Hoffman Estates Approves Tax Incentive at Routes 59, 72
- Posted by Barrington Hills
- On January 7, 2020
As published by Eric Paterson of the Daily Herald January 7, 2020, land disconnected from Barrington Hills in 2004, after years of opposition from the Village of Barrington Hills and various governmental agencies, is approved by Hoffman Estates as a TIF District. The full article is below.
Hoffman Estates officials voted 6-1 Monday to approve a TIF district to fund utilities and thus spur commercial growth at the vacant northwest corner of routes 59 and 72. This view looks south toward Route 72 with Old Sutton Road at the center of the image. Joe Lewnard | Staff Photographer, July 2019
Hoffman Estates Approves Tax Incentive at Routes 59, 72
Eric Peterson | Daily Herald January 7, 2020
Hoffman Estates village board members voted 6-1 Monday to approve a tax incentive to spark economic development on 64 acres along the village’s stretch of Higgins Road west of The Arboretum of South Barrington shopping center.
The measure will pay for establishing utilities at the site.
Mayor Bill McLeod cast the dissenting vote on the tax increment financing district, criticizing it for being done ahead of a detailed development plan for the land.
But trustees have expressed their support for being able to attract developer interest in the idle site through the TIF district while still setting the criteria for the kind of plan that would qualify for the benefit.
A larger, 185-acre area of the same site at the northwest corner of Higgins Road and Route 59 has been the subject of the concept plan for the controversial Plum Farms mixed-use development that’s been idle for the past 2½ years since a lawsuit was filed over its residential density.
That lawsuit was originally filed by residents of the nearby Regency of the Woods of South Barrington retirement community. After Barrington Unit District 220 intervened in the suit on the side of the residents, the retirement community settled its portion.
Last month, District 220’s own lingering case was dismissed by a judge based on a legal precedent. But at its next meeting on Jan. 14, school the board intends to choose among its options to file a motion for reconsideration, file a notice of appeal or let the judge’s ruling lie, Superintendent Brian Harris said.
Village officials said they’ve heard nothing from the development partnership behind Plum Farms since the lawsuit’s dismissal.
The TIF district approved for the northeast and northwest corners of Higgins and Old Sutton roads lies entirely within Community Unit District 300.
A TIF district freezes the amount of property taxes local governments receive at the level of its first year. As taxes gradually rise, the increases go to a municipally held fund to pay for public improvements within the district.
A TIF district expires after 23 years or when all public improvements have been paid off, whichever comes first.
