GENEVA – Aldermen acting as the Committee of the Whole Monday unanimously recommended approving a resolution designating 98 acres as a redevelopment district and designating it as the city's third tax increment finance district.
The Geneva Fox River Redevelopment Project Area covers commercial and multifamily residential properties and public open space along the river, officials said. According to the plan’s map, it includes the area where the shuttered Mill Race Inn is located.
“We have completed the plan and placed it on file at city hall and on the city’s website,” said Cathleen Tymoszenko, economic development director.
The city's website is www.geneva.il.us.
A tax increment finance district is a development tool municipalities use that diverts the increased assessed value of property and sales taxes for redevelopment.
An eligibility study concluded that the area is eligible as a tax increment district because half the structures are 35 years or older, among other factors, officials said.
The acreage includes 84 tax parcels, 49 buildings, 16 acres of the public right-of-way and 42 acres of area by the Fox River that is not designated as parcels, officials said.
The area includes parcels that front the river from Woodward Avenue to the Union Pacific railroad; parcels on both frontages of State Street, from the Fox River to School Street; and parcels fronting the river on the west bank between State Street and Stevens Street, west to First Street of River Lane.
The eastern boundary of the study area is adjacent to the existing East State Street TIF District, officials said.
The initiative is in keeping with the city’s Downtown Area Station Master Plan and the city’s Comprehensive Plan, officials said.
A joint review board, made up of the taxing bodies in the district, will meet April 7, followed by a public hearing on May 2, Tymoszenko said.