westin Hotel, and the expansion would cover the nearby wetland areas that are slated for mixed use construction.

Seventeen-year-old Iris Howard, one of several Wolf Run Estates residents who spoke, said her grandmother moved into the neighborhood in 1959.

"The neighborhood means a lot to me," said Howard. "I really like it there."

The board reassured residents that the trustees don't do business by condemning homes. Wolf Run Estates is included in the TIF, they said, because a TIF will make it easier to do the infrastructure improvements the area needs. The neighborhood has continued to run on a well system after its annexation into Wheeling.

"We have never gone after residential property with a TIF project," said Acting Village President Pat Horcher.

The village wants to use the new 400-acre TIF to put in water and sewer lines around the industrial areas at the airport. The airport itself also could avail itself of its TIF status for projects of its own, but none are on the table right now.

Trustee Dean Argiris suggested taking Wolf Run Estates out of the TIF boundaries, but other board members said the infrastructure improvements needed there would be easier with TIF funds.

"I think in the long run you would benefit from this," Trustee Bob Heer told residents.

The proposed TIF got some mildly negative reaction from representatives of the local school districts, since in a TIF property taxes are frozen for up to 23 years while the increased taxes generated from the redeveloped area are put back into the TIF instead of being distributed to the schools, parks and libraries.

Bill Dussling, a Northwest Suburban High School District 214 board member, said he was pleased Village Manager Mark Rooney made the effort to talk to the school board about the TIFs.

He said District 214 understands that villages want to rejuvenate blighted areas but he wants other types of financing to be used where possible.

Rich Rosen, a member of the Wheeling Township Elementary District 21 board, who said he was speaking just on his own behalf, also asked the village to search for other ways to boost development.

"I am not against all the Wheeling TIFs," he said, adding, "While I'm not opposed to the concept, I do question the 23-year rule."

Dan Schuler, a District 21 assistant superintendent for planning, said he also is concerned that Wheeling wants to include the River Mills subdivision in the newest TIF just to make all five TIF districts in town contiguous, which means that funds generated by the TIF can be transferred between all five.

He said if there are surpluses in any of the TIF funds, he fears the money would not go back to the schools - as the village has traditionally done - but instead diverted to one of the other TIF projects.

Horcher said, however, the village would still review surpluses and redistribute them to taxing bodies on an annual basis. The village also will give any money generated by River Mills back to the taxing bodies, he added.