January 14, 2025
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Bourbonnais officials consolidate three business districts

By Jeff Bonty
One of the wayfinder signs Bourbonnais installed using funds from a business district. It stands at the intersection of Kennedy Drive and North Street in Bourbonnais. The signs provide information and welcome visitors.

One of the wayfinder signs Bourbonnais installed using funds from a business district. It stands at the intersection of Kennedy Drive and North Street in Bourbonnais. The signs provide information and welcome visitors. (Tiffany Blanchette)

BOURBONNAIS — Bourbonnais trustees approved a resolution merging the village’s three business districts into one at last week’s board meeting.

This sets up funding for capital projects in the district.

Administrator Mike Van Mill said the village first created the Bourbonnais Business District in 2018.

It encompasses an area north of Larry Power Road to the Bourbonnais Parkway and around the 318 interchange of Interstate 57. The ordinance creating the district was adopted in July 2018.

A business district is funded by a 1-percent sales tax, making it 7.25%. The tax only applies to businesses in the district and can only be used for projects within this business district.

They now expand the Bourbonnais Business District with the North Convent and Main Street business districts.

Both of those business districts were created in 2020.

• The North Convent Business District is along North Convent Street (U.S. Route 45/52), running from William Latham Sr. Drive north to Hilltop Drive.

• The Main Street Business District district encompasses South Main Street from North Street and Main Street Northwest to Career Center Road.

“It’s taken time to set this up and now we are prodding ahead,” Van Mill said.

Projects completed with business district funding include the wayfinding signs that help motorists find where a place in the village is located, like parks, libraries, government offices and recreational facilities.

Bourbonnais Business District funds were used to install village signage at the Bourbonnais Parkway interchange.

State law allows for municipalities to create such business zones.

According to state guidelines, a study must find the current area is blighted by such things as inadequate or antiquated infrastructure, inadequate street layout, unsanitary or unsafe conditions, impedes the provision of housing accommodations or constitutes an economic or social liability, an economic under-utilization of the area, or a menace to the public health, safety, morals or welfare.

https://daily-journal.com/news/bourbonnais-officials-consolidate-three-business-districts/article_d2177464-cf9a-11ef-b341-ffc398a5d0c0.html