St. Charles council approves tax abatements for Southpointe development after 7-3 vote

The St. Charles City Council approved tax abatements and related incentives for the Southpointe mixed-use development on Jan. 20, 2026, passing Council Bill 14041 by a 7-3 roll-call vote. The ordinance was approved by the mayor on Jan. 21, 2026 and is recorded as Ordinance 26-001.

Director of Administration Larry Dobrosky and developer representative Casey Urkevich of Aligned Equity Group presented the project, outlining the scope, a proposed timeline and the developer's rationale for incentives. Dobrosky said the property had remained vacant for decades and staff's materials described substantial site costs and off-site improvements that, staff argued, supported the request for assistance.

Councilmember Denise Mitchell raised questions about projected revenue and oversight, asking who would measure the cited $1.1 million in projected annual sales tax and what benchmarks would trigger ongoing compliance. "I am not opposed to tax abatements in general but must ask these questions when residential development is involved," Mitchell said, and pressed for clarity on public safety and service impacts from nearly 200 residential units and new retail.

Councilmember Bill Otto said staff could not provide the percentage of total project cost represented by the requested incentives at the meeting; he said he believed it to be about 17% and described that share as high. "I am not comfortable with this coming to us this late in the game asking for us to partner with the developer in this way," Councilmember Vince Ratchford said in a prepared statement, which itemized costs he argued should be borne by the developer and opposed using abatements for what he described as retail and residential components. "I will not be supporting this Bill," Ratchford concluded.

Councilmember Bart Haberstroh urged the Council to consider housing affordability and said incentive packages sometimes are necessary to secure development. After debate and a separate roll-call vote, the measure passed: West, Foust, Galba, Gould, Haberstroh, Mark Hollander and Steve Hollander voted "Aye"; Ratchford, Mitchell and Otto voted "Nay."

The ordinance authorizes the city to issue taxable industrial revenue bonds and enter into related agreements to support the Southpointe project; council and staff discussion cited site remediation (including sinkhole work), traffic improvements and a proposed welcome sign among project costs. The council did not adopt any additional conditional monitoring language during the vote; councilmembers had asked staff to follow up on performance benchmarks and to provide additional details where available.

Next steps: the mayor approved the ordinance on Jan. 21, 2026. Staff indicated it would continue follow-up with the developer and return with any additional contract or implementation details as required by the city's agreement process.