McHenry County hearing reviews additions to enterprise zone in Marengo and Woodstock, and repeal of Harvard incentives

The chair called the McHenry County Enterprise Zone public hearing to order at 8:30 a.m. and said the panel was meeting to take public comment on three proposed amendments: adding roughly 45.3 acres in unincorporated Marengo, adding about 2.48 acres in the City of Woodstock, and repealing three incentive provisions that apply to the City of Harvard.

The nut of the hearing was procedural and informational: a motion to allow Mark Stricker to attend virtually was moved, seconded and approved by voice vote before staff summarized the proposed amendments. The chair said, “I call to order the public hearing of the McHenry County Enterprise Zone on the proposed amendments to the zone.” The motion to allow remote attendance was moved by a participant and seconded by the chair; the chair recorded the motion as passing after two members responded “Aye.”

County staff walked through the three specific actions on the agenda. Regarding the Marengo addition, the presenter said the proposal would add approximately 45.3 acres in Riley Township at 8302 South Illinois Route 23 and that parcel identifiers and the legal description appear in Exhibit A‑1. “The Illinois Department of Agriculture has completed its required agricultural site review and has approved the inclusion of this property into the zone,” the presenter said.

On the Woodstock parcels, staff described proposed amendment 2 as the addition of four parcels totaling about 2.48 acres at 350 Christian Way within Woodstock’s corporate limits, with legal descriptions included in the amendments. For Harvard, staff said the proposed amendment would repeal three local incentive provisions — described in the record as a deduction of receipts under section 5(a), a utility tax abatement under section 5(b)(1), and a 1% sales tax abatement under section 5(b)(6) — explaining the repeal is recommended because those provisions are duplicative of state enterprise-zone incentives and do not provide a distinct local benefit.

The presenter outlined next steps: each amendment will be processed as a separate application under the Illinois Enterprise Zone Act and submitted to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity as separate application packets after this hearing and after the designating units of government adopt the required amending ordinances. The presenter also noted that the City of Woodstock approved an ordinance on May 5 and that McHenry County has approved the ordinance; the City of Harvard and the City of Marengo are on schedules to consider their ordinances.

During public comment, one participant asked whether the amendment language creates advantages or disadvantages among enterprise-zone partners and whether inclusion of the Marengo property for the Unilac project would affect benefits if the property were later annexed into the City of Marengo. The participant asked, in part, whether annexation “won't have an impact if that property is ever annexed into the City of Marengo in terms of the benefits of the enterprise zone or benefits specific to the city of Marengo.” The presenter responded, “That's correct.”

The chair closed the public comment period after no further speakers and adjourned the hearing at 8:37 a.m. The county will forward the separate application packets to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and the proposed ordinance adoptions by the affected units of government will determine whether the amendments are adopted.

No formal votes on the boundary additions or incentive repeals were recorded at the hearing; the only formal action taken during the session was the voice vote permitting virtual attendance by Mark Stricker.