Brookfield’s proposed Ogden Avenue tax increment financing district (TIF) appears to have widespread support in the community, even from those who expressed some criticism at a public meeting on April 15 at the village hall.
The meeting was the first of several opportunities for the public to give direct input on the TIF issue, and drew between 75 and 100 people. And while there was some criticism of aspects of the TIF and how it is being handled by village staff, most people appeared supportive of the plan, which has as its goal the economic revitalization of Ogden Avenue.
“TIF, to me breeds optimism and opportunity,” said Brookfield resident Charles Grund, one of a dozen people who came forward to comment for the record on the issue. Grund is a member of the Brookfield Plan Commission.
“I’ve seen CVS and a couple of restaurants come and go,” Grund added. “I haven’t seen anything else, quite frankly. If we don’t [create the TIF] it’ll be a missed opportunity. It’s time to clean [Ogden Avenue] up.”
That kind of statement was in marked contrast to the first public meeting on a proposed TIF in downtown Riverside. At that meeting, over 200 people attended and a stream of speakers denounced that TIF plan. Village officials in Riverside eventually killed the plan.
Based on last week’s meeting in Brookfield, the Ogden TIF plan appears to be on a relative fast track.
“I don’t think there was a single person in the audience who thinks [Ogden Avenue] is going to get better by itself,” said Village President Michael Garvey, who attended but did not participate in the meeting.
“Nothing happened at the meeting that would deter the board from moving forward.”
The next time the public will be able to give input on the TIF will be at a public hearing to be held most likely in June. The date for the public hearing has not been set.
The village board must pass a resolution setting the dates for both that public hearing and the first meeting of the Joint Review Board, which includes representatives from all of the taxing bodies within the proposed TIF district.
The Joint Review Board will complete its report prior to the public hearing.
While the TIF plan looks to have general support, residents who own single-family homes within the proposed TIF map expressed fear that the village might exercise eminent domain powers to assemble land for redevelopment.
Jim Carlson, who lives just south of Ogden Avenue on Park Avenue, feared that the value of his property might fall if included in the TIF area. He requested that his property be removed from the map.
“If I have to move, who is going to buy my property if I have to disclose it’s in a TIF district?” Carlson asked.
Assistant Village Manager Keith Sbiral said that the final TIF boundaries have not been set and that staff may “go back and make sure the analysis of that section was correct.”
However, he said it was impossible to start cherry picking properties out of the map by homeowner request.
“If you start piecemealing properties out, you start to make what we’re doing ineffective in the long run.”
At least one homeowner north of Ogden Avenue wanted more answers about plans for redevelopment near the western boundary of the village.
“You have an agenda and you’re not telling us what it is,” said Christine Baker, who lives on Blanchan Avenue north of Ogden. Her home falls within Brookfield’s C-2 district, a commercial district at the western gateway to the village created many years ago and identified as an area ripe for commercial redevelopment.
The area includes commercial as well as single- and multi-family residential property. A 21-unit townhome development has been approved for the eastern edge of the C-2 district in the 4000 block of DuBois Boulevard.
Baker said she has received several calls from developers inquiring about her property and has not ruled out the possibility of selling. But she wants a clearer idea of what the village plans for the area.
“I’ll gladly give up my home if this development is going to benefit everybody, but I’m not if you don’t know what you’re doing.”
Sbiral, who presided over the public meeting, said that the village’s intent for the area is outlined in the Brookfield 2020 Master Plan, but that it was impossible to predict exactly what kind of redevelopment might occur.
“I think that’s completely infeasible,” said Sbiral in a separate interview. “It’s the farthest thing for what the village would want to do. People don’t want government or staff coming up with how the town is going to look.”
He added that the 2020 Master Plan, which shows the C-2 district as the home for either a grocery store or mixed-use development, should not be viewed as a blueprint.
“A lot of people felt that [the master plan] was going to be built,” Sbiral said. “It’s a concept, not a blueprint.”
Mike Slinkman, who owns an apartment building within the C-2 district, said the TIF could provide incentive for development that otherwise would not happen. Slinkman was the developer of the Riverwalk condos in Lyons, which is in a TIF district.
“That development wouldn’t have happened without a TIF,” said Slinkman, who later added that the two new buildings in Lyons generate $180,000 annually in property taxes in an area that generated $15,000 prior to redevelopment.
Slinkman, however, suggested that the village write into the TIF plan a resolution that Brookfield will not attempt to acquire property through eminent domain in order to ease the minds of residents whose homes fall within the TIF boundary.
Such a resolution was pushed for in Riverside. Initially it was opposed by the village board. Eventually, such a resolution was embraced, thought it was too late to save that plan.
Sbiral was lukewarm to the suggestion. In a follow-up interview, he stated that future boards would not necessarily be bound by such a resolution.
“I’d hesitate to pitch a solution that can be changed in the future,” Sbiral said. “Eminent domain is a tool that very few towns use, because it’s highly unpopular.”
Village trustees have previously stated on the record that they will not use eminent domain to acquire property.