Rockford Sun

The Belvidere community school district discusses potential support for a massive industrial project in the area.

“When did it go from a letter of intent,”  Board Member Lisa Whitcomb questioned during the meeting. “When did the Enterprise Zone request to change the IGA come up? I don't feel like I was required to vote tonight. I don't feel prepared to have metabolized all this information.”

The board uploaded a live stream of its public meeting to the district’s YouTube channel.

At their March 20th board meeting, school district members from Belvidere community schools heard a presentation and request from representatives of the Yukon Project. This industry expansion project is set to potentially come to Boone county. The company is looking to create a fresh-frozen food distribution center which would create at least 450 jobs in the community, with pay rates ranging from 55,000-110,000. This would be one of the largest investments made by the company and one of the biggest employers in the area. Although there are other states vying for this project in their area, other governing bodies in Belvidere and Boone have given support for the project, and if it does come to Boone, which will be decided in June, they will start construction near the end of 2023 and complete it by 2026.

The board also discussed paying $82,350 to purchase 225 Lenovo Chromebooks for the district’s staff.

As one of the taxing bodies in the area, the Yukon Project is asking Belvidere schools to issue a letter of support for the project, specifically giving support to the modifications of the existing IGA to extend the current property tax abatements by an additional five years. They also want an extension of the county enterprise zone program, and commitment to grandfather existing property tax abatements schedules in case the county enterprise zone program does not extend beyond 2030. This would show the school district’s overall support for the project and company.

The board will meet again at 5:30 p.m. on April 17 in the Board of Education room at 1201 5th Avenue.

The board members discussed the potential agreement and letter of support, clarifying that they would not be making any changes to any of their own agreements, just providing support for Project Yukon’s sought changes. They were unsure how giving their support would make any changes for the district and their responsibilities, so they decided to extend their decision to explore the topic further, issuing an amended letter of support that would explore how the IGA would change with respect to property values.