Loves Park could incentivize development around Rockford Speedway and another business corridor

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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LOVES PARK — The city is laying the groundwork to incentivize development in two corridors where it sees untapped potential for business growth.

It has targeted land near the intersection of West Lane and Forest Hills roads that includes and surrounds the Rockford Speedway. A second area is north of Riverside Boulevard along McFarland Road.

Property surrounding the Speedway is the only land in Loves Park’s boundaries in the Illinois 173 development corridor, which has seen dozens of businesses sprout on the Machesney Park side of the road over the past decade. But the patch of land in Loves Park hasn’t been developed.

“We’re hoping with some incentives it could spur some development out there,” said Attorney Gino Galluzzo of AGHL Law, which represents the city.

David Deery, the Speedway’s general manager, said land the Speedway owns to the west of the track be developed with incentives in place.

The Speedway just wrapped up its annual run and is preparing for its 75th season next year.

“We’re still racing, we’re just being a little more proactive with our (unused) land,” Deery said.

Galluzzo said the city must work proactively to attract developers rather than wait for one to come forward.

“You have to create these in advance and then market them to try to get people interested in going there to take the risk on the investment,” Galluzzo said. “We’ve been really fortunate in one hand and really aggressive in the other in making sure we’re business-friendly in a number of levels.”

Related: Costco’s arrival helped Loves Park weather the pandemic

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The city is considering two mechanisms to spur development: a tax-increment finance district and a business development district.

Tax-increment finance, or TIF, districts capture any increase in property tax revenue that comes from improvements in a special fund that can be used to pay for infrastructure or to provide business incentives. The city has five TIF districts, including three industrial jobs recovery TIFs.

A business development district allows for the city to collect up to 1% in additional sales taxes from the companies within the area and use that revenue for improvements or incentives. In Loves Park, there are two business development districts. One covers the Meadow Mart shopping strip along North Second Street and the other includes the former Kmart property near Forest Hills Road and Riverside Boulevard.

Inside those business districts shoppers pay 9.75% sales tax instead of the 8.75% rate they pay elsewhere in the city.

Related: Aldi’s relocating to Forest Hills Road and Riverside Boulevard

Dan Jacobson, a 1st Ward alderman who represents the area that includes the Speedway, said Contractor’s Drive south of the Speedway is in dire need of work.

The land the Speedway owns to the west has been a fill site over the last several years, but now it’s filled and ready for development, Jacobson said.

“It’s a prime commercial corridor. That site just has some obstacles,” Jacobson said. “It needs some incentives to induce someone to jump in and look at a redevelopment opportunity.”

Creating the TIFs and business development districts is a monthslong process. Last week, the City Council approved moving forward with a feasibility study and an agreement that allows it to recover some of the setup costs should the districts be approved.

Loves Park, which relies on sales tax to pay for everything from public infrastructure to police and firefighters, does not levy its own property tax. Attracting new development is vital to continuing to pay the increased costs all municipalities face, Galluzzo said.

“We’ve had a lot of growth, which has really kept us as a city to be financially stronger than most cities that don’t collect a property tax,” Galluzzo said. “We have to continue to be out there looking to be business friendly to grow our business corridors so that we can continue to be a city that doesn’t levy a property tax.”

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas.