Shabbona annexes land for industrial park
By ELENA GRIMM egrimm@daily-chronicle.com
SHABBONA – The Shabbona Village Board on Wednesday unanimously approved annexing 272 acres of land on the village's western end to develop an industrial park.
In separate motions, the board approved an annexation agreement, annexed three parcels and rezoned the land from agricultural to industrial use. The rezoning still allows agricultural activity as a special use, with the exception of livestock farming.
The annexed land lies between Challand Road and the current village limits, and is bounded by Illinois Route 30 to the south and the railroad tracks to the north.
The first tenant will be local headquarters for the nearby wind farm. FPL Energy Illinois Wind LLC owns the land closest to the village and plans to build an operations and maintenance center there.
"Construction will begin once we're granted building permits from the village," Anthony Pedroni, project manager for FPL, said Thursday. "We anticipate it will take three months to complete construction. We expect to be done and the building occupied in January."
The wind farm is under construction, with turbines expected to be operating by the end of the year – before the local office will be finished. Until it's ready to use, temporary trailers will be needed to operate the wind turbines, Pedroni said.
Fourteen staff have been hired – nine live in DeKalb County or within 45 minutes from the site – and as many as 22 will be needed to run the farm, he said.
The main concerns stemming from the annexation were whether the village would pay for sewer and water hookups, and whether the land should be considered for TIF eligibility, Village President Claudia Hicks said Thursday.
A TIF, or tax increment financing district, allows taxing bodies to invest in specific areas that have been identified as having physical and economic deficiencies by applying new revenue generated within the TIF district to new development or redevelopment efforts in that area for a set number of years.
"We had a very preliminary discussion on TIF and what to do to get started on it," Hicks said.
She said developers would like a TIF inclusion as an incentive to locate there. But it would be up to the board to consider going ahead with the process, a lengthy procedure that includes identifying blight, putting together a redevelopment plan and getting input from all local taxing bodies and the public.
The first tenant is open to the TIF idea.
"We want to be an active participant and see the industrial park develop into a high-quality location that attracts other strong businesses to Shabbona," Pedroni said. "If TIF is the right answer, we want to make sure we do our part."
The annexation agreement does not obligate Shabbona to connect sewer and water to the park, though Hicks said it is something to be decided as development begins.
The wind farm office will initially be using well water and a septic system, but village infrastructure would be "a welcome sight," Pedroni said, as more businesses move in.
Now that the annexation hurdle has been crossed, Hicks hopes that will happen soon. Shabbona's involvement in the DeKalb County Economic Development Corp. may also provide some leverage, she said.
"Let's take one thing at a time," she said. "You can't expect people to come in until you have some place they can go."
