ACTION REQUESTED:
Title
Communication from the City Manager and Economic Development Department with a Request for the Following:
A. ADOPT an ORDINANCE to Designate the UNIVERSITY/WAR PLAN AREA; and,
B. ADOPT an ORDINANCE to Approve the UNIVERSITY/WAR REDEVELOPMENT PLAN AND PROJECT; and,
C. ADOPT an ORDINANCE Authorizing Tax Increment Financing (TIF) for the UNIVERSITY/WAR REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT AREA.
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BACKGROUND:
The City of Peoria is actively involved in promoting economic development. The City currently has ten (10) active TIF districts, five (5) Opportunity Zones, and an Enterprise Zone. Current economic development efforts include evaluation of the intersection of University Street and War Memorial Drive. This is a highly visible, prominent intersection within the City. The southeast corner of the intersection contains limited commercial development and a large vacant area including a vacant industrial facility and a recently demolished auto dealership. This area contains significant grade changes that will make redevelopment more costly and difficult to achieve. For this reason, the City has decided to investigate the use of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) to help offset extraordinary redevelopment costs and encourage redevelopment in the area.
To this end, the City retained the planning consulting firm Teska Associates, Inc. to assist in the
creation of a new TIF district covering parcels located roughly at the southeast corner of University Street and War Memorial Drive. Teska has conducted the necessary field surveys, site evaluations, and identified key redevelopment opportunities and necessary public improvements within the Project Area, and this Redevelopment Plan summarizes the analyses and findings of the consultant's work. The City is entitled to rely on the findings and conclusions of this Redevelopment Plan in designating the Project Area as a "redevelopment project area" under the State of Illinois Tax Increment Allocation Redevelopm...
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