Glen Ellyn simplifies business grant process

Glen Ellyn officials have begun to streamline an application process in hopes of making it easier for businesses to receive grants for facade and interior building improvements.

For the first time, the village’s planning and development staff will begin to administer the grant programs as part of an overall effort to handle more local economic development duties in-house. The Glen Ellyn Economic Development Corporation, a group aimed at business recruitment and retention, had run the programs in the past.

Businesses can apply for a commercial facade improvement grant of up to $10,000 for exterior work, such as awning replacements or lighting improvements. Business owners now would be eligible to apply every three years instead of one.

For businesses located downtown, a separate grant is available for interior improvements to fixtures, cabinets, walls, ceilings and floors, among others.

The village has changed the maximum award amount for that grant from $20,000 to $15,000 because both grant programs are nearing the $100,000 maximum amount budgeted this year, according to Staci Hulseberg, director of planning and development.

Already, the village has received applications totaling $47,000, and anticipates another $40,000 to come in during the next few months.

Also new this year, businesses won’t be required to submit a business plan, market research, marketing plan or financial forecast in order to receive the money.

Hulseberg said village staff believed they weren’t qualified to review those materials, and also found that most nearby communities didn’t require them.

“I don’t know anyone who was ever rejected because their marketing plan was not as thick as some others,” Hulseberg said.

Officials also will eliminate a list of so-called “desirable retailers” from the downtown interior grant application packet.

However, a “pay back” provision has been added to both programs that would require businesses to give back some of the grant money, depending on how long it stays in business in Glen Ellyn. A business that closes or moves out after less than a year would have to give all the money back. The pay back amount would reduce 20 percent every year for five years, at which point nothing would be owed.

The review and approval process for a grant application is expected to be about three weeks, Hulseberg said.