63M-1-406 - Eligibility review.
63M-1-406. Eligibility review.
(1) (a) The office shall review and evaluate the applications submitted under Section63M-1-404 and shall determine whether each county applicant or municipal applicant is eligiblefor designation as an enterprise zone.
(b) In determining whether a county applicant or municipal applicant is eligible, ifunemployment, income, population, or other necessary data are not available for the countyapplicant or municipal applicant from the federal departments of labor or commerce or a stateagency, the office may rely upon other data submitted by the applicant, if the office determinesthat it is statistically reliable or accurate.
(2) (a) The office shall designate enterprise zones.
(b) The office shall consider and evaluate an application using the following criteria:
(i) the pervasiveness of poverty, unemployment, and general distress in the proposedzone;
(ii) the extent of chronic abandonment, deterioration, or reduction in value ofcommercial, industrial, or residential structures in the proposed zone, and the extent of propertytax arrearages in the proposed zone;
(iii) the potential for new investment and economic development in the proposed zone;
(iv) the county applicant's or municipal applicant's proposed use of other state andfederal development funds or programs to increase the probability of new investment anddevelopment occurring;
(v) the extent to which the projected development in the zone will provide employmentto residents of the county and particularly individuals who are unemployed or who areeconomically disadvantaged;
(vi) the degree to which the county applicant's or municipal applicant's applicationpromotes innovative solutions to economic development problems and demonstrates localinitiative; and
(vii) other relevant factors that the office specifies in its recommendation.
Renumbered and Amended by Chapter 382, 2008 General Session