Teutopolis Board Moves Ahead on Joint Enterprise Zone w/Effingham

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Published on August 4 2016 4:30 pm
Last Updated on August 4 2016 4:30 pm
Written by Greg Sapp

The City of Effingham and the Village of Teutopolis are working together to establish an Enterprise Zone designed to foster economic development efforts in both communities.

Effingham and Effingham County are part of an enterprise zone due to expire at the end of 2017. Effingham applied for a new zone last year, but the application was rejected since it was submitted too early.

The State is encouraging regional cooperation on new zones, and that led Effingham and Teutopolis officials to discuss a joint venture.

In Teutopolis' case, the zone would include the Wooden Shoe Development area on the west side of the village along Commercial Drive, the area around Siemer Milling Company, the area around 3Z Printing and Stevens Industries, and the area on the east side of the village around Farmweld.

Incentives to businesses and industries locating in an enterprise zone include tax breaks on both improvements in the zone and the materials used for construction.

Teutopolis Village Board President Greg Hess said the completed application for the enterprise zone is to be submitted to the State by the end of November or first of December, with the zones gaining approval finding out they made the cut by January 1, 2018.

The Teutopolis Board also discussed extending water and sewer service to undeveloped areas within the village. Hess said the goal is to convert cropland within the village to subdivisions that could be scenes of new home construction. He said making utilities available to the undeveloped areas might promote their development.

The Board approved a subdivision plat in Wooden Shoe Development's commercial area on the west side of the village. Burford Electric is expected to build a headquarters on the east side of the north end of Commercial Drive.

Board members heard from the village's new Economic Development Coordinator Anita Deters on flag lots. The lots sometimes involve one driveway serving two properties, which can be problematic in the case of utility service or fire protection.

The Board was scheduled to discuss purchasing a used street sweeper, but hoped-for information was not available for the meeting and the matter was tabled.