§ 121.10. Application for enterprise zone designation and second-yearfunding.
(a) Eligibility to apply. An applicant shall have completed the enterprise zone planning cycle, including development of the required local business development strategy for the proposed zone in order to be eligible to apply.
(b) Type of grant. Applicants granted enterprise zone designation and approval for funding receive a basic grant for administrative support and seed money for projects relatively modest in scale.
(c) Application contents. The application for zone designation and second-year funding shall contain the following:
(1) A clear and complete description of the boundaries of the proposed zone, accompanied by a map in which each item in the description is clearly legible. Copies of clear boundary descriptions and maps from the applicant’s enterprise planning zone application are acceptable. Approximate total acreage or square mileage and the most recent population, employment and percentage of poverty figures for the proposed zone should be included.
(2) A summary of the description in the applicant’s preceding enterprise planning zone application concerning particular area characteristics which either facilitate or impede business expansion. Representative case examples, from the small business survey interview results included in the strategy document, which either confirm or modify what was previously known about business expansion opportunities or constraints in the zone should also be listed. The general size of the firms in terms of small, medium or large work force and the type of product or service provided by the firm should be indicated, although the names of individual firms do not need to be provided in the case example. The significance of the selected case examples to the earlier description should be briefly explained.
(3) The types and costs of resources needed to increase or redirect the economic development capacity of the applicant in order to implement the local business development strategy with continued funding for the designated enterprise zone. The amounts of funds needed and identification of funding source should be included under the proper column of the budget form for this application when expenditures for this purpose are required. Examples of budget items include establishment of a development corporation, hiring or reassignment of qualified staff or contracting with an experienced consultant.
(4) A brief general summary of the methods and activities that will be used to accomplish the objectives of the strategy, including the types of assistance typically requested by firms in the proposed zone, and the activities to be implemented to respond to these requests. The strategy document should be the source of these descriptions.
(5) A project sheet for each item of assistance requested by individual firms as identified in the strategy document and the enterprise zone program application budget sheet. Project sheets and the budget sheet are provided in the grant application package. A project sheet should be completed for each business assistance activity which is expected to account for a significant part of the anticipated enterprise zone program grant, and the budget sheet should reflect the activities as budget line items. A signed letter on the business letterhead of the prospective beneficiary firm requesting the assistance should be attached to the completed project sheet. The letter should contain contingent commitments to approximate amounts of new/additional business investment and new jobs. The project sheet should list the private and public resources identified as available, and additional private and public resources required for successful implementation of the project. For each required resource not yet available, an expected date of availability should be listed.
(6) Documentation from business survey findings of a need for business development finance services to justify a revolving loan fund work activity and budget line item. This work activity shall include provision for counseling and technical assistance in review and revision or preparation as needed of a creditable business plan for each prospective revolving loan fund applicant to ensure that conventional bank financing, Pennsylvania Industrial Development Assistance, and other sources are available to the maximum extent and on the most advantageous terms possible. A local inter-bank commitment of pooled resources should be negotiated to supplement enterprise zone program capitalization of the revolving loan fund. Local bank commercial loan officers and local business people should comprise the bulk of the loan review committee. Effort should be made to secure participation from minority and women among local business firms and banks. Applicants without at least 3 years of successful experience in the administration of business loan funds shall name a cooperative agency with appropriate experience to administer the revolving loan fund. Documentation should be provided of the nature and length of the proposed administering agency’s experience, a copy of the agency’s loan policies, additional detail required to identify sources of capitalization in the revolving loan fund, the composition by qualification of the loan committee, and a general but quantitative review of performance of outstanding loans in terms of payment regularity, defaults and nonperforming loans.
(d) Application submission. Four copies of the application shall be submitted to the Department with one sent to the appropriate regional office and three sent to the Strategic Planning and Operations Office. Addresses of these offices will be published annually as a notice in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
Source The provisions of this § 121.10 adopted April 1, 1988, effective April 2, 1988, 18 Pa.B. 1493.
No part of the information on this site may be reproduced for profit or sold for profit.
This material has been drawn directly from the official Pennsylvania Code full text database. Due to the limitations of HTML or differences in display capabilities of different browsers, this version may differ slightly from the official printed version.
