The proposal to establish a Special Service Area (SSA) in Fulton Market District continues to be delayed until at least midyear following a string of negative feedback from local residents.
West Loop Community Organization (WLCO) leaders halted the application for one year on July 1 to collect more responses to the planned project. The organization then created a new advisory committee composed of business and property owners to provide more input from Fulton Market stakeholders.
This SSA would stretch across Hubbard Street, Halsted Street, Ogden Avenue and both sides of Randolph Street. A revised proposal eliminates the SSA from including Union Park.
An SSA is a local tax district that utilizes a tax imposed on property owners to financially support services and programs initiated by local government. Chicago is currently home to 53 SSAs.
The Greektown SSA imposes a 1-percent property tax and was administered by the West Central Association. The tax funds sidewalk cleaning, holiday decorations, monument maintenance, public art, marketing and advertising, special events, landscaping, trolley service to the United Center, and strategic planning across the boundaries alongside Halsted, Van Buren and Madison streets.
Chinatown’s SSA was created by the Chicago Chinatown Chamber of Commerce in 2018 and its first-year tax rate was 0.31 percent with a 0.8-percent overall cap. The 263 properties are commercial with one exception.
WLCO Executive Director Carla Agostinelli spoke to Black Club Chicago on how it plans on hosting public meetings to discuss budget concerns and impose assessment workshops to plan the area’s needed infrastructure following the Kinzie Tax Increment Finance (TIF) District expiration in 2022. WLCO created a survey that assesses Fulton Market’s priority issues and organized two community meetings in May 2019 that allowed the public to speak on how the SSA was designed and how the taxes will impact nearby residential properties.
Alerts Sign-up