THE ISSUE
Some merchants opposed the village’s approval of ATI Physical Therapy’s request because the retail/service balance would be thrown off.
OUR VIEW
Allowing the space to remain vacant wasn’t a viable solution. Although sales taxes won’t be generated, at least property taxes will be.
SPEAK UP
Did the Village Council take proper action on ATI Physical Therapy’s request? Tell us what you think of this by leaving a comment below. You can also e-mail your comment here. Or leave a voice message at (630) 368-8882.
Members of the Downers Grove Village Council didn’t make many new friends with their decision last week to allow ATI Physical Therapy to open a site downtown in the Acadia on the Green commercial/residential development.
The ordinance governing Acadia on the Green calls for its commercial space to have a ratio of 90 percent retail shops and 10 percent service-oriented businesses. But permitting ATI Physical Therapy to enter the commercial space would push the service-oriented ratio beyond 10 percent, leaving village commissioners with a hard choice.
They could maintain the ordinance as it was and deny ATI Physical Therapy its lease, a move that would have continued the space’s three-year vacancy. Or they could amend the ordinance to let ATI Physical Therapy enter the site, which could have raised sales tax with a retail business.
Weighing the pros and cons of both options, village commissioners took the lesser of two evils.
Yes, the village could lose as much as $26,000 in sales tax by allowing a service-oriented business to use the facility rather than a retail shop. But at least ATI Physical Therapy will generate property taxes, which wouldn’t occur had the space remained vacant.
Commissioner Bill Waldack cast the lone dissenting vote in the 6-1 decision, and he floated a proposal to have ATI Physical Therapy pay an additional $25,000 to make up the lost sales tax. It’s unfortunate that commissioners couldn’t have agreed on a plan to recoup at least some of the lost sales tax, but receiving property tax revenue alone is better than getting nothing at all.
In a perfect world, a retail business would be ready and waiting for a site in Acadia on the Green. In that case, the village wouldn’t have had to alter the ordinance and would be ensured both sales tax and property tax revenue.
But the world isn’t perfect, and the slowly recovering economy isn’t likely to accommodate substantial commercial growth for a few years. The Village Council was wise to take what it could get in this case, even if it is less than ideal.
