To: Board of County Commissioners
Through: Bryan Weimer, Director, Public Works and Development
Prepared By:
prepared
Larry Mugler, Planner, Long Range Planning, Public Works and Development; Loretta Daniel, Long Range Planning Program Manager, Public Works and Development
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presenter
Presenter: Larry Mugler, Planner, Long Range Planning Division, Public Works and Development
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Subject:
title
3:30 PM *Proposal for Participation in the South Metro Enterprise Zone Program
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Purpose and Request:
recommended action
Staff is requesting direction from the BOCC to move forward with a 2024 boundary change to the Colorado Enterprise Zone (EZ) Program to include areas in the eastern part of the county and to work with the City of Englewood on an agreement to administer the new areas. At the Board study session on October 10, 2023, staff described the Colorado Enterprise Zone (EZ) Program and outlined an opportunity to include portions of unincorporated Arapahoe County in the program. The Board directed staff to continue to pursue this opportunity and to research ways to manage the program. Colorado's Enterprise Zone program provides tax incentives to encourage businesses to locate and expand in designated economically distressed areas of the state. The Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) manages the Colorado Enterprise Zone Program and is about to undertake a required review of the 16 EZs in the state that occurs every ten years. This provides both a chance to re-evaluate the South Metro EZ and a constraint on any immediate major changes.
OEDIT expects their evaluation to take all of 2024 and some of 2025 with final actions anticipated in January 2026. This could mean nearly a two-year delay in adding new areas to the South Metro EZ. Staff is recommending that the County request a boundary change in 2024 to add the eastern communities along I-70 to the South Metro EZ. The Colorado Economic Development C...
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