ACTION REQUESTED:
Title
Communication from the City Manager and Community Development Director with a Request to Approve the Following:
A. An ORDINANCE Designating an Area within the City of Peoria and County of Peoria as the URBAN PEORIA ENTERPRISE ZONE and;
B. An INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT with PEORIA COUNTY, the CITY OF WEST PEORIA, and the VILLAGE OF PEORIA HEIGHTS Related to the URBAN PEORIA ENTERPRISE ZONE.
Body
BACKGROUND:
The City must re-apply for Enterprise Zone status by December 31, 2014. If approved by the State, the new Enterprise Zone will go into effect on January 1, 2016. In order to present a more competitive application to the State, the City has been working with Peoria County staff over the past six months to create a multi-jurisdictional application. The other partners in this application are the City of West Peoria and the Village of Peoria Heights. A joint application increases the total number of square miles available in the Enterprise Zone from twelve (12) to fifteen (15). It also reduces the potential number of applications that the State will consider for approval. As there is a limited number (48) of Enterprise Zone approvals available, reducing the number of applications from a specific geographic area should increase the chance that a joint application is selected. There are two joint applications being submitted from jurisdictions on the east side of the Illinois River. The "North" application includes Washington, Germantown Hills, East Peoria, and Tazewell County. The "South" application includes Pekin, Morton, Tremont, and Tazewell County. Finally, a joint application furthers the existing partnership among the jurisdictions in the Peoria metro area related to economic development initiatives.
The Urban Peoria Enterprise Zone Application must be submitted to Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) by December 31, 2014. The term of the Urban Peoria Enterprise Zone shall commence on th...
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