Frankfort has approved new demolition standards in response to neighborhood complaints about recent downtown home tear-downs.
Trustees also voted Tuesday to study what would be the village’s first tax-increment financing district, and signed off on several engineering contracts tied to road and wastewater treatment improvements.
The demolition ordinance, which applies to new applications, requires developers to either follow a submitted construction schedule or restore a site to grade level within 30 days. That means, for example, a contractor could not start a project in late fall and leave an excavated foundation and accompanying dirt piles in place until after a spring thaw.
More Top Picks Apple Earpods Usb C
“They may want to put that dirt there for months,” Trustee Robert Kennedy said. “We’re really being conscientious of the impact to the neighborhoods when there is a tear-down going on.”
Projects also will be required to have 5-foot-tall screened fencing on all sides, and noncompliance could lead to fines of $100-$750 a day. It wasn’t immediately clear what fines the village could have imposed prior to the new ordinance.
The new rules apply to the entire village. But Frankfort officials acknowledge they come in response to complaints from residents unhappy with at least two recent village approvals for large new homes to be built on downtown lots that housed smaller, century-old houses.
Trustees also voted to spend $20,678 on a study of downtown parking needs, which Mayor Jim Holland described in relation to the new demolition rules.
“Both of these are reflection of this board’s concern for the special character of Downtown Frankfort,” Holland said. “It’s something that is important to everyone in our community. Our downtown is a special place.”
The Village Board approved more than $1.2 million in spending Tuesday, with $1 million going to engineering work that is part of a multi-year plan to consolidate and upgrade the village wastewater treatment system.
Another $46,000 will go to upgrade the village public works facility at 524 Center Road, with about $200,000 earmarked for engineering of possible Harlem Avenue upgrades and a proposed Hickory Creek walking and biking trail. Both transportation projects are contenders for grant dollars, but are not close to breaking ground.
Trustees, meanwhile, want to test the waters on using property tax givebacks to lure investment to the new Interstate 57 interchange at Stuenkel Road.
Village Administrator Jerry Ducay said the site could be a fit for an industrial office center, but the area has wetland and flood plain issues and would require significant investment to extend utilities.
A $25,000 study by SB Friedman Development that trustees approved Tuesday will look into the feasibility of using tax-increment financing. Trustee Doug Walker said the study first will examine whether the area is eligible for such funding.
“If so, there will be many discussions and decisions to be made in the future,” Walker said.
A tax-increment financing district siphons a portion of property tax dollars from an area to fund a specific purpose, often infrastructure improvements at a new development or business improvements in a historical area.
Patrick Guinane is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.