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Residents question fairness of proposed Fairview Avenue TIF at public hearing
Summary
At a March 3 public hearing, village staff outlined a proposed Fairview Avenue tax-increment financing (TIF) district to pay for streetscape and transit-oriented public improvements. Several residents said the TIF is inequitable for property owners and urged more direct engagement; council emphasized the TIF finances future incremental growth, not current tax dollars.
A public hearing on March 3 gave residents a first formal opportunity to comment on a proposed Fairview Avenue tax increment financing district that village planners say would pay for streetscape, active-transportation and transit-related public improvements in the Fairview focus area.
Community Development Director Stan Povich described the TIF boundary as roughly the railroad at Fairview Avenue east to William Street, west to Washington Street, north to Sheldon Avenue and south to Second Street, and summarized prior steps including Ordinance 6172 and an eligibility report submitted in December 2025. Povich said the plan was prepared to support mixed-use redevelopment and to implement the village’s streetscape and active-transportation recommendations.
In public comment, Tim Postmiss, who said he owns commercial property within the proposed district, questioned whether a TIF is the appropriate and equitable financing tool. "I just don't believe that a tiff, as it's designed in this circumstance, is the appropriate method to do that. It's not equitable," Postmiss said, reading figures from the eligibility report and arguing the study area's equalized assessed value has performed well in recent years.
Postmiss urged more direct, locally focused engagement with property owners in the district and recommended the village pursue lighter-handed approaches to encourage private investment. Another resident, Tim Caldwell, raised traffic and circulation questions tied to anticipated redevelopment near the Pepperidge Farm site.
Mayor Robert T. Barnett and village staff responded with procedural and fiscal clarifications. The mayor emphasized that the TIF is a financing tool for future incremental revenue to pay for public improvements rather than a plan to divert current tax dollars. "This does not divert tax dollars. This takes potential future growth," he said, adding that the village expects ordinances to create the TIF to be considered at two April council meetings and that detailed budgets include set-aside payments for affected taxing bodies such as school districts.
The hearing record will remain open for the statutory process; no vote was taken at the March 3 session. Staff noted the joint review board report is part of the public record and that additional council deliberations and ordinance readings will follow in April.
