Barrington to save $500,000 on redevelopment
If a penny saved is a penny earned, Barrington officials earned about half a million dollars Monday.
The village board voted to refinance $4.3 million in bonds it bought in 2007 to pay the costs associated with the tax increment financing district being used to drive the downtown’s redevelopment.
The refinancing lowers the rate on the bonds from the previous 4 to 4.5 percent range to a range of 2.5 to 3 percent.
The move is expected to save the village approximately $500,000 in debt repayments, though this money won’t be immediately earmarked for any other project, Barrington Village Manager Jeff Lawler said.
Some of the costs already associated with the downtown TIF district have involved land acquisition and streetscape improvements, he said.
The action was one of several legal and financial steps the village board took Monday night toward the implementation of its downtown redevelopment plans.
But because of the absence of three trustees, a land swap expected to be approved was deferred until 7:30 p.m. Thursday at village hall.
Such an approval requires a minimum of six “yes” votes from the seven-member village board, Village President Karen Darch explained.
The board plans to exchange 6,960 square feet owned by the village at the corner of Cook and Lake streets for 7,395 square feet owned by Barrington Bank & Trust across Station Street from village hall.
The transaction would relocate some of the bank’s private parking and provide the village with more public parking for its planned commercial redevelopment of the southwest corner of Hough and Main streets at the heart of the downtown.
The village has accepted a concept plan from a partnership of Arthur Hill and Co. and Envision Realty Advisors of Evanston. But the plan commission will begin hearings on a more detailed version of the plan in about two months.
Monday night the village board also approved a minor amendment to the agreement with the developers that further protects the village financially without making any adjustments to the three-building project that’s been envisioned, Lawler said.