TUESDAY
July 14 , 2015 • $1.0 0
LACING UP THE CLEATS
DAILY CHRONICLE
Sycamore football prepares for season, deep playoff run / B1 HIGH
77 54 Complete forecast on page A8
daily-chronicle.com
SERVING DEKALB COUNTY SINCE 1879
LOW
Facebook.com/dailychronicle
@dailychronicle
DeKalb council OKs 3M plan Tax abatement program passes on unanimous vote By BRITTANY KEEPERMAN bkeeperman@shawmedia.com DeKALB – The decision to approve an intergovernmental tax-abatement program with 3M was a “no brainer” to 6th Ward Alderman Dave Baker. The DeKalb City Council met Monday and unanimously approved property tax breaks up to $4 million for 3M, the Minnesota-based company that plans to expand existing facilities and create an interconnected campus with its building at Macom Drive in Park 88. “There’s no way we want to send a message to any For-
tune 100 companies that might be thinking about developing here, that we won’t continue helping them to stay,” Baker said “We have so much vacant land, ready to go.” The owner of the land, Park 88 Group LLC plans to invest $40 million in the project which will include construction of a 987,500-square foot building, which will serve as a distribution center, in Park 88. 3M will lease the building and plans to move 250 employees over from its existing property at Barber Greene Road and Wirsing Parkway. The question of net job increase was on 1st Ward Alder-
Illinois company says it’s growing medical marijuana
DeKalb Park District, DeKalb public library and other taxing-bodies included in the deal haven’t objected. Fourth Ward Alderman Bob Snow said that he looked to those other governments when considering the vote, since the city’s share of the taxes is only about 7 percent. He’d follow their lead, he said. “We have a pretty small share,” he said. 3M also received property tax breaks when it leased buildings at 1250 Macom Drive, 1211 Fairview Drive and 2600 Wirsing Parkway, according to a 2014 DeKalb County report.
The Associated Press
Monica Synett file photo – msynett@shawmedia.com
Morning swim manager and instructor Jackie Owensby supports Caroline Montgomery, 5, as she swims during a beginners preschool swim class July 3 at Hopkins Park Pool.
Cities’ pools suffering wear-and-tear, have ADA issues
See MARIJUANA, page A4
By ADAM POULISSE apoulisse@shawmedia.com
AP photo
This photo shows Ataraxia’s facility Monday in Albion, where medical marijuana is being cultivated. Officials at Ataraxia in southeastern Illinois said the facility received state authorization July 10 and has started cultivating the genetic strains that will be the basis of their products.
utive director of the DeKalb County Economic Development Corp. “We’ve had a dozen requests in the past four or five years for buildings in the range of 200,000 to 300,000 square feet,” he said. “In fact, our offices were called by a real estate broker in the Fox Valley area requesting information about these buildings and when they might be available.” Over a 10 year period the project is anticipated to generate $8.7 million to all the taxing bodies, Borek said. “It will generate $687,000 in property tax to the city of DeKalb,” Borek said “It was also generate new utility taxes at approximately $50,000 a year, so that’s another $500,000.”
Swirling below the surface
By CARLA K. JOHNSON CHICAGO – Illinois’ medical marijuana program reached an important milestone Monday with the announcement that at least one of the authorized companies has started growing plants. Officials at Ataraxia in southeastern Illinois said the facility received state authorization Friday and has started cultivating the genetic strains that will be the basis of their products. “We’ll have a range of products available in October,” Ataraxia CEO George Archos said. The company plans to produce oils, edibles and creams in addition to marijuana for smoking and vaporizing. When Ataraxia reaches full-scale production, it will grow cannabis year-round at its 52,000-square-foot facility in the Edwards County city of Albion. But with only 2,600 patients signed up for the state’s pilot program, about one-third of the facility is currently in use. “It’s like a big warehouse and the first room they have ready to start is a big white, bright room with lights in it,” said Albion Mayor Steve McMahel, who said he has visited the facility three or four times. “It’s a clean environment. Everyone will wear white gloves and coveralls because they don’t want any infection in the plants.” Ataraxia has hired 10 workers, including
man David Jacobson’s mind. “I worry that there are no new net jobs here,” Jacobson said. “I’d like to see more effort made in creating new jobs that benefit residents.” But long-term, the agreement will be for the city’s good, said City Manager Anne Marie Gaura, especially since DeKalb was competing with another location in Atlanta. “That could have meant shifting jobs out of DeKalb,” she said. “This allows 3M to create a corporate campus. … By creating a 987,500 squarefoot facility it now invests more in DeKalb.” DeKalb School District 428,
Jacobson said that history was cause for concern. “What’s to prevent the company from playing musical chairs every time their abatement goes out by switching facilities?” he said. But the tax-abatement is based on construction, said Jennifer Diedrich, the city’ economic development coordinator. “They would have to build or expand something,” she said. “So, new people coming in wouldn’t necessarily be automatically eligible unless they were going to expand a facility. I believe that is what the IGA says.” The shuttered buildings at Barber Greene Road and Wirsing Parkway won’t stay vacant long, said Paul Borek, exec-
Park officials in DeKalb and Sycamore say their public pools are functioning fine – it’s the rainy summer that’s impacted business this year – but both have some issues under the surface. The aging pools entered another season in need of repairs to their works, such as the pipes and plumbing systems. However, officials say they are hopeful those will happen next summer. And there’s still the option of a new joint pool between DeKalb and Sycamore being built sometime in the future. When the it closes this fall, DeKalb Park District officials will do a thorough check on
Hopkins Pool, 1403 Sycamore Road, and decide if an overhaul of the entire property is the right direction to go, said Jason Mangum, the district’s executive director. “We want to make sure the pool can handle that type of construction,” he said. “We need to find out what’s underneath the pool. The true state of the shell definitely requires additional investigation and some more advanced inspection.” In October 2013, the Hopkins Pool Consideration Committee was established to address growing concerns about the pool’s future. It dissolved in June 2014 after the committee released its report, which estimated a new pool built at Hopkins Park would cost about $5 million. A previous park board had planned to rebuild the pool in its current location, but the
LOCAL NEWS
MARKETPLACE
LOCAL NEWS
WHERE IT’S AT
Weather woes
Hanging ten
Brighter days
Storms hit DeKalb area, knock down trees, power lines / A3
Local skate shop finding Historical lightbulbs success at its new location on display in in DeKalb / A6 Livemore / A2
Advice ................................ B4 Classified....................... B6-8 Comics ............................... B5 Local News.................... A2-4 Lottery................................ A2 Nation&World.............. A2, 5
plan was abandoned when new park commissioners were elected. At 41 years old, the plumbing and mechanics of Hopkins Pool are showing their age, according to Amy Doll, superintendent of recreation at the DeKalb Park District. “Those pipes in the walls are buried and sometimes they start to leak,” she said. “... Currently, there are small leaks, but nothing that’s overwhelming. Each spring when we start to fill the pool, the question is if there are more leaks.” The more pressing issue is making the locker rooms at the pool compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Doll said. “The pool, as it is, is operating now and
See POOLS, page A4
Obituaries .........................A4 Opinion...............................A7 Puzzles ............................... B4 Sports..............................B1-3 State .............................. A2, 4 Weather .............................A8
Act NOW – While you still can!
$30 for 20 mbps – plus free WiFi!
Add a voice line to your high speed internet for just $5 more.
mention promo code:
20for30
OUR LOWEST PRICES EVER, just for you – but only if you act fast*!
Call (815) 217-0266
! "#$% $&'( )*+, -./ 01.23 4$%5( 6&' 78&'9:98&( +8;6:$' 8& <=> ?$@(9:$3 =$? ;*(:85$%( 8&+,3
dnacom.com/20for30
adno=0320725