Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-178 Resolution No. 05-178 RESOLUTION ADOPTING AMENDED ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GUIDELINES BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ELGIN,ILLINOIS,that the City of Elgin Economic Development Guidelines,Revised May 13,2005,are hereby adopted and approved by the City Council as the City of Elgin's guidelines for such program. s/Ed Schock Ed Schock, Mayor Presented: June 8, 2005 Adopted: June 8, 2005 Omnibus Vote: Yeas: 7 Nays: 0 Attest: s/Dolonna Mecum Dolonna Mecum, City Clerk • CITY OF ELGIN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GUIDELINES Introduction The City of Elgin uses various forms of assistance and development incentives for the purpose of attracting new businesses to the city as well as helping existing businesses expand.These incentives are designed to help the city achieve the long-term goals expressed in the Downtown Master Plan and the City's Comprehensive Plan,while at the same time meeting the legitimate cost concerns of companies in locating or expanding in a specific location. If not for the granting of city incentives, many desirable projects might not have moved forward. These successful projects are of benefit to the city- providing jobs, tax revenue and financial investment in our community. However, because there are limited dollars available for such development incentives, only high-quality projects that demonstrate a need for such financial assistance shall be considered for funding. Specific procedures and policies have been put in place to help guide the decisions on incentive requests: Principles To qualify for consideration,all firms requesting incentives shall provide the following information: 1. A. Level of developer investment. B. Detailed development pro forma. C. Level of incentive requested to fill funding gap or the amount of assistance required to achieve a competitive advantage. D. Verification of developer's financial stability (three-five years of audited annual financial reports). Revised May 13 , 2005 2. Detailed analysis of the economic costs and benefits to the City for the project. The analysis shall be performed by the City according to a format approved by the City, with data provided by the developer. 3. A Development Fund shall be established in order to finance incentive requests. Once the budgeted dollars in the Fund are depleted,no additional requests shall be considered unless authorized by the City Council. 4. Upon the receipt of a complete application package, all requests for incentives shall be analyzed by the staff Development Review Team within 21 days, followed by a specific recommendation to the Mayor and City Council. 5. Certain areas within the City have priority relative to receipt of incentive dollars. For calendar year 2001, the priority areas are as follows: A. Center City B. Cook County C. School District U-46 service area. D. Entry Way Corridors E. Neighborhood Shopping Redevelopment Sites F. Upscale Retail Locations Policies The following policies will be applied when development incentive requests are considered within the City of Elgin: 1. The City will not consider any requests for waiver of the following fees or charges: construction permit fees,utility rates,development impact fees,recapture fees,and other fees as prohibited by City ordinances. 2. Incentives relating to local share property tax rebate and sales tax rebate shall only be considered in such instances where established incentive programs provide for such relief. (Center City Enterprise Zone benefits and Cook County Auto Dealership Program.) 3. Incentives related to rental assistance shall be limited to Elgin's Center City. Such assistance may be made available to new or expanding retail,commercial or industrial businesses that are identified as needed and desirable within the Riverfront/Center City Master Plan,adopted May 24, 2000. 4. The City limits its participation in incentive funding to significant residential adaptive reuse projects and industrial/commercial projects. 5. Any incentive package shall be contained within a development agreement. 6. All incentives shall be performance-based with established performance criteria. 2 7. If performance goals are not met,all or a portion of the incentive funding shall be required to be returned to the City. Evaluation Criteria All development proposals or requests for assistance shall be submitted in a format that addresses the above-mentioned Principles and Policies. In addition,each submittal shall be evaluated based upon the following criteria: 1. The potential for receiving economic development incentives is available to private businesses based upon the following criteria: A. Location of development. B. Types and number of jobs created. C. Tax benefit to the City. 2. The development must be something that is of a public benefit to the City. 3. The impact of a proposed development on existing businesses shall be evaluated when considering the use of incentives for the new development. 4. The assisted business must have the potential to grow or expand and should have the potential of attracting other related positive development. 5. It is the City's preference that incentive funding be directed toward public improvements whenever possible.(See footnote 2.) 6. The development must enhance the tax base. 7. Well-paying,long-term jobs must be associated with the proposed project(with a wage rate at least 25% above the average of wage rate for the community). 3 8. The amount of the incentive must be recaptured within a reasonable time period based upon the industry. The recapture period for projects located within the Center City may exceed the recapture period for assistance provided in other areas of the city. Summary It is the intent of the Economic Development Guidelines to establish a framework by which development proposals submitted to the City of Elgin can be reviewed and evaluated in an objective fashion. Developers wishing to conduct business with the City will have a clearly-defined set of development principles,policies and evaluation criteria for proposals to be submitted to the City for review. The City will also have a clearly-defined set of guidelines that will direct its review and evaluation of development proposals. 4 Endnotes (1) Public benefit means that a proposed development will result in increased tax revenue, desired additional employment or have an identifiable effect of stimulating further and additional desired economic development which outweighs the proposed incentive to be provided by the City. (2) Public Improvements means city owned and maintained water mains, hydrants and other necessary works and appurtenances for providing water service; sanitary sewers or other instrumentalities or appurtenances for providing sanitary sewer service; sidewalks, curbs, gutters, streets, off-street parking lots, culverts, bridges, or viaducts; drains, sewers and appurtenances for providing storm water drainage; traffic signs, signals, lights and lighting; poles, posts, wires, conduits, lamps and other appurtenances providing for street lighting; parks, parkways and recreational paths; and acquisition of any and all property, easements and rights of way which may be necessary to accommodate such improvements. Such term shall not include improvements serving a specific site, e.g., water and sanitary sewer service lines. F:\Legal Dept\miscellaneous\Economic Development Guidelines Revised II.doc 5 City of Elgin Agenda Item No. E TE D t' LE ,r► ,1 IRlYs:•1■1 G �- May 20, 2005 N r ECONOMIC GROWTH TO: Mayor and Members of the City Council FROM: Olufemi Folarin, City Manager Cherie Murphy, Economic Dev lopment Coordinator SUBJECT: Amendment to the City of Elgin Economic Development Guidelines PURPOSE Thepurpose of this memorandum is to provide the Mayor and members of the City Council with information to consider adopting proposed revisions to the City of Elgin Economic Development Guidelines. RECOMMENDATION It is recommended that the City Council adopt an ordinance providing for the proposed amendments to the City of Elgin Economic Development Guidelines. BACKGROUND The current Economic Development Guidelines were originally adopted in February of 1999, at which time they were written to reflect the Council's economic development principles, policies and goals. At that time, three specific areas of the city were identified as having priority in receiving consideration for incentive dollars— Center City, Cook County, and School District U- 46 service area. Since that time, the focus of the City's economic development has been expanded to include efforts to attract higher end retail to the community and encourage the redevelopment of entryway corridors and neighborhood shopping centers and upscale retail locations. Attached is a proposed revision of the guidelines, which would incorporate these specific priorities within item #5 of the guideline document. COMMUNITY GROUPS/INTERESTED PERSONS CONTACTED None Amendment to the City of Elgin Economic Development Guidelines May 20, 2005 Page 2 FINANCIAL IMPACT There is $1,296,920 budgeted and $684,938.26 available in the 2005 Riverboat Lease Fund, Economic Development incentives (account number 276-0000-791.80-27) to fund economic development incentives. OV-tral IMPACT None ALTERNATIVES 1. Adoption of the revised guidelines 2. Maintain the guidelines as currently written Respectfully submitted for Council consideration. CLM Attachment CITY OF ELGIN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GUIDELINES Proposed Revised Edition 5/13/05 (Proposed additions are italicized and bolded; omissions are indicated with strike-through) Introduction The City of Elgin uses various forms of assistance and development incentives for the purpose of � P attracting new businesses to the city as well as helping existing businesses expand.These incentives are designed to help the city achieve the long-term goals expressed in the Downtown Master Plan and the City's Comprehensive Plan,while at the same time meeting the legitimate cost concerns of companies in locating or expanding in a specific location. If not for the granting of city incentives, many desirable projects might not have moved forward. These successful projects are of benefit to the city- providing jobs, tax revenue and financial investment in our community. However, because there are limited dollars available for such development incentives, only high-quality projects that demonstrate a need for such financial assistance shall be considered for funding. pr ocedures Specific r p ocedures and policies have been put in place to help guide the decisions on incentive requests: Principles To qualify for consideration,all firms requesting incentives shall provide the following information: 1. A. Level of developer investment. B. Detailed development pro forma. C. Level of incentive requested to fill funding gap or the amount of assistance required to achieve a competitive advantage. D. Verification of developer's financial stability (three-five years of audited annual financial reports). 1 • 2. Detailed analysis of the economic costs and benefits tothe Cityforthe y project. The analysis shall be performed by the City according to a format approved by the City, with data provided by the developer. 3. A Development Fund shall be established in order to finance incentive requests. Once the budgeted dollars in the Fund are depleted,no additional requests shall be considered unless authorized by the City Council. 4. Upon the receipt of a complete application package, all requests for incentives shall be analyzed by the staff Development Review Team within 21 days, followed by a specific recommendation to the Mayor and City Council. 5. Certain areas within the City have priority relative to receipt of incentive dollars. le calendar 0d17 the priority areas are as follows: A. Center City B. Cook County C. School District U-46 service area. D. Entry Way Corridors E. Neighborhood Shopping Redevelopment Sites F. Upscale Retail Locations Policies The following policies will be applied when development incentive requests are considered within the City of Elgin: 1. The City will not consider any requests for waiver of the following fees or charges: construction permit fees,utility rates,development impact fees,recapture fees,and other fees as prohibited by City ordinances. 2. Incentives relating to local share property tax rebate and sales tax rebate shall only be considered in such instances where established incentive programs provide for such relief. (Center City Enterprise Zone benefits and Cook County Auto Dealership Program.) 3. Incentives related to rental assistance shall be limited to Elgin's Center City. Such assistance may be made available to new or expanding retail,commercial or industrial businesses that are identified as needed and desirable within the Riverfront/Center City Master Plan,adopted May 24, 2000. 4. The City limits its participation in incentive funding to significant residential adaptive reuse projects and industrial/commercial projects. 5. Any incentive package shall be contained within a development agreement. 6. All incentives shall be performance-based with established performance criteria. 2 • 7. If performance goals are not met, all or a portion of the incentive funding shall be required to be returned to the City. Evaluation Criteria All development proposals or requests for assistance shall be submitted in a format that addresses the _ above-mentioned Principles and Policies. In addition,each submittal shall be evaluated based upon the following criteria: 1. The potential for receiving economic development incentives is available to private businesses based upon the following criteria: A. Location of development. B. Types and number of jobs created. C. Tax benefit to the City. 2. The development must be something that is of a public benefit to the City. 3. The impact of a proposed development on existing businesses shall be evaluated when considering the use of incentives for the new development. 4. The assisted business must have the potential to grow or expand and should have the potential of attracting other related positive development. 5. It is the City's preference that incentive funding be directed toward public improvements whenever possible.(See footnote 2.) 6. The development must enhance the tax base. 7. Well-paying, long-term jobs must be associated with the proposed project(with a wage rate at least 25% above the average of wage rate for the community). 3 . l 8. The amount of the incentive must be recaptured within a reasonable time period based upon . the industry. The recapture period for projects located within the Center City may exceed the recapture period for assistance provided in other areas of the city. Summary It is the intent of the Economic Development Guidelines to establish a framework by which development proposals submitted to the City of Elgin can be reviewed and evaluated in an objective fashion. Developers wishing to conduct business with the City will have a clearly-defined set of development principles,policies and evaluation criteria for proposals to be submitted to the City for review. The City will also have a clearly-defined set of guidelines that will direct its review and evaluation of development proposals. 4 • Endnotes (1)Public benefit means that a proposed development will result in increased tax revenue,desired additional employment or have an identifiable effect of stimulating further and additional desired economic development which outweighs the proposed incentive to be provided by the City. (2) Public Improvements means city owned and maintained water mains, hydrants and other necessary works and appurtenances for providing water service; sanitary sewers or other instrumentalities or appurtenances for providing sanitary sewer service; sidewalks, curbs,gutters, streets, off-street parking lots, culverts,bridges, or viaducts; drains, sewers and appurtenances for providing storm water drainage; traffic signs, signals, lights and lighting; poles, posts, wires, conduits, lamps and other appurtenances providing for street lighting; parks, parkways and recreational paths; and acquisition of any and all property, easements and rights of way which may be necessary to accommodate such improvements. Such term shall not include improvements serving a specific site, e.g.,water and sanitary sewer service lines. 5