Collinsville solicits public input on proposed TIF, business district

Collinsville is considering the creation of a new tax increment financing district, and an overlapping business district, along St. Louis Road and Collinsville Road, off of I-255.

The proposed TIF district, which includes Fairmount Park Racetrack and Collinsville Middle School in its preliminary boundaries, was also considered in 2012, but the project was discontinued. Mayor John Miller said in June that was because there “wasn’t a lot of council support for it,” and that it was proposed at a financially unstable time — “the economic downturn.” The Collinsville Unit 10 school board at the time also voted not to recommend that project despite initially supporting it.

While a number of residents have spoken out against the plan because they say there is no need for an additional TIF district or because they oppose the city’s use of TIF money, some business owners in the potentially affected area and the Collinsville Chamber of Commerce have expressed support.

The Collinsville City Council is split on the plan, with three council members previously voting in favor of moves to create the districts and two voting against.

A public meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday in the City Council Chambers at City Hall, 125 S. Center St., to solicit additional input from the public and to provide residents with information about the proposed plan, said Wendi Valenti, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce. A public hearing will follow during the June 13 City Council meeting.

“The thing is that a lot of people don’t fully understand what a TIF is,” Valenti said Monday. “They hear the reports, and they think that the TIF is just going to raise their taxes. And that’s all they know about it. ... I think this particular TIF that’s being proposed has the potential to be fantastic.”

Valenti encouraged the City Council to move forward with what is being called the southwest corridors district at the Jan. 25 City Council meeting, when an ordinance related to the plan came before the council. The ordinance stated the city’s intent to create the TIF and business districts in that area. It was adopted with a 3-2 vote.

Valenti said during the meeting that she received a phone call from a reporter about whether Cahokia Mound’s World Heritage Site designation had an economic impact on the city. She said she felt relieved that the reporter had not actually seen the area of Collinsville, which is included in the proposed TIF and business district area, that leads to the Mounds.

“While I was trying to answer all of his different questions about Collinsville, I ascertained that he was calling (from) somewhere on the West Coast, and it went through my head, ‘OK, I’m very glad that you’re on the West Coast. That means that you’ve probably not been to Collinsville, so you probably are not aware of the fact that whenever you get off of 255 to head to Cahokia Mounds ... it’s rather uninviting and there’s shrubbery with trash in it and the infrastructure’s not very welcoming,’” Valenti said.

“There’s really not a gateway or a connection to the rest of the community and that’s all that you see of Collinsville,” she added.

Resident Phil Astrauskas criticized previous recipients of TIF money at the January meeting.

“We talk about TIF, infrastructure — that’s what they’ve all mentioned. ‘We’re going to do this. We’re going to pull the weeds out of the bushes and that stuff along St. Louis Road.’ How many weeds are growing at Home Federal Savings and Loan where you just gave them ($35,200) for a new heating system? Do you really think they need it? Really? Honestly? Come on.”

Bill Meister, of the Cahokia Mounds Museum Society, echoed Valenti’s sentiment during the meeting. He said improvements to Collinsville Road would be important to tourism.

“It just looks horrible,” Meister said. “It’s a bad presentation considering how many visitors we (Cahokia Mounds) get from 80 different countries. We’ve figured out that basically someone who visits the Mounds spends $37 in the area, so I think it’s important that we make (a) better presentation coming off the highway.”

Councilwoman Nancy Moss does not support the proposed TIF district. “I believe that we have enough TIFs going right now,” she has said.

“Parts of this proposed TIF area, particularly on Collinsville Road, certainly needs redevelopment, but there’s nothing magical about forming a TIF district,” Moss said at a previous City Council meeting. “As we’ve seen with our other TIF districts, it can be a very long road.”

The city currently has three TIF districts, including:

▪  TIF district 1, covering downtown Collinsville and Eastport Plaza. It was designated Dec. 29, 1986, and extended to 2021.

▪  TIF district 2, along I-255/Horseshoe Lake Road. It was designated Jan. 28, 2008. This district was established for the failed project of constructing a 18,500-seat professional soccer stadium.

“Because there’s been no activity and no development, and it’s not going to occur that we know of, the TIF should be dissolved,” TIF Director Leah Joyce said during the March joint review board meeting.

The board voted to make a recommendation to the City Council that the funds be declared surplus and returned to the taxing bodies that contributed to the TIF district. The recommendation will be presented to the City Council at an upcoming meeting, Joyce said.

▪  TIF district 3, a small area of land at I-255-55. It was designated Jan. 27, 2003.

Moss said the city should focus on development through an enterprise zone or business district instead.

Valenti, though, said the proposed TIF district is “badly needed.”

“If it were in place, we could take advantage and capture those sales tax dollars from the nearly half a million visitors to Cahokia Mounds, not to mention Fairmount Park, and I think that it would drive people back into the rest of the community,” she said. “It would have an impact on property values throughout the entire community as it serves as a major gateway to Collinsville. It’s one of the most visible places to people from the outside, and I think that it reflects on our entire reputation.”

A business owner from the proposed TIF area, Raymond Otero, of Ramon’s El Dorado Restaurant at 1711 Collinsville Road, has also expressed support of the plan.

“What we would like to see is that we take this area that’s very depressed and put some new infrastructure, new business, bring jobs, which today, our economy needs jobs. ... We need to take this area, build it back up — build Collinsville up. Make it great,” he said in January.

Otero said his father, Raymundo, who founded the restaurant in 1967, worked to bring people from out of town, and even Missouri, to try their Mexican eatery. Raymundo died earlier this month.

Councilman Jeff Kypta has spoken out about his opposition to a new TIF district.

“I’m not for TIF; I never have been,” Kypta said previously. He and Moss have both voted against advancing the plan on several occasions.

Councilman Jeff Stehman said he “fully supports” both the TIF and business district.

“It’s an area of town that has had a difficult time developing over the years. I live in that end of town — I have for over 20 years,” he said. “... I don’t embrace every aspect of TIF either, but unfortunately, we are competing with communities. Unless a community offers TIF, offers some development incentives, you won’t get the businesses.”

Councilwoman Cheryl Brombolich and Mayor Miller have both previously voted, along with Stehman, in favor of moving the plan forward.

Kevin Weinacht, owner of Weinacht & Associates at 400 N. Bluff Road, said at the January meeting the proposed districts could help solve the problems the area has had regarding development. Weinacht is also the chairman of the economic development commission. He said he was speaking at the meeting as a Collinsville business owner, not on behalf of the commission.

“This economic development tool overcomes the barriers that businesses repeatedly identify in this area that prevent development from occurring,” Weinacht said.

Another business owner, James Smith, of L.E. Smith Jewelers & Gifts at 9501 Collinsville Road, in a showing of support offered to lower his prices by 1 percent to absorb the 1 percent increase in sales tax, which would be an aspect of the proposed business district.

This story was originally published March 21, 2016 at 6:58 PM with the headline "Collinsville solicits public input on proposed TIF, business district."