Hebron says sales tax avoiders – not pro-Trump vendors – are target of new zoning

A change to Hebron’s zoning ordinance approved Monday night requires businesses in its downtown to operate only out of traditional brick-and-mortar locations.

The ordinance is designed to ensure the village is getting all of the sales tax it is due, said Village President Robert Shelton. It requires a principal building that must be connected to sanitary sewer and drinkable water for a business to operate there.

It was approved on a 5-0 vote, with Village Trustee Candace Knaack voting to abstain.

One of the owners of vacant property at Routes 173 and 47 – in the heart of downtown Hebron – say the change is directed at his business alone.

John Vole, who co-owns the property with his brother, Steve Vole, has allowed vendors to operate tables and tents on the downtown property for about three years. John Vole attended the meeting

“This whole agenda is about the corner,” he said. “You don’t want the stuff I have been selling there for three year.”

“We can go in and see who is paying sales taxes and who is not.”

—  Robert Shelton, Hebron Village President

Much of the merchandise sold at the corner is branded around former President Donald Trump. Last summer, one of the vendors at the corner accused Trustee Dawn Milarski of harassment there.

“You are entitled ... to not like the guy. If you don’t like the guy, drive by. You are making this whole agenda for shutting down the corner and keeping me from selling,” Vole said.

In a planning and zoning commission meeting immediately before the village board meeting Shelton said the ordinance is about the taxes, not the topic. Plan commission members unanimously approved the zoning change at their meeting.

“We can go in and see who is paying sales taxes and who is not,” Shelton said. “Since we have been looking at sales tax revenue coming to the village, there have not been any vendors who are not in brick and mortar that have paid a nickel of sales tax to the village.”

Milarski championed rewriting the zoning ordinance, which only applies to property in the downtown business district and industrial zoned areas.

“It is beneficial for the village to have a structure where business can take place” with bathroom facilities and water, Milarski said.

The ordinance goes into affect once it is posted and added to village code, Hebron village attorney Michael Smoron said.

Hebron’s change makes the village’s zoning similar to other communities that do not have flea market-style booths in their downtown, Milarski said following the meeting.

“They don’t have this in other places because they have zoning ordinances that prevent it,” she said.