Northfield advisory board opposes TIF proposal, elevating the threshold needed for final approval

A Village of Northfield advisory board voted on Thursday against a proposal to create a new tax increment financing district, raising the bar for its potential approval. 

The Northfield Joint Review Board voted 6-2 to recommend the Village Board deny creating what is commonly referred to as a TIF district, a financial tool that would divert a portion of the town’s property tax revenue toward economic development initiatives.

The JRB — a statutorily created body designated to formally review TIF district proposals — consisted of representatives from various taxing bodies in the proposed TIF district. 

Representatives from Avoca School District 37, New Trier Township High School District 203, Sunset Ridge School District 29, Northfield Township, Oakton Community College, and the board’s public member voted to recommend the Village Board deny creating the TIF district.

The Village of Northfield and the Winnetka-Northfield Public Library District voted against the recommendation to deny the TIF district. Cook County, and the Northfield and Winnetka Park Districts abstained from the vote. 

As a result of the advisory board’s opposition to the TIF district, the Northfield Village Board will now need to reach a three-fifths majority to formally approve creating the district. The Village Board is scheduled to next meet at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 25. 

The hearing was only the latest on what has become a divisive proposal. Proponents argue it’s needed to fund infrastructure enhancements and boost stagnated growth, while detractors have suggested Northfield is already seeing private development and a TIF district will hurt local school districts. 

Village staff had to carry spare chairs into the board room Thursday afternoon to accommodate the more than 70 people in attendance. At least a dozen in the audience wore stickers and hats with “TIF” crossed out in red, communicating their clear opposition to the proposal.

“I thought (the vote) was appropriate because everyone still has so many more questions and a good idea will stand the test of time,” Beverly Smith, chair of the Northfield Village Caucus, said after the hearing. “There’s no reason we can’t take more time on this.”

School districts, public voice opposition

A village webpage shows the proposed TIF district would primarily cover downtown Northfield and run along stretches of West Frontage Road, Willow Road and Northfield Road — areas where property taxes fund several local school districts.

In a presentation prepared by Avoca D37, New Trier Township High School D203 and Sunset Ridge D29, the school districts argued the proposed TIF could divert a “substantial” sum of up to $169 million away from the schools over the maximum 23-year lifespan of the project. 

The school districts argued recent zoning changes the Village Board approved are already spurring private development, the TIF district would collect far more than the $175 million the village projected and Northfield’s own comprehensive plan outlines protecting school funding. 

Representatives from the school districts also argued there are alternative ways the village could fund infrastructure improvements and stir development without a TIF district, points made in a previous meeting.

Several Northfield residents voiced opposition to the proposal. One argued the village already has a large amount of unique businesses that could be threatened by more development and another referenced a petition with over 1,000 signatures requesting the village slow its process.

“As a business owner, I’m not opposed to growth and many of my colleagues are not either,” Avie Mesinger, owner of the Northfield restaurant U Dawg U, said in speaking against the TIF district. “I’m opposed to growth that does not adequately consider its consequences.”

“We should be asking how we can preserve existing businesses, encourage them to reinvest in the community and allow them to grow responsibly and make sure that they have a fair opportunity to succeed in the community.”

Charlie Pick — the sole “Public Member” of the JRB, a D29 school board member and developer who owns property in the proposed TIF district — argued tax payer assistance likely wouldn’t spur business and a TIF district Kenilworth created in 2019 did not spur new private construction.

Village manager speaks in favor

A village webpage states the TIF district would allow Northfield to reinvest property tax revenue generated by new development back into the area to “remove barriers to investment, support economic growth, and enhance the community without raising tax rates.”

Speaking in favor of the proposed TIF district, Patrick Brennan, Northfield’s village manager, said school districts’ revenues wouldn’t be disrupted because they would still receive their base tax levies, only revenue from new property growth in the TIF district would be diverted.

The school districts are already “doing very well financially,” Brennan said, and a memo from his office states it’s false that local schools would lose out on millions of property tax dollars from new development because that new development won’t happen without a TIF district. 

Brennan argued that one development currently under construction and another that is “likely to be built” doesn’t count as “widespread active growth” in the village. Evidence shows growth has lagged in the Northfield by 19% over the last five years, he said. 

Brennan said the TIF Act allows Northfield to consider the tool without exhausting other funding opportunities, as others have apparently argued, and that the line in the comprehensive plan outlining support for school district funding is just one subsection of a detailed document.

Many other parts of the Northfield’s comprehensive plan point to supporting a “vibrant downtown” and the village board determined that the “least impactful option to the taxpayers” was pursuing a TIF district, Brennan said. 

If the TIF district succeeds in spurring a growth in development, residents will pay less for their share of property taxes and the village can “scale back” the TIF district, Brennan said.

“Fundamentally, the school boards, the library, the park districts, every taxing body in here has a duty to do what they think is best for their district, their area,” Brennan said. 

“But the Village Board needs to do what they do is best for the overall Village Board, and that’s why information like this is super helpful.”

The JRB put forth two motions, one in favor of the TIF and one against the TIF, that both failed to reach the majority amount of votes needed before the advisory board finally reached their 6-2 recommendation to deny creating the district.

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