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D-428 board approves 3M project By BRITTANY KEEPERMAN bkeeperman@shawmedia.com DeKALB – DeKalb School District 428 Superintendent Douglas Moeller said he considered the news that new families might not be flooding the city to work at 3M a win-win for the district. School board members heard a presentation Tuesday with additional information and development surrounding what had been previously known as Project Black Bear. It recently came to light that the company proposing to build a 987,000-square-foot distribution center in DeKalb’s Park 88 is Fortune 100 company 3M, which has existing facilities in the area and may not bring as many jobs as previous-
ly expected, according to city documents. “If the jobs are currently in place, the families are in place and the students are probably already in the school systems,” Moeller said. “The additional tax revenue will help offset our deficit. ... It’s better for us that the families are already in place.” Taxing bodies were originally told the expansion would bring 250 to 300 new jobs to the area. Now, the company plans to close its existing facility at Barber Greene Road and Wirsing Parkway and potentially move employees over, according to city documents. DeKalb County Economic Development Corp. Executive Director Paul Borek said the company hasn’t made a clear-
“The additional tax revenue will help offset our deficit. ... It’s better for us that the families are already in place.” Douglas Moeller District 428 superintendent
cut decision on new hires. “3M hasn’t decided the amount of new job creation that might occur on all of their campuses,” Borek said. The project would cost the company approximately $40 million. 3M is seeking property tax incentives of up to $4 million to offset some of those
expansion costs. Originally, taxing bodies including the District 428, DeKalb Township, the DeKalb Park District, the DeKalb Sanitary District and DeKalb Public Library approved resolutions signaling intent to work with the company on providing tax breaks in the form of a 10-year tax abatement program. Now 3M is seeking the breaks under an existing intergovernmental agreement The intergovernmental property tax abatement program, which was set to expire in December of this year would last five years and begin to generate revenue in year one, according to Borek. “Relative to District 428, the value generation estimate is $81,000 in Year One, $163,000
in Year Two, $408,000 in Years Three, Four and Five and $816,000 each year following,” he said. Board member Rick Smith said he was happy about the project. “Additional revenue that is promised is better than none,” he said. “If we can pencil that in as, ‘Hey, it’s coming,’ Well that’s good,” Value of the abatement remains capped at $4 million, Borek said. That $4 million could have been reached by Year Five or Six under the original 10-year tax abatement program which was one of the factors considered in changing the agreement, he said. “Under the intergovernmental agreement we already
had relationships and understandings with all the taxing-bodies that would help accelerate the approvals,” Borek said. Acceleration of the process was important because the company wants to begin construction as soon as possible, Borek said. Board member Howard Solomon said that while he was a little disappointed to learn that the project wouldn’t increase jobs but said the project would be good for the school district either way. “The project needs to go ahead one way or the other regardless of the jobs because it is going to increase the tax base,” he said. “If we added more [residents] to DeKalb. ... That would be far better,”
CHANGES IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
Seen on Tuesday from the tee box of the 10th hole at the Sycamore Golf Club, water from Monday’s rain caused the Kishwaukee River running through the course to overflow and forced the Sycamore Park District to close the course.
Outdoor activities, roads affected by Monday’s rain By ADAM POULISSE apoulisse@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Scott deOliveira woke up Tuesday and knew what he wouldn’t be doing – playing golf. “I golf in a league, and the first thing I did when I woke up was call the golf course,” said deOliveira, marketing director for the DeKalb Park District, which operates River Heights and Buena Vista golf courses. Both were closed Tuesday. “It’s a common occurrence,” he said. “With the river running through the middle of the courses, they’re prone to flood on occasion.” The heavy rainfall Monday put many outdoor activities such as golfing and farming on hold despite a warm, sunny Tuesday. As DeKalb County dried out, many area roads that were closed Monday reopened. DeKalb reported 2.15 inches of rain collected from Monday, and Elburn reported 4.45 inches, said Gino Izzi, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. There’s a bit of a break in the forecast, with some rain possible Thursday, then again over the weekend. “It looks like the next biggest chance will be over the weekend,” Izzi said, “but it doesn’t look like that big a deal.” DeKalb handed out 200 sandbags Monday, said John Laskowski, the city’s interim public works director. Flooding closed Sycamore Golf Club, 940 E. State St., on Tuesday. Sycamore Park District Executive Director Dan Gibble said in an email he hopes to re-open the front nine today for walking only. That will be decided early today, Gibble said. Jeff Donahoe, superintendent of parks and facilities, said it’s just a matter of waiting for the Kishwaukee River to subside, then the drains, with extra help from pumps, will empty the golf course. “A lot of it is just waiting,” he said. “You pump [out] the area that’s connected to the drain. Once the river is low enough, it drains itself. We clean up what we can, when we can.”
See FLOOD, page A5
Photos by Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
Brian Bozart of Lee installs a new front door keypad while Scot Lohr (back) helps paint the living room Monday at the DeKalb County sober living house at 491 E. State St. in Sycamore. The four-bedroom home, when operational in a month or two, will house seven recovering addicts, all men, and one in-house manager.
Rounding into form
DeKalb County prepares residence for sober living home By ADAM POULISSE apoulisse@shawmedia.com
Mike Douglas (right), coordinator for DeKalb County’s Drug and DUI Court, pours paint into a pan with the help of Serena Frost, Drug and DUI Court probation officer and counselor, Monday in the living room at the DeKalb County sober living house at 491 E. State St. in Sycamore. Douglas hopes to have the house filled and open in one or two months.
SYCAMORE – Scot Lohr of DeKalb said he’s using his community service hours toward something that he hopes will have a significant impact on the community. On Monday afternoon, Lohr was repainting the interior of 491 E. State St., Sycamore, the residential home that is now getting a makeover. By the end of the summer, the property will reopen as the county’s all-male sober living home for those who have gone through the drug court system. “The people who go through this house will be a good resource for the rest of the community,” said Lohr, who was one of 10 people arrested during a drug sweep in August. “It’s an investment in
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WHERE IT’S AT
Hoagie holiday
Accord reached
Fatal accident
Celebrate Father’s Day with sandwiches for Dad / B10
District 424, teachers union agree to four-year contract / A4
Sycamore man dies after crash near Janesville, Wis. / A4
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the community that will pay dividends that people don’t realize yet.” The property was previously a two-unit home with private entrances outside. The most prominent renovation will be removing a dividing wall to create access to the staircase from both floors from the inside, according to Mike Douglas, coordinator for the county’s Drug and DUI Court. Renovations will cost about $5,000, plus an additional $15,000 for a sprinkler system, Douglas said. “We’re just getting started,” Douglas said. “It’s mostly just painting. We do have a bit more work to do.” The house consists of two stories plus a basement. It has four
See SOBER HOUSE, page A5
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