When Gov. George Ryan and other politicians think of the future of Peotone, they see an ideal spot for a new airport to serve the Chicago metropolitan area and create jobs for the south suburbs.
But when officials of the rural Will County town of just over 2,900 people think of their community’s future, they dream of attracting more businesses and light industry.
Beginning shortly, they hope to take actions meant to make that dream a reality.
The Peotone Village Board decided recently to consider creating a permanent economic development commission, with full power to negotiate deals meant to attract businesses, both to pay property taxes and create jobs for residents.
An informal economic development committee exists, and it is chaired by Police Chief Paul Farber. But Farber says the committee needs full village support if it is to have any impact on the Peotone economy.
The village has been weighing the possibility of giving the committee the status of a commission. A commission would actively solicit businesses in hopes of getting them to expand in, or relocate to, Peotone.
Farber also says that a full-fledged commission would be better equipped to offer the kind of incentive packages that he says are going to be essential to getting businesses to look twice at Peotone.
“At the current rate, we have some inquiries (from businesses), but no one is committing” to move to Peotone, Farber said.
He says village officials must be prepared to offer perks such as tax rebates, discounted water and sewer service, enterprise zones and tax increment financing districts in order to get businesses interested.
“We have to have an incentive program, we have to have something of attraction, something to offer to businesses,” Farber said. “Right now, we have nothing to offer.”
But Farber and other village officials, including longtime outspoken airport critic and village Mayor Richard Benson, say they think an incentive package could make Peotone one of the most attractive sites in Will County or the south suburbs for businesses to locate.
They cite its proximity to Interstate Highway 57, the potential for a main strip of businesses on Wilmington Road that would be directly tied to the interstate and good local roads, such as Illinois Highway 50 on the east edge of town.
They also cite railroad tracks used by the Illinois Central railroad and Amtrak intercity passenger trains that pass through Peotone, and electric utility rates that can be lower than nearby towns such as Beecher or Monee.
Village Trustee Dennis Baran said he was concerned that officials might be tempted to offer too many incentives in order to get businesses to relocate and should be cautious in how they act.
“Depending on the attractiveness of a business, we may want to offer all of these incentives to some and very little to others,” Baran said.
