By Joe Ragusa
BLOOMINGTON – The Bloomington City Council will vote on whether to apply for a new enterprise zone at Monday night’s meeting.
The original enterprise zone was created in 1984 as a way to help bring the Mitsubishi Motors plant to Normal. It expires in July 2016.
Economic Development Coordinator Austin Grammer said there are a variety of tax breaks, like a sales tax abatement or a natural gas tax waiver, included in an enterprise zone to stimulate economic growth.
“When you’re looking to highlight areas to be included in an enterprise zone, you want to put development sites that would be key attractive sites for large industrial users or employers or also sites that you would like to see reinvestment,” Grammer said.
Properties like the Mitsubishi plant, the GE facility, the former Wildwoods manufacturing plant and the Electrolux building are included in the proposal, as well as a developing property near Colfax and the ethanol plant in Gibson City.
The first application for the new round of enterprise zones was not one of the 49 that were approved earlier this year. 19 are expected to be approved with the latest round of applications that are due in December. Grammar said an enterprise zone typically lasts about 20 years.
A public hearing on the proposed enterprise zone will be held at 4:30 p.m. Monday at the Government Center in Bloomington before the council votes on it later that night.
Joe Ragusa can be reached at joe.ragusa@cumulus.com.
