Kaneland District 302 sues to stop Crown TIF development

Kaneland School District 302 has sued Sugar Grove, asking a judge to dissolve The Grove tax increment financing district redevelopment project, court records show.

Crown Development’s proposed 760-acre project, near the intersection of Interstate 88 and Illinois Route 47, includes mixed housing and commercial development. But it’s stirred controversy and resistance since first brought forward for consideration in 2019.

Last year, the Joint Review Board voted 3-3 and six voted present regarding The Grove TIF, records show. A TIF Joint Review Board is made up of representatives from each taxing authority – including District 302 and Sugar Grove – affected by the TIF. The vote was advisory, not binding, however. The Village of Sugar Grove voted in support of the TIF project, while District 302 voted present, records show.

In April, a majority of Sugar Grove residents voted in an advisory referendum to reverse the project.

[ https://www.shawlocal.com/kane-county-chronicle/2025/04/04/sugar-grove-votes-against-mixed-use-the-grove-development/ ]

Kaneland’s 10-page complaint, filed June 13 in Kane County court, alleges the development project does not meet the statutory requirements of a tax increment financing district, also known as a TIF. In February, the school board directed its lawyers to develop a legal challenge to the TIF.

A TIF is a tool local governments use to encourage development or redevelopment in blighted areas that could be too expensive to improve with private investment alone. It freezes the equalized assessed value level of property and diverts increased revenue – from property tax or sales tax – to the TIF for specific improvements, rather than to local taxing bodies.

A TIF can last up to 23 years, or longer if lawmakers approve an extension.

In an email response to a request for comment, Village President Susan Stillwell wrote, “While I have not yet had the opportunity to review the lawsuit, I understand it may pertain to the Crown redevelopment agreement and TIF eligibility.”

“Regardless of the nature of the litigation and any dispute, I remain committed to fostering a positive, collaborative relationship with the Kaneland School District as well as the other taxing bodies,” Stillwell said in an email. “We are all dedicated to supporting community residents.”

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Kaneland School District 302 sued the village of Sugar Grove on June 13, 2025, to stop The Grove tax increment financing development project. The filing alleges the development does not meet the qualifications needed to use TIF money, records show. (Page 1 of 10) (Brenda Schory)

The Grove is eligible to be reimbursed for more than $109 million for expenses such as utilities and earthwork, documents show.

The lawsuit argues that the TIF would deprive the Kaneland school district of revenue from incremental property taxes within the redevelopment district.

Kaneland’s lawsuit alleges that The Grove development is neither blighted by flooding nor contiguous. Both are required to meet the legal standards to create the TIF.

SB Friedman Development Advisors prepared the eligibility report for Sugar Grove. The report determined that the property is blighted because it has chronic flooding, according to the lawsuit.

Friedman reviewed a report by Engineering Enterprises Inc., the village’s engineering firm, which found that, “runoff from 88% of the proposed RPA [redevelopment project area] contributes to downstream flooding within the Blackberry Creek Watershed,” according to the lawsuit.

Although Friedman cites the engineer’s stormwater memorandum, it does not include it “or any supporting documentation, and does not provide any data to document that the ‘blighting condition’ regarding surface water runoff was present to a ‘meaningful extent so that a municipality may [reasonably] find the factor is clearly present within [the] intent of the Act,” according to the lawsuit.

“As it stands, the EEI [Engineering Enterprises Inc.] memorandum, the Eligibility Report and the Village’s Ordinance approving the Eligibility Report merely stand for the unremarkable proposition that surface water flows downhill,” according to the complaint.

The lawsuit also argues that the village approved the TIF district without “any documented evidence suggesting that development would not occur without the adoption of the redevelopment plan.”

Regarding the acreage not being contiguous, Kaneland’s lawsuit argues that one of its parcels is a clover leaf ramp that connects I-88 and Illinois Route 47 – and is actually a highway right-of-way – and cannot be part of the development project.

“This right-of-way parcel is included for no other purpose than an attempt to provide contiguity between two portions of The Grove TIF that otherwise would not be contiguous,” according to the lawsuit. “The redevelopment plan does not include any plans for development to the benefit of the highway right-of-way parcel.”

The lawsuit is scheduled for a case management conference Sept. 30 before Circuit Judge Kevin Busch, records show.

A history of The Crown development project is available online at www.sugargroveil.gov.