Crest Hill City Council to discuss restructuring TIF district on Monday

The Crest Hill City Council is expected to discuss an “inducement resolution” to restructure an existing tax increment financing district at its scheduled work session meetingMonday, according to a city news release.

The goal would be to create a new TIF district by removing 75 acres of property from the Weber Road Corridor TIF district to help develop business and residential properties on Crest Hill’s northwest side, the release said.

An inducement resolution encourages a development plan before a TIF district or another economic development plan is in place, the release said.

As development takes place in the TIF district, “the increase in assessed value creates more incremental property taxes,” the release said, which then go into a fund to help pay for the property improvements.

In 2017, City Council members voted unanimously to create the 450-acre TIF on vacant property. However last year, a court ruled that the two tracts of land within the TIF were not contiguous based on a technicality,” which stalled development, the release said.

The Crest Hill Plan Commission previously conducted a public hearing where it recommended a planned unit development by developer RR Crest Hill should the TIF plan move forward.

With an inducement resolution, RR Crest Hill could proceed “in incurring eligible redevelopment costs of the property,” the release said.

If a TIF is created and funding becomes available through incremental property tax growth, the developer eventually would be reimbursed.