cover
TO: Mayor Richard C. Irvin
FROM: Trevor Dick, Director of Development Strategy and Facilitation
DATE: October 15, 2020
SUBJECT:
An Ordinance Designating the City of Aurora Fox Valley Mall Area Tax Increment Financing District Redevelopment Project Area.
PURPOSE:
The final steps in approving the Fox Valley Mall Area Tax Increment Financing District include the designation of the Redevelopment Plan and Project Area. The attached ordinance and the exhibits thereto include this information.
BACKGROUND:
The Fox Valley Mall was originally constructed in the 1970s and reflects many of the design elements that defined the early era of mall construction in the United States including a ring road encircling the mall to support “outlot” retail sites. Like many similar sites of this era, Fox Valley Mall has been challenged by changes in consumer behavior in recent decades. These challenges have created conditions which have inhibited private investment and have led to a general decline and economic underutilization of the area. Recognizing the need to take action, the City has focused recent planning efforts on the Route 59 Corridor in general, and the Fox Valley Mall area in particular, resulting in a call to reuse and revitalize the area.
Given economic factors that have impacted malls nationwide and in conformance with its recent Route 59 Corridor Study Comprehensive Plan (2019), the City has determined that the Fox Valley Mall area as a whole would not be redeveloped in a coordinated manner without the adoption of a Tax Increment Financing Redevelopment Plan. The City, with the assistance of Kane, McKenna and Associates, Inc. (KMA), has commissioned an Eligibility Report and Redevelopment Plan to use tax increment financing in order to alleviate those conditions which deter private investment in the area and meet redevelopment goals and objectives.
The City has pursued the strategy of creating micro TIF Districts from significant areas and properties to support certain redevelopment opportunities that would otherwise not occur, but for the City's assistance with a new TIF District.
The creation of this TIF District will result in a highly-visible redevelopment of the Fox Valley Mall project.
A public hearing was held on October 27, 2020.
DISCUSSION:
The creation of this TIF District will continue the City’s vision for the redevelopment of key parcels within the Fox Valley Mall Area.
IMPACT STATEMENT :
Failure to pass this ordinance designating the City of Aurora Fox Valley Mall Area Tax Increment Financing District Redevelopment Project Area will result in the inability to create the Tax Increment Financing District, and would hasten the decline of the highly-visible Fox Valley Mall, resulting in a missed opportunity of redeveloping unused parcels surrounding the Mall that could represent a "flywheel" of economic development within the Route 59 Corridor.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Staff recommends the approval of the ordinance designating the City of Aurora Fox Valley Mall Area Tax Increment Financing District Redevelopment Project Area.
ATTACHMENTS:
Exhibit 1: Redevelopment Project Area Legal Description
Exhibit 2: Street Location Map
cc: Finance Committee
Chair/Alderman Robert J. O'Connor
Alderman/Vice Chair Edward Bugg
Alderwoman Scheketa Hart-Burns
Alderman Carl Franco
Alderman Emmanuel Llamas
CITY OF AURORA, ILLINOIS
ORDINANCE NO. _________
DATE OF PASSAGE ________________
title
An Ordinance Designating the City of Aurora Fox Valley Mall Area Tax Increment Financing District Redevelopment Project Area.
body
WHEREAS, the City of Aurora has a population of more than 25,000 persons and is, therefore, a home rule unit under subsection (a) of Section 6 of Article VII of the Illinois Constitution of 1970; and
WHEREAS, subject to said Section, a home rule unit may exercise any power and perform any function pertaining to its government and affairs for the protection of the public health, safety, morals, and welfare; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to the Tax Increment Allocation Redevelopment Act, 65 ILCS 5/11-74.4-1, et seq. (“TIF Act”), the City authorized a study in regard to designating a redevelopment project area for the City’s Fox Valley Mall Area Tax Increment Financing District (“TIF District”); and
WHEREAS, on August 11, 2020, the City announced the availability of the redevelopment plan and project for the TIF District (“TIF Plan”), with said TIF Plan containing an eligibility report for the TIF District addressing the tax increment financing eligibility of the area proposed for designation as the redevelopment project area for said TIF District (“Redevelopment Project Area”); and
WHEREAS, a public hearing was held on October 27, 2020, in regard to the TIF Plan; and
WHEREAS, the Mayor and City Council of the City have heretofore adopted and approved the TIF Plan, and it is now necessary and desirable to designate the area referred to therein as the Redevelopment Project Area
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED by the City Council of the City of Aurora, Illinois, as follows:
SECTION 1: That the area described and depicted in EXHIBIT 1 and EXHIBIT 2 attached hereto, and made a part thereof, is hereby designated as the Redevelopment Project Area for the City’s Fox Valley Mall Area Tax Increment Financing District pursuant to Section 5/11-74.4-4 of the TIF Act (65 ILCS 5/11-74.4-4).
SECTION 2: That this Ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after its adoption, approval and publication in pamphlet form as provided by law.
SECTION 3: That if any section, paragraph, clause or provision of this Ordinance shall be held invalid, the invalidity thereof shall not affect any of the other provisions of this Ordinance.
SECTION 4: That all ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith are, to the extent of such conflict, hereby repealed.