Kaneland schools sue Sugar Grove to get rid of the Grove TIF district
The Kaneland school district is suing Sugar Grove, saying the village was wrong to approve a large mixed-use development and create a tax-increment financing district for it.
The lawsuit was filed on June 13 in Kane County Circuit Court. It asks a judge to order the village to dissolve the Grove TIF district, which contains about 761 acres near I-88 and Route 47. Crown Community Development plans to build The Grove there.
Sugar Grove Village President Sue Stillwell responded in an email that she had not seen the lawsuit yet.
“Regardless of the nature of the litigation and any dispute, I remain committed to fostering a positive, collaborative relationship with the Kaneland School District as well as the other taxing bodies,” Stillwell wrote. “We are all dedicated to supporting community residents.”
The school board voted 6-0 on May 12 to file the lawsuit. It gave the board president and the district’s attorney discretion on when to file it.
The Grove is eligible to be reimbursed for more than $109 million for expenses, including utilities and earthwork, documents show.
However, the lawsuit argues the TIF would deprive the school district of revenue from incremental property taxes within the redevelopment district.
The lawsuit says the land is not eligible to be a TIF district. The village said it qualified to be deemed “blighted” because surface water discharged from the land contributes to flooding in the Blackberry Creek watershed.
According to the lawsuit, an engineering memo and the village ordinance approving the eligibility report “merely stand for the unremarkable proposition that surface water flows downhill.”
The lawsuit also said the village provided no proof that but for creating a TIF and giving financial incentives, the land was not likely to be developed.
It also argues that part of the TIF district is not contiguous to other parts of the district. The district includes the cloverleaf exchange at I-88 and Route 47. According to the lawsuit, land within a TIF district has to benefit from a proposed redevelopment, and that highway right of way doesn’t qualify. Without it, TIF land west of Route 47 is not contiguous to the rest of the land in the district, according to the lawsuit.
In late February, the board authorized its lawyer to start writing up a lawsuit. It was at an impasse in its negotiations with the village on an intergovernmental agreement.
The proposed agreement would have given the district 10% each year of surplus TIF revenues rather than making the district wait 23 years for the end of the TIF. The agreement also would have provided grants to the school district for capital costs related to the development of the land.
The school district would have had to agree not to sue the village.
At that time, school board member Bob Mankivsky said the proposed agreement “was insulting,” and that the village was giving away things to billionaires (the Crown family) at the expense of the school district.
He said the village was “high-handed” in how it treated the school district, and that the village had “little regard” for Kaneland students. He noted that the village had filed a complaint with the Illinois Attorney General alleging the district had violated the Open Meetings Act.
“I don’t trust a single thing” from the village, Mankivsky said.
Since then, residents voted out former Village President Jennifer Konen, who favored the development. Two new trustees who were elected to the board disapprove of the development.
Crown proposes to build single- and multi-family housing, stores and industrial uses on the site. A “town center,” with a new village hall, is also planned.
• Shaw Local News Network contributed to this report