'Sins Of Past' Impact Clarendon Hills Area: Official

CLARENDON HILLS, IL – A committee of local taxing bodies on Wednesday rejected Clarendon Hills' proposal for a special tax district along 55th Street.

In response, a top village official said a couple of the taxing bodies involved should help address the "sins of the past" that have hurt the area along 55th Street.

Under state law, a tax increment district, or TIF, is designed to spur development. For 23 years, property taxes generated from growth in a district's tax base would be diverted for the district's benefit.

The vote was 4-3 against the district, with one abstention and one absence.

Those opposing were Hinsdale High School District 86, Hinsdale District 181, Maercker District 60 and Downers Grove Township.

The proponents were the village itself, Clarendon Hills Park District and public member and resident Dan Quealy.

DuPage County abstained, and the College of DuPage was absent.

In an email to Patch, Village Manager Zach Creer said the county's representative said the county had never voted against a tax district.

Creer said it was unclear why the county changed its mind about Clarendon Hills and abstained. The county, he said, has approved dozens of TIFs, each with similar impacts to schools.

Over the last month, Hinsdale High School District 86 has campaigned against the tax district, saying it would lose out on tax money. Last month, the school board's president, Catherine Greenspon, made the case against the district during a Downers Grove Township board meeting.

As a result of the vote, the tax district proposal must draw a three-fifths supermajority vote on the Clarendon Hills Village Board.

In a statement Wednesday, District 86 said the committee's vote reflects "the broader community’s concerns and emphasizes the necessity of ensuring that any redevelopment plan serves the best interests of our schools and taxpayers."

District 86 said it was concerned about the "underestimated tax burden" that would be placed on residents outside the tax district. The district and other taxing entities would lose out on "robust" growth in the tax district, according to the statement.

In recent weeks, Clarendon Hills and District 86 said they were open to some type of tax-sharing agreement, similar to those in other towns, including Elmhurst.

In his email, Creer said the committee did not detail which eligibility criteria were not met. The village, he said, "explicitly" met the criteria, given the age of buildings in the proposed tax district.

"I haven't heard anyone doubting the inadequate utilities (and) am not sure which other criteria are lacking," Creer said.

Much of the dissent, Creer said, focused on the impact on school districts' income and the idea that the proposal would unfairly burden those outside the tax district.

But he said the village proposed to remove the "sting of having to wait for these revenues by having early refunding." The terms of the proposal, he said, were largely suggested by the schools themselves.

In particular, Creer questioned the township's opposition and the county's abstention. Those two entities, he said, "should step up and better maintain their infrastructure and make up for sins of the past regarding very odd development patterns south of 55th St."

"I think it's shameful to have multifamily housing with no sprinklers and inadequate water pressure to the point hydrants are turned backwards and all the water needs to be trucked in," Creer said. "This was all permitted by DuPage County."

He said the village was willing to potentially step in and make the majority of the investments, with a minority from the proposed tax district.

The tax district money would come from new construction, which the village believes is unlikely to happen without infrastructure upgrades, Creer said.

The former village president said his biggest regret was not addressing the 55th Street area in his 20 years of service, Creer said.

Patch reported on the village's case for a tax district in a story earlier this month.