Bill Cellini Close to Owners of Shopping Center CL Mayor Shepley Wants to Make Another Deer Park

Deer Park

Deer Park

With Springfield Republican powerhouse Bill Cellini making at least part of the pitch for the developers who won the right to make money in Vulcan Lakes TIF district, I was as interested in his comments about the Wal-Mart, old Cub Food Store shopping center.

According to the Northwest Herald’s lead paragraph on his involvement in the Route 14 Tax Increment Financing district—which will raise all of our taxes in McHenry County—Cellini touted “his relationship with the owners of a shopping center adjacent to the former quarry.”

This is the shopping center that Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley told Crystal Lake Kiwanis in May that he envisioned becoming another Deer Park.

I wish I had had my camera to take some photos of Deer Park when my wife stopped in for a cup of coffee.

It’s really nice, but seems to have parking problems, especially, if you want to park near the store you’re shopping in.

Shepley seemed surprised when I told him it was not in the Vulcan Lakes-Route 14 TIF district. He wasn’t sure where the boundaries were.

When asked in August if the shopping center might be put in a TIF, Shepley answered,

“We’re not moving in the direction of including it in the TIF.”

Time will tell if the city can find redevelopers willing to fulfill the Mayor’s vision without a TIF honey pot.

It should make an interesting election question for those running for city council and mayor, as Shepley is.


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