Northfield floats local-business incentives to assuage TIF concerns

As Northfield continues to consider creating a tax increment financing district, village officials are beginning to formally explore potential incentives for local businesses as well as proposals to mitigate concerns from local school districts.

Village trustees spent a majority of their Tuesday, Sept. 22 Committee of the Whole meeting discussing possible measures to quell hesitations from both the local business community and the community’s school districts regarding the impact TIF may have on them.

Village President Tracey Mendrek opened the conversation by saying consideration of the possible incentives was the agenda because of the reoccurring questions asking how the village is going to “support our schools and our businesses and how are we going to administer TIF.”

Patrick Brennan, Northfield’s village manager, said that incentives are not a “new or unique concept” and that per the international economic development council, about 95% of TIF communities offer some sort of incentives.

Brennan broke the incentives under consideration into two buckets: direct support initiatives and development-related incentives. Tthe former, he noted, typically offer direct financial or economic benefit directly to the business.

Of the latter, he said certain conditions could be attached to a new development if that development cold affect existing businesses.

Some of the direct incentives Brennan pitched were capital improvement grants and loans. The grant option would provide a to-be-determined amount to support improvements to locally owned businesses. Typical expenses cited included interior renovations, new equipment and signage.

The loan option would cover amounts that exceed the grant total trustees land on and would most likely offer businesses low-interest loans for large projects such as building expansion, fixed equipment and design-related expenses.

The two, Brennan said, are “very similar in what they would fund.” But he encouraged trustees to approve a dollar amount “at which it breaks from a grant to a loan.”

Brennan also discussed a facade improvement grant incentive, which could be utilized by a land or business owner for the “beautification of street-facing facades.” Usual improvements might include windows, signage, lighting, planters and awnings.

Additionally, Brennan previewed a business expansion loan, a relocation assistance incentive and a 50-50 beautification program. The beautification program would offer a cost-share between the village and a business for the purchase of certain exterior improvements.

Officials also floated other business incentives, but Brennan told trustees that they would likely not be ready to go if and when the TIF is ultimately approved.

“There’s a lot of work to do in terms of putting some meat to this bone so to speak,” he said. “There are six categories here but we’ll do the research and figure out how these programs can work and bring some suggestions.

“It may take a few Committee of the Whole discussions to really work out all the details but … it’s unlikely if the board passes TIF … day one there’s (not) funds that need to be spent or are available to spend, so we have a little bit of time to work through this but it’s also important we keep moving forward and have this in place so people know when those funds are there … we have a procedure in place.”

Mendrek said that trustees would like to convene another meeting with small businesses to “talk through these issues” but added that the village likely wants to do “a little more homework before we do that.”

Business owners speak out

Locals who run some of Northfield’s most successful and well-known establishments addressed the board on Tuesday to express their frustrations over the uncertainty that may surround their businesses if TIF is ultimately approved.

The apprehensions brought forward stem from previous claims that the property owners of one of Northfield’s key business hubs on Happ Road may be interested in redeveloping the site in the next handful of years.

Correspondences to the village from Beal Properties, owners of the Northfield Village Center, 300-310 Happ Road — which are available in agenda materials from a previous village meeting — support those hesitations and reveal the possible redevelopment of the center in the next three to five years.

Jordan Shackelford, who owns Shred 415 and SweatShack, both of which are located inside the plaza on Happ Road, questioned where her businesses would relocate if the existing building was redeveloped.

During her public comment, Shackelford said that representatives have approached her and suggested to her the building could be primed for redevelopment.

“Having people come in and make us feel worried; that’s frustrating to me,” she said, adding that she would like to “feel comfortable and not feel like we are at risk at all.”

Shackelford started her comment by saying that her biggest frustration is that the building has no vacancies right now.

“We all are doing really well — we enjoy Northfield,” she said.

Avie Mesinger, who owns U Dawg U in the same center, said he was asked to commit to Northfield and ensure that his business would be in town for the future when he took over the beloved local eatery two years ago.

“Nowhere did I envision nor was it communicated to me that my business and the property that my business is sitting in would be at risk or in jeopardy 18-24 months from now,” he told the board.

“I have no inclination and no intention to wait three to five years to be put out or my business to go out of business,” he added. “I’ve had communities already approach me and ask me if I’d be interested in moving somewhere else on the North Shore. It’s not my intention, but I’m certainly not going to wait to put my employees out of work, to sit there and take 700 to 1,000 meals that we prepare every week to go to no avail.

“My commitment is to the community, but I’m not going to wait to be put out of business. I’ll leave it at that,” he concluded.

Arielle Hofherr — who along with her husband, Sean, owns the community favorite Hofherr Meat Co. also located in Northfield Village Center — asked trustees to consider measures to codify the height of Northfield’s two key business plazas on Happ Road.

Doing so, she said, would “ensure a thriving retail district within those two buildings” and offer less incentive to redevelop those properties.

Mark Koronkiewicz, who along with his wife, Monica, just last year finalized the purchase of Peachtree Place in the business center across the street, asked the board to be far more specific in articulating its plans and goals for the potential TIF district.

“For those of us who are making this really huge investment to stay here — we want to be here — but (we’d like) to get some assurance that there’s not going to be some unilateral wrecking ball coming in and just tearing down blocks at a time,” he said.

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