Hearing Set For Troy Business District

By Charlie Feldman

cfeldman@timestribunenews.com

Now that the City Council is looking at a plan for the development of a downtown business improvement district in Troy, it has set the date for a public hearing to gain input about it.

This and other actions were taken at the council’s Monday, August 16 meeting.

The hearing will be held an hour before the City Council meeting on Tuesday, September 7 at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.

Created by Moran Economic Development LLC, the development plan includes a number of blight factors in some of the parcels of property to be included. Street layout is one.

“One of the goals of our business district program is to run new roads and infrastructures to some of these areas that we can’t currently serve,” said president Keith Moran at the meeting. “Use sales tax dollars to create jobs, to maybe do an industrial park, maybe further areas for retail, further areas for residential.

“We have about 257 structures in the area, 176 of which are found to have notable defects in the structure and components of them,” he said. “The area is also undermined.”

A higher sales tax on the district will increase the amount of money available per purchase that would go toward developing it, Moran said.

“We certainly want to attract new businesses,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of undeveloped property in here that’s viable due to its proximity to the interstate. We’ve at least got  revenue stream. And remember, our TIF is expiring.”

After the hearing, the plan will have to wait until after two more meetings until the council can vote on it. Then all the information will be sent to the Illinois Department of Revenue.

In other developments, according to Mayor Dave Nonn, the 2020 census shows that the population of Troy is now 10,960, a 10 percent increase over the past decade.

“It’s good for us,” he said.

The City Council also:

·        gave permission to Troy United Methodist Church to vacate a portion of its roadway and utility easement.

·        authorized the mayor to execute the 2021 traffic signal master agreement with the Illinois Department of Transportation.

The next City Council meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 7 at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall.