Loves Park Considers New Taxing District To Spur Growth, Fund Improvements Along Riverside Boulevard
By Kevin Haas
ROCK RIVER CURRENT
LOVES PARK — The city is considering creating a special sales tax district along East Riverside Boulevard that could generate revenue to pay for improvements along the corridor and incentivize future growth.
Loves Park plans to hire a consultant to study the creation of a business development district, which levies an additional 1% sales tax on all purchases within the boundaries and funnels that money toward improvements. The tax does not apply to groceries, prescription medications or auto sales.
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The proposed boundaries, which could be adjusted during the study, would generally run along the north side of Riverside Boulevard between Mulford Road and Argyle Road near Mercyhealth Sportscore Two. It would go north along Perryville Road roughly to Nimtz Road. Businesses along the south side of Riverside are in the city of Rockford.
“This is preliminary. We have to do the study, and we’re reaching out to some of the businesses to get their feel on it,” said Nate Bruck, the city’s economic development and planning manager.
Such districts are already in place in four locations around the city, including the Meadow Mart Shopping Center on North Second Street and near Forest Hills Road and Riverside Boulevard, where the additional tax revenue helped pay for improvements that paved the way for a new Aldi’s grocery store.
A business development district was also part of the pay-as-you-go incentive package for the redevelopment of Rockford Speedway, where roadwork is underway now as the racetrack continues with its 76th and final season.
The city of Loves Park is considering the creation of a business development district along East Riverside Boulevard. Such districts levy a 1% sales tax that generate revenue for future improvements. (Image via Loves Park City Council documents)
The city hasn’t named any developers or individual businesses that it would offer incentives to, but Bruck said there are potential businesses in talks with the city that could take advantage of the incentives.
The revenue generated from the additional sales tax could also help spur development in a future entertainment district around Mercyhealth Sportscore Two and Rivets Stadium. Part of the pitch for that district is a box market village, in which multiple businesses operate out of shipping containers in a walkable, open marketplace. Box markets, as they’re sometimes called, are already used in places such as Chicago, Greenville, South Carolina, and London.
“We’re putting together an incentive package that we want to have in place that we want to be able to take to potential developers,” Bruck said. “We have our land-use plan, but we also want to have that economic development piece to it.”
Alderwoman A. Marie Holmes, who represents the 5th Ward where the district is proposed, said such districts have proved successful in Loves Park in the past. She’s in favor of moving forward with the district along East Riverside, pending the outcome of the study and feedback from business owners.
“We need something else out there,” Holmes said. “But without a study from the consultant letting us know what can and should be, there’s not much that we can say.”
Holmes said she will talk with business owners if they have concerns.
“They relatively trust us because we’ve been fair to them and try to do what’s best for our businesses,” she said. “If there’s something they don’t like, they’ll come and tell you right away.”
If the business district is put in place, it would raise the overall sales tax rate in that area from 8.75% to 9.75%. The rate is 8.75% in Rockford. Some of the businesses that could be effected include Farm & Fleet, Costco and Happy Cannabis.
“These are businesses we’re going to be talking to,” Bruck said. “We don’t want to hurt their business.”