Residents Near Signode or Pearson Properties: Pay Attention!
On July 19, 2022, the Board of Trustees in attendance unanimously approved (4-0) the Cook County 6(b) Real Estate Tax Incentives Dermody Properties at the Allstate property:
an economic incentive agreement, and
a resolution from Glenview in support of a Cook County 6(b) real estate tax incentive.
The vote was 4-0 (COOPER, DEBONI, GITLES, SIDOTI). 2 Trustees were absent (BLAND, DORON). By approving a Class 6B for Dermody, the development community now knows that the Village of Glenview supports Class 6B property tax incentives on speculative industrial developments. If Glenview wants to be the North Shore community that welcomes them, they will come to Glenview. There are reasons why some communities have these industrial projects, and others reject them, much less give them a property tax break for building there. Prior to Tuesday night, for 25+ years, Glenview had limited Class 6B only to those with known occupants and quantifiable benefits, a “build to suit” project. Glenview had agreed to do very few of those, too. There is a reason why Glenview has not done a Class 6B incentive as given to Dermody before. Still, a mystery here is why Glenview felt the need to compete with Prospect Heights, and why Glenview is giving Prospect Heights what it is giving them. That remains unexplained. Other than your tax bill subsidizing this project, why should you care? Glenview has two vacant parcels large enough something similar to Dermody in size: · Signode, 3650 West Lake Street – 56 acres · Pearson Education, 1900 East Lake Avenue – 19 acres DOWNLOAD SIGNODE ZONING MAP DOWNLOAD PEARSON ZONING MAP In contrast, directly off Willow Road on either side of Sanders Road, Dermody’s “Phase 1” has two buildings on 30 acres east of Sanders Road and three buildings on 66 acres west of Sanders Road. DOWNLOAD DERMODY ZONING MAP Dermody’s project has resulted in data centers or freight logistics now being permissible land uses by right in the “I-2 Light Industrial District”. This is important because both the Signode and Pearson parcels are also zoned “I-2 Light Industrial District”. With Dermody’s Class 6B, a precedent has now been for a proposed development at either of those two sites, and a developer wanting the same 6B property tax break. Dermody leveraging Prospect Heights against Glenview should not be a reason why they get a competitive property tax advantage. How can the Village refuse to give another development doing the same project in Glenview a Class 6B? This Dermody project gives a potential developer leverage over the Signode and Pearson neighbors, even if they have no intention of building such an industrial property. Right now, if a developer wants to build a large apartment building complex, the site needs to be rezoned. Conceivably, a developer can propose to build an industrial project, which they now have the legal right to build, and then offer to drop those plans if the neighboring property owners agree to rezone from “industrial” to “residential”. The Dermody project is leveraged to get them to accept a large apartment complex. After Dermody, those neighboring property owners are now being put in a very bad position here. Relative to the Class 6B break to Dermody, the Trustees offered up justifications for doing it. Trustee DeBoni (0:51 mark) appeared to understand that Glenview had not done Class 6B for a speculative project before, but was fine with the developer citing a speculative number of employees and not identifying any tenants for Phase I. There was no recognition of the precedent that was being set by giving this incentive to this developer. Trustee Sidoti thanked the developer for sending him comparable properties (0:59 mark). He said he went on a “field trip”. He did not say where he went, but mentioned facilities in Niles and the Elk Grove Technology Park that are “Class 6B approved sites”. Trustee Sidoti did not cite the address to which Niles property he was referring. Again, is Glenview competing with Niles? “Elk Grove Technology Park” is the largest industrial park in the United States. It is not comparable to this site in Glenview. In fact, Elk Grove Village will offer more tax incentives to develop at this industrial park than Class 6B, including tax increment financing. Geographically, it is not at all comparable; it has easy access to all major highways and is less than three miles away from O'Hare International Airport. What does comparing Elk Grove Village have to do with Glenview? Is Glenview now viewing Niles and Elk Grove Village as its comparable communities? Trustee Sidoti (1:47 mark) called concerns about Class 6B to be a “red herring” that does not hurt the public, and stated with a lesser tax burden, he has “no doubt” that Dermody will use the tax savings to support the initiatives to which Dermody is committing. As far as those commitments summarized in the previous email (Village Board Approves Dermody Development), Dermody gave itself a goal, not a legal obligation. Their stated reason for the tax break is to equalize the tax burden, not put more money into this project on things on sustainability. Trustee Sidoti can believe what he wants, but Dermody is running a for-profit operation, and their duty is to their investors, who will want tax savings in their bottom line cash flow. There is nothing here that obligates them to “put their money where their mouth is”. They are not a charity. Trustee Gitles (2:04 mark) argued the Class 6B as being appropriate because Dermody was developing an entire site to activate this property “quickly and efficiently”. However, that is not the nature of Dermody’s project here. Dermody is building this project out in as many as three phases and there is no "target period of five years". Dermody controls whether to build at all. Trustee Gitles reasoning does not justify starting to support Class 6B incentives on speculative projects. I think this will be 100% occupied, for the reasons I stated in my letter to the Trustees, but if the market goes bad, it can be a huge vacant lot too. The same argument could be made by a developer for the Signode and Pearson sites asking for a Class 6B, i.e., one large site, one developer. William J. Seitz Chair,1850 Glenview Road Facts 1850glenviewroadfacts@gmail.com
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