Coal City: City gives incentives for Berkot's expansion

COAL CITY -Two agreements, signed and sealed Monday evening by the Coal City Village Council, may help make life healthier and more bountiful for residents. One agreement provides for expansion of the village's lone grocery store to 30,000 square feet. “The grocery store is currently not large enough to meet the community needs, and is underdeveloped and underutilized,” the resolution to authorize the economic incentive agreement between the village and Coalkot Ltd., owner and operator of Berkot's on North Broadway Street, reads in part. “They need to expand to operate a new, modern grocery store,” Village Administrator Matt Fritz told the council during the regular bi-monthly meeting Monday evening. “It's a quality of life thing - our own grocer in our town. It would be easy for them to relocate elsewhere,” he added of the store's ability to leave the village to find a larger site with ample parking in another community. The agreement provides for a partial rebate of sales tax generated by expansion of the store. The provision is an incentive for Coalkot to expand the grocery and provide additional parking. The agreement also notes the store is in need of revitalization. Furthermore, the agreement notes the building has been significantly underutilized for at least a year, and the expansion can create or retain jobs and help spur development of nearby businesses. Without the agreement, the expansion would not be possible. With the agreement, the expansion will boost the village's tax base, and add to the community's commercial sector. “We've looked at this for a year now,” Mayor Neal Nelson noted of the proposal and agreement. “It is important we keep our downtown businesses.” The vote to authorize the Coalkot agreement was unanimous, with Trustee Dan Greggain absent from the meeting. Construction is expected to take three to five years. The other agreement was actually re-adoption of the pact accepted by the council during the Aug. 11 meeting to provide additional land to the village for construction of the new water tower on South Broadway Street. The re-adoption allows the donor of the 1.5-acre parcel to install equipment on top of the tower to provide wireless Internet capability. The village will receive free municipal Internet service in return. Reed & Broadway LLC donated the parcel. The village will waive a portion of the water and sewer impact fees on the approximately 222 acres of land owned by Reed & Broadway. Cyber Broadcasting LLC will install and maintain the wireless Internet equipment atop the tower. Additionally, the council accepted the lowest of four bids to construct the water tower at the site, which totals five acres on the west side of South Broadway. The council unanimously agreed to award the contract to construct the water tower to Chicago Bridge & Iron at $1,319,000. The estimated cost of the project was $1.2 million. Village engineer Mike Perry noted the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency does not have an issue with bids higher than the estimate. The CB&I offer now goes to the IEPA for its approval. If approved, construction will begin this fall. Additionally, the council awarded the contract for emergency repairs to Blackstone Street to “D” Construction of Coal City at $91,500. Reconstruction of the road will be put out for bid.