Title/Name/Summary
Appearance Improvement Grant Amendment
History
QUICKFACTS
Project
Appearance Improvement Grant Amendment - 2014-0060
Petitioner
Development Services Department
Purpose
Update the Appearance Improvement Grant to waive building permit fees for projects participating in the grant program.
Requested Actions: Program Amendment
OVERVIEW AND BACKGROUND
The Appearance Improvement Grant was approved by the Village Board of Trustees on Feb. 4, 2013. It is the continuation of the Façade Improvement Program with a larger scope for commercial and landmark properties Village-wide.
The Appearance Improvement Grant awards businesses with eligible projects a grant worth 50% of the cost of work up to $20,000.
A draft of the amended program is attached for further review of what constitutes an eligible project for businesses.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION & CONTEXT
The proposed update to the Appearance Improvement Grant is to waive the building permit fees for participating businesses. When considering the cost of capital projects, building permit fees are often a line item that developers or business owners must factor. It is part of the project cost.
The intent of the Appearance Improvement Grant is to award businesses with a financial incentive to complete much needed appearance upgrades to aged buildings and infrastructure. The full grant amount is supposed to go toward helping with the construction costs. In effect, however, when the Village awards a $20,000 grant, the business is technically receiving $20,000 minus the building permit fees that are due, which can range between a couple hundred dollars to $5,000 or more depending on the size of the project. When a project seeks less than the maximum grant amount, building permit fees substantially eat into the incentive's purchasing power. Businesses are effectively receiving much less because they are essentially returning a portion of the incentive to pay for building permit fees. This reduces the effectiveness of the incentive.
Waiving building permit fees for businesses participating in the Appearance Improvement Grant is intended to enhance the incentive’s purchase power and make the grant that much more attractive.
The update is also intended to be retroactively applied to the two previously approved AIG projects: Twin Towers Sanctuary and Joon Lee’s Tae Kwon Do Studio.
DEVELOPMENT SERVICES AND PLANNING COMMITTEE MOTION
On March 17, 2014, the Development Services and Planning Committee, by a vote of 3-0, moved to recommend to the Village Board to approve the update to the Appearance Improvement Grant to waive building permit fees for all participating businesses.
This case is now before the Village Board of Trustees for consideration.
Financial Impact
An exact financial impact of waiving these fees is difficult to calculate. It is reasonable that waiving fees would result in reduced Village revenues. At the same time, however, many Appearance Improvement Grant applicants may not complete building improvements but for the grant, and therefore wouldn't pay permit fees anyway. For 2014, the AIG grant program is estimated to waive $2,000-$6,000 in building fees.
This case is now before the Board of Trustees for final review/approval.
Recommended Action/Motion
I move to approve the update to the Appearance Improvement Grant program to waive building permit fees for all participating businesses.