City leaders in East Moline, IL, have their eyes set on an area north of 12th area and the words “redevelopment” and “TIF” are being thrown around.
Run down buildings overgrown weeds and chain link fences currently create a big eye sore north of 12th Avenue. But city leaders have big changes in mind.
“The preliminary designs include a hotel, some retail, some housing and things such as that,” said 7th Ward Alderman Gary Westbrook.
City leaders are proposing to make the area a TIF zone, which would provide tax breaks to businesses relocating there.
As is often the case with TIFs–which freeze property taxes for a certain area and isolate the tax income from that area in a single fund for “redevelopment”–eminent domain is not far behind. One of the requirements of being put into a TIF is “blight.” If an area is deemed “blighted,” it can be placed in a TIF and then, when the city wishes to seize the property, it can easily be transferred to private ownership because of the aforementioned “blight” designation. Cities across Illinois are very fond of TIFs, using them at a rate much higher than its contemporaries.
Full story here.
If you think you may be affected by this project or other redevelopment and TIF issues or are interested in a free consultation, contact our eminent domain landowner attorneys at 1-888-318-3761 or visit us on the web at www.landownerattorneys.com.
