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North Aurora leaders decline economic incentive request from PERRLA for 950 Ice Cream Drive
Summary
The Committee of the Whole declined to pursue an economic incentive for PERRLA, a food producer planning to occupy a 175,000-square-foot building at 950 Ice Cream Drive, citing the village incentive policy and minimal projected tax benefit.
The North Aurora Committee of the Whole on June 2, 2025, declined to pursue an economic incentive request from PERRLA, a food producer that plans to occupy a roughly 175,000-square-foot building at 950 Ice Cream Drive.
Village staff told the committee that PERRLA — which described operations including hummus, olives and stuffed peppers — asked the village to consider an incentive after receiving approval of a water impact agreement and purchasing the building across from Overweis. Steve, a village staff member, said the company had proposed a revenue-sharing or tax-offset arrangement but that the village’s economic incentive policy treats manufacturing and industrial uses as nonqualified for incentives. "They are a food producer, so that's where they'll be, doing things such as hummus, olives, stuffed peppers," Steve said.
Staff explained the fiscal case to the committee: because PERRLA is not a point-of-sale business, the village would not receive sales tax revenue from the operation; the only projected municipal revenue would be property taxes, which staff estimated at roughly 5 percent of the company’s property tax bill — on the order of $5,000 to $10,000 a year in total to the village. PERRLA told staff it expected to bring jobs to the area and had estimated a sizeable tax bill to other taxing districts, but staff said most of those revenues would go to other jurisdictions, not the village.
The village asked the committee whether staff should analyze PERRLA’s formal incentive application further. After discussion, the committee declined to pursue an incentive at this time. "I say no," Mayor Gaffino said during the discussion. Staff indicated they would notify PERRLA that the board is not interested in pursuing an incentive under the current policy and would otherwise proceed only if the board later directs staff to analyze a specific proposal.
The matter arose under the village’s existing economic incentive policy, which staff said allows applicants to petition the board even when a use is listed as nonqualified. Staff also said they have discussed possible policy tweaks to more explicitly disallow industrial/warehouse incentives at the staff level in future reviews.
No formal ordinance or incentive agreement was adopted at the June 2 meeting; the committee’s direction was to not pursue the request at this time.
