EZ Policy Blog

Last month I reported on a movement to combine the Imperial Valley and Calexico Enterprise Zones into a single regional zone for Imperial County. That proposal, apparently, is not without controversy.

From the <em>Tribune Weekly Chronicle:

The Calexico City Council will hear recommendations about the possible new Imperial County Enterprise Zone.

The Calexico County Enterprise Zone and the Imperial Valley Enterprise Zone in Brawley have discussed the possibility of merging into one zone that would include all seven cities and the unincorporated areas of the Imperial County. If approved, the Imperial Valley EDC could end up being the manager of the County Enterprise Zone.

The CCEZ is composed of the City of Calexico, Imperial County, and Imperial Irrigation District as designated by the State of California in 2006. The agencies contribute approximately $60,000 each towards the annual administrative cost. CCEZ Manager Daniel Fitzgerald told the council that John Nunn, State of California Enterprise Zone Manager, encouraged Imperial County to apply as one zone as this would free up one zone in the State that could be awarded to another jurisdiction. Fitzgerald said if he is given direction by the council to bring information for the deliberation of the Council to accept this merger or not. Deadline to apply for this new designation is August 18, 2010.

Councilman John Moreno said to be opposed to have one designation since El Centro has Imperial Valley Mall and other businesses that create tax revenue for the City. Moreno said Calexico could lose its competitiveness in bringing new industry if there is a valley wide enterprise zone. Moreno made a motion to deny this countywide EZ with Mayor Ouzan seconding the motion. Councilman Daniel Romero said that he had reservations about this countywide designation but after meeting with Daniel Fitzgerald he thinks that a regional effort will be good for the valley. He said that there will be a lot of impact and asked to have all the information presented to the Council before taking a final decision

Councilman Moreno agreed with Romero to have all the information be given to the Council and then vote on the resolution. Moreno said he doesn’t support the Countywide Zoning but agreed to give direction to the CCEZ Manager do research about the pros and cons of this initiative.

Pending legislation notwithstanding, two Enterprise Zones are scheduled to expire in 2010, Lindsay and Shafter.  Another two, Antelope Valley and Watasonville, will be expiring in early 2012.  After that, there will not be another opportunity to apply for a new zone designation until the Stanislaus County EZ expires in 2020.

The City of Lindsay is already included in the new Tulare County Enterprise Zone, so we won’t see them as part of the competition.  But we are already starting to see prospective zones gearing up.

Of course, there are the 10 applicants who were not winners in 2009.  The San Fernando Business Journal is reporting that the cities of Lancaster and Palmdale are are already preparing their applicaion for 2012.  And in the Victor Valley Daily Press there is this story about high hopes:

A regional economic development group is looking to follow the city of Hesperia’s example by possibly getting a huge portion of the Victor Valley declared an Enterprise Zone.

The designation would create a number of significant tax incentives to help lure businesses to the region.

“An enterprise zone is a very effective economic development tool,” said David Zook, chief of staff for 1st District Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt. “It gives a company looking to locate a facility tremendous incentives to locate there.”

Among those incentives are generous tax credits for hiring new employees and substantial sales tax credits on new equipment, so a business such as Dr Pepper Snapple Group could get a break on the pricey bottling equipment that’s being rolled into its coming plant at this moment.

Mitzelfelt chairs the Victor Valley Economic Development Authority, charged with overseeing the revitalization of 10,500 local acres impacted by the closure of George Air Force Base in 1992. VVEDA’s project area includes almost all of Victorville, large chunks of Adelanto and Apple Valley, a portion of Hesperia and patches of unincorporated San Bernardino County scattered across the Victor Valley.

VVEDA’s board this month approved paying some $9,000 for a consultant to study the feasibility of a VVEDA Enterprise Zone. Zook said the results are due back in November.

If the group is successful, the Victor Valley’s enterprise zone designation will last for 15 years.