(35 ILCS 200/10-55)

Sec. 10-55. Application process and application period.

(a) The Director shall receive applications for certificates of rehabilitation in a form and manner provided by him or her by rule. The Director shall promptly notify the assessment officer of receipt of such applications. The rules shall provide that an applicant may request preliminary approval of rehabilitation before the rehabilitation period begins.

(b) The Director shall approve an application for a certificate of rehabilitation when he or she finds that the restoration, preservation or rehabilitation:

(1) involves an historic building;

(2) has a cost, including architectural fees, equal to or greater than 25% of the base year valuation;

(3) is for a building for which no certificate of rehabilitation has been approved within 4 years after the last year of the adjustment valuation period;

(4) was or will be done in accordance with the standards for rehabilitation; and

(5) was or will be a substantial rehabilitation.

(c) The Director shall determine the length of the rehabilitation period, which shall not exceed 2 years unless the Director finds:

(1) it is economically unfeasible to complete the rehabilitation in that period; or

(2) the magnitude of the project is such that a good faith attempt to complete the rehabilitation in that period would not succeed.

(d) Upon approval of the application, the Director shall issue a certificate of rehabilitation to the applicant and transmit a copy to the assessment officer. The certificate shall identify the rehabilitation period.

(e) If during the 8-year valuation period and the adjustment valuation period, the Director determines, in accordance with the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act, that an historic building for which a certificate of rehabilitation has been issued has not been the subject of repair, renovation, remodeling or improvement in accordance with the standards for rehabilitation, he or she shall revoke the certificate of rehabilitation by written notice to the taxpayer of record and transmit a copy of the revocation to the assessment officer.

The provisions in Section 10-40 through 10-85 apply to certified rehabilitation projects for which an application for a certificate of rehabilitation has been filed with the Director within 2 years of the rehabilitation period.

(Source: P.A. 91-357, eff. 7-29-99; 91-806, eff. 1-1-01.)