By Laura Katauskas
Staff Reporter
The village of Romeoville is expanding its reinvestment program begun last year to include a reduction in fees for those who want to tear down and rebuild.
According to Assistant Village Manager Dawn Caldwell the reinvestment program has been successful this past year with residents looking to cash in on rewards for reinvestment into their properties.
The residential investment program was first introduced to create more home value especially in the older sections of town to encourage viable sustainable neighborhoods. It was designed to help boost appearance, increase property value and reduce costs to homeowners to build some of these improvements.
The village has opted to expand the program to ensure it is open to the entire community and for those who may find it is better to tear down and rebuild. The demolition and redevelopment permit fee of a 2,000 square-foot home will be reduced from $16,000 to a maximum of $3,000. The program will include various incentives to encourage new home construction in older neighborhoods throughout the community.
While Romeoville Mayor John Noak said the teardown and rebuild scenario may not happen often, the idea to adjust the program was to make it applicable to the entire community.
“We don’t want to discourage anyone from trying to reinvest, so we are adding this philosophy to the program that in some instances where building new just makes more sense. The overall improvement helps out the neighborhood and we want to help streamline the process,” aid Noak.
Residents choosing to do so can also change the footprint as long as the building fits the lot and is within property code.
“The Romeoville Reinvestment Program has already been a great success for homeowners looking to make improvements. We are excited to be able to expand the program further to allow new development in older neighborhoods,” said Noak.
While the new addition to the program encourages new home building, the existing program provides incentives for start-up business and home improvements including new room or covered porch additions, driveway upgrades, siding/windows improvements, or new landscaping.