Trustees Tweak Plan to Select Downtown Redevelopment Firm, TIF Consultant

“We have to have our house in better order,” said Bob Vitas, village administrator, as he outlined the final draft of the request for qualifications (RFQ) designed to seed out the best firm to handle downtown redevelopment.

Vitas made the presentation to the board of trustees at its Tuesday night meeting. Board meetings are normally held on Monday evenings but this meeting was moved due to the President’s Day holiday. The board requested some changes to the new plan.

“How we use our land, create incentives and do our best to attract a developer or developers; that is one of our goals,” said Vitas.

Vitas said he wants to bring on a consultant to guide the village in such decisions. He added that whatever firm is hired would also provide a financial analysis. 

What that would accomplish, in part, would be to address the $30 million in debt in the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) which is due in 2014.  A consultant would assist in making decisions regarding what type of development could ease that financial burden.

“It is our financial goal to remove the TIF debt, and to attain the vision resulting from the master plan and charettes process,” Vitas added.

Trustees raised questions and concerns about the RFQ draft document that Vitas summarized during his presentation.

“I am concerned that we aren’t giving the consultants enough time, if it takes a couple more weeks I’m OK with that,” said Tom Poynton, trustee.

“I agree, we shouldn’t rush this process after all that has gone on,” said Dana Rzeznik, trustee.

Within the RFQ as presented by Vitas, a Friday, March 11, deadline was scheduled requiring the nine potential firms on the list to respond to the village stating their qualifications and interest in the project. 

Since the RFQ hasn't yet been finalized, firms would have just two weeks as of today’s date to prepare the required documents.

“This is an aggressive schedule to give companies time to respond,” Vitas agreed. “We can move the date to March 25 to give them more time.”

Per the document, the evaluation committee to interview potential firms was to consist of Mayor Suzanne Branding, Roy Witherow, assistant village administrator, Al Zochowski, finance director, Vijay Gadde planning manager, Dan Peterson, director of building and zoning, and Vitas.

“I am curious why there isn’t at least one board member along with the mayor on the evaluation committee as we have done in the past?” Jeff Halen, trustee asked.

Mayor Branding immediately stated she wouldn't be sitting on the committee. 

In the past, the mayor has recused herself from any agenda items and resulting votes relating to the TIF district.  That's because she resides and owns a business located in the TIF, and has chosen to avoid any conflicts of interest.

Vitas said he would determine which two board members would be included on the evaluation committee based on who was interested.

Trustee Halen also suggested the document be revised to outline not only Phase 1 of the plan, but also Phases 2 and 3 so prospective firms understand the scope of qualifications needed to bring downtown development to fruition.

Phase 1 includes the economic analysis of the debt in the TIF district, an overall view of the current financial conditions and what type of development would make financial sense for the village.

Finding a specific developer or developers would be incorporated in Phase 2, and Phase 3 would consist of project oversight to ensure the consultant is delivering what they said they would, said Vitas.

“If we do this, I want to do this right,” said Halen.

Vitas said the RFQ would be revised to add in the last two phases of the plan.

“With the plan we couldn’t get together, we had infrastructure needs set aside, so now that would be on the public’s nickel,” Jim Johnson, trustee pointed out.

“Also the row of buildings on the Comet Welding strip that are condemned and unusable are now our responsibility,” said Johnson.

Vitas conceded that the village does have the responsibility to clean up buildings with environmental issues, as well as providing infrastructure improvements.

But Vitas is positive about the benefits received by the village resulting from working with a consultant.

“There is an opportunity to be gained, to learn from the experts on what we need to do to get our hands firmly around the financial gap analysis, so we can look at developers,” said Vitas.

“We have a limited amount of land, we need some guidance and professional assistance,” said Vitas.

Due to previous attempts to redevelop the downtown area, there are plans for whichever firm is potentially hired to springboard from; they include charettes that outline design and the form based code which dictates building facades, public spaces and how they relate to one another.

Vitas said a TIF consultant has the expertise to spell out what types of development are currently seeing success, and what would be ideal for Lake Zurich specifically in the plan moving forward.

“As we look at taking on a consultant, we are looking to have them explain what the gap is, based on the economic conditions of the metropolitan area; they will explain what’s going on (now) and what we can expect to go on,” said Vitas.

“I think the RFQ is an appropriate tool for us; everyone on the board has their own ideas, I think luxury apartment rentals are one idea, let the experts come in and tell us what will work,” said Rzeznik.

Once revised, the RFQ will be sent out to the nine firms which were identified by village staff through the Illinois Tax Increment Finance Association and the Illinois Chapter of the American Planning Association.

The first tier of consultants identified include (in order) 1. The Buckley Companies, 2. Camiros, 3. Ehlers & Associates, 4. Kane, McKenna & Associates, 5. S.B. Friedman & Company, and 6. Teska Associates.

Three companies were listed in the second tier of conslutants; 1. Ancel Glink Diamond Bush DiCianni & Krafthefer, 2. Bell, Boyd and Lloyd, 3. The Lakota Group.

Vitas said he is still confident he and his staff can meet the Monday, April 4, deadline to present a recommendation of the most qualified consultant to the board.

“We want to do our due diligence in house, so we can do our due diligence outside,” said Vitas.