Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Enterprise Zone Expansion topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Freeport considers enterprise-zone additions and clarifies brownfields testing; resident urges delay over legal notice concerns
Summary
Council advanced multiple enterprise-zone boundary changes and related intergovernmental amendments for Auto Smart and Lena in first readings and adopted a letter to the Northwest Illinois Enterprise Zone board; a public commenter asked the council to table the items pending legal compliance review of how hearings were noticed.
Council members heard two enterprise-zone applications and related contract amendments as first readings and a resolution asking the Northwest Illinois Enterprise Zone board to review boundary additions.
Andrea presented an application to add a 0.42-acre parcel adjacent to Auto Smart so the business can expand its showroom, saying the parcel was part of a recent sale and adding it will support sales-tax growth. She also outlined a second application to add roughly 112 acres in Lena to encourage residential construction by allowing temporary property-tax abatement and state sales-tax relief for building materials.
During public comment, John Cook told the council the June 17 public hearing that supported the items was legally deficient because, he said, the zone administrator is not a unit-of-government employee and proper notice was not provided to the city or county clerks. "I'm formally asking the city council table all of these items until this council can be assured that you're in compliance with Freeport ordinances and Illinois statutes," Cook said, asking the council to confirm compliance with state DCEO guidance on public hearings.
Staff responded that amendments to the enterprise-zone intergovernmental agreement are required to change the legal description of the zone after an ordinance amendment, and outlined the six units of government that comprise the Northwest Illinois Enterprise Zone. Council members asked procedural questions and some requested the items be postponed to the next meeting for additional review; a motion to move items 16 and 17 to the next regular meeting passed 8–0.
Separately, the council approved a resolution to hire Fairgram for environmental assessment testing at 17 and 19 Main Street to complete required soil borings and sampling for an EPA brownfields grant. Darren clarified that testing (approximate cost flagged in discussion at $67,000) must be paid by the city to qualify for a cleanup reimbursement grant and said about $400,000 remains in the brownfields cleanup budget for remediation once testing is complete.
Councilors said they want clear public notice of the process and that public hearings will follow as the enterprise-zone board considers expansions. The letter to the enterprise-zone board and the brownfields testing resolution were adopted 8–0.
The council also deferred some intergovernmental agreement amendments to the next meeting so aldermen could review maps and legal descriptions more fully.
