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HomeMy WebLinkAboutT9-77 Ordinance No. T9-77 (0"" AN ORDINANCE MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR CITY OF ELGIN SPECIAL SERVICE AREA NUMBER TWO FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 1977 BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ELGIN, ILLINOIS: Section 1. Findings: That the City of Elgin Special Service Area Number Two has been created by an ordinance entitled "An Ordinance Esta- blishing Special Service Area Number Two in the City of Elgin" passed and effective on September 7, 1977; that the corporate authorities of the City of Elgin, acting as the governing board of City of Elgin Special Service Area Number Two are authorized to levy taxes for special services in said special service area. Section 2. That the following sum is hereby appropriated to pay the necessary expenses of City of Elgin Special Service Area Number Two for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1977: Debt Services - repayment of loan from City of Elgin for the construction of parking facility -- $147,300 other none Total Appropriation - $147,300 Section 3. That this ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after its passage, approval and publication in pamphlet form by authority of the City Council. s/ Richard L. Verbic kichard L. Verbic, Mayor Presented: September 7 , 1977 Passed: September 7 , 1977 Vote: Yeas 6 Nays 1 Recorded: Published: Attest: s/ Marie Yearman Marie Yearman, City Clerk r Public Hearing For Consideration of the Formation of Special Service Area Number Two August 3 , 1977 Mayor Verbic opened the public hearing at 8: 00 P.M. Mayor Verbic stated, the public hearing is to consider the formation of the City of Elgin Special Service Area Number Two to provide off-street parking in the Central Business District by the construction and operation of a multi - level parking facility. A special tax will be considered not to exceed an annual rate of $4.00 per $ 100.00 assessed valuation to be levied against the properties in the Special Service Area. At the hearing all persons effected will be given the opportunity to be heard. The hearing may be closed by the corporate authorities without further notice to another date by a motion to be entered upon the minutes of this meeting , fixing the time and place of this adjournment . In the event that a petition signed by at least 51% of the electors residing in the special service area and by at least 51% of the owners of record of the land included within the boundaries of the proposed special service area is filed with the City Clerk, within 30 days following the final adjournment of the public hearing objecting to the creation of the special service district for the levy or imposition of the tax proposed , the district may not be created and the tax may not be levied or imposed as proposed . Leo Nelson stated , several weeks ago we had a meeting in this room which was considered an informational meeting and I believe that many of the people here tonight were perhaps at that meeting . For those who were not we can briefly summarize this project . There are several exhibits mounted on the east wall and the proposed tax district is delineated on the map that is referred to by Engineer Bob Hogue. That is the district that was recommended by the Downtown Parking and Traffic Advisory Committee. The Downtown Parking and Traffic Advisory Committee is composed of people who are either property owners or merchants in the Central Business District . The Committee was formed several years ago to assist the firm of Barton-Aschman in developing a parking and traffic need study for the Central Business District . k That was recommended to the City Council in 1975 . Out of that plan a number one priority project is the project we are discussing tonight and that is the multi - level parking structure proposed for the area bounded by Highland and Chicago and immediately east of Spring Street. It anticipates the acquisition of the Labor Temple, the removal of that building from the site and a multi - level parking structure to be constructed between Highland and f and Chicago. It will include 350 parking spaces and about 15 , 000 square feet of commercial space along the first level fronting on Spring Street . The estimated cost of that project by Carl Walker and Associates is $2 , 155,000 , the City ' s contribution to that project , in addition to the property the City already owns would be $375 ,000. Mrs . Ruth Hawkins , owner of property at 21 North Grove, suggested that the district boundaries be extended to include more properties or that the old Post Office site be converted into a parking lot. Mrs . Hawkins stated her taxes would increase 61% if the rate of $4 .00 is imposed . Leo Nelson stated , the $4 .00 maximum rate was discussed at the informational meeting as the maximum rate and that was for the tax that would be needed to retire the debt during the first year because the facility itself would not be constructed and therefore would not be generating any revenue. If the revenues are not generated as they are proposed the rate could be higher . Based on the projected revenues that Carl Walker and Associates developed , the tax rate would decline any where from $ 2. 26 to a maximum of $3 .39 per hundred in the first year to 53z in the fifth year . ( 17 The Post Office property was deeded to the City so long as the City continued to use that as open space or a park. That would be one of the problems that would have to be overcome to make what is now an attractive park area into a parking lot and l think some people might even object to that . Nevertheless, we have the problem of the gift from the Federal government but only so long as it is maintained as a park. The reason the district was created the way it was , the Committee that recommended the district felt that the properties that are now included in a special assessment for the Fountain Square Plaza Mall should not be included in this district and if you will notice the boundaries on the southwest edge, it intentionally excludes all properties that were included in the special assessment project . Mr . Pete Peterson stated , I do not believe that the maximum rate would ever be lowered, prices are not coming down. Mr . Nelson replied, we are talking about a special tax for this facility only, you can not levy this tax for any other purpose. Mr. Peterson stated, but you have to consider maintenance costs and part of the maintenance costs are going to have to come out of revenue. I don' t think there is any businessman who can predicate the future of his business on this kind of a variable. If the (rik professional people in the City of Elgin were to say, well if things work out alright fine, we will take the higher salary , but if things don' t work out we will take the lower salary. -2- .� (r"'` I don ' t think you would predicate your salary on a variable t between a $ 1 . 10 and $4. 00 and we are having to predicate our income on that same thing . Mayor Verbic stated , for the survival of the Central Business District and with the surveys that have been done in the past, everything indicates the need of additional parking in this area and this is the most logical place to have the parking. If we postpone the situation any longer costs will escalate and I think we have to do everything we can for the survival of the downtown district with the future that is facing us as far as competition . Harold Siegle stated , I feel we need this parking lot , its very important to our City and downtown. I have reservations about this parking lot and I note from the comments you fellows have reservations too. I think that with all the shortcomings concerning the Mall that I have talked about that all of us here, property owners and all , feel an inequity on the taxation. I think people adjacent to the Mall should pay a higher rate than people on the perimeter of the Mall . In fairness think this is the way it should be assessed. In looking over my criticism of the City , I think the need is so great that we should support it , take our chances that the 4.6* $4.00 that you start with may go down to $ 1 .50. I think they will producd revenue and lets all support this . Mr. William Brandis stated, no one has spoken for the residential property owners . I happen to own a piece of peoperty which is in this area and I don ' t see the possibility of raising the rent of my tenants enough to get it back. I do think the residential properties should be excluded as well as the Elks Club. I don ' t see the Elks Club benefiting in anyway. I may be wrong in stating that I never saw a taxpayer ' s organization run anything efficiently and I have a little concern about the City running property for business purposes . I think the government and the city own too much property today . Leo Nelson stated , the Committee recommended we include in the structure commercial space and we did not go into great detail because we did not know if the project was going to happen. If it does I think that we are all in agreement that the City does not want to be in the business of directly leasing or operating any private business . Our thought was to probably lease that out in total to some other organization who would in turn manage it in the private sector , not the public sector . Another option, if it could legally be done, would be to sell it on a condominium type basis . (rk -3- d ' ' The reason your property is included, even though it is residentially used , it is commercially zoned. If it is left out of the district , for example, if there is a home within the district , zoned commercial , if it does not go into the district now it cannot be put into the district later . That property owner could potentially demolish the structure and put it to commercial use. Then that person would benefit from the project without paying. Mr. Brandis stated , this is commercial property and I wanted to put a commercial business in one section of it but the Zoning Board said no, you have to have one or the other. Mr . Frank Tofanelli stated, do you have any ideas about the tax exempt properties that are in this district ? Counsel Jentsch stated, if they qualify as a charitable organization they may be. The City has no authority to exempt any property. The taxes levied against all the real estate in the district will be in the same manner as the taxes are levied against real estate in the entire community. Mr . Earl Keeney stated he felt the merchants in the Mall should be included in the district because the Douglas Avenue merchants might be taxed for a mini -mall . (rk Leo Nelson stated, assuming that this project goes and if we in a year or two look at the Douglas Avenue Mall , I think that is something that will have to be discussed concerning the equity of your paying a tax to this facility and also paying tax on a special assessment to extend the Mall . Councilman Barnes stated, if the Douglas Avenue merchants had gone ahead with the mini -mall then we would have had a problem in deciding whether or not to exempt them, but in a sense they voted themselves out , so maybe they voted themselves into this issue. Mr . Paul Zumkeller stated the deck would increase walking traffic throughout the downtown area and traffic would be improved with the proposed widening of Spring Street to five lanes . Mr . Frank Ciacco stated he did not think the district was created fairly and he did not think the City should be involved in private enterprise. Councilman Hill made a motion, seconded by Councilman West, to close the public hearing . Yeas : Councilmen Barnes, Beckmann, Hill , Strattan , West and Mayor Verbic. Nays : None. -4- (r Marie Year an, City Clerk